Piedmont stays sharp
- Updated: December 28, 2020
Girls roundup: Pope powers Piedmont in Haralson County tournament; balanced Oxford overpowers Ranburne in Heflin
Monday’s girls scores
Regular season
Glencoe 45, Fort Payne 42
Heflin Holiday Hoops Tournament
Oxford 70, Ranburne 41
Spring Garden 72, Heard (Ga.) County 45
Hokes Bluff 55, Cleburne County 16
Hilburn-Patterson Haralson County (Ga.) Invitational
Cedartown 57, East Paulding 55
Bremen 39, LaGrange 36
Piedmont 60, Faith Christian 22
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
TALLAPOOSA, Ga. – Terrace Ridley has a sure-fire way (in a Punxatawny Phil kind of way) of figuring out how good a night it has a chance to be for her Piedmont girls basketball team, and it centers around the team’s best outside threat.
Ava Pope is the Lady Bulldogs’ shooter. The freshman usually takes her team’s first shot of the game, and it’s usually a 3-pointer from her favorite spot.
Now here’s where the Groundhog Day analogy comes into play. If Pope hits that first 3, chances are it’s going to be a good night for Piedmont. If the shot misses the mark, it’s 32 minutes of work to do.
It followed Monday. Pope stepped back and hit a 3 on her first shot of the game and the Lady Dawgs went on to crush Faith Christian 60-22 in the opening round of the 45thannual Hilburn-Patterson Haralson County Invitational.
Piedmont now plays host Haralson County Tuesday at 6 p.m. local time for a spot in Wednesday’s championship game.
Pope hit four of Piedmont’s eight 3-pointers in the game (on seven attempts) and led all scorers with 22 points, one off her career high. She was 9-of-14 from the field overall.
“Ava’s just a scorer,” Ridley said. “She gets in that groove. Most of time when Ava hits that first 3 and it’s usually her first shot of the game and our first three points most of the time, she’s going to have a good night. She usually gets us going.”
“It is true most of the time,” Pope said. “Whenever I make that first shot I can just tell that I’m feeling good and I can tell I must be hot tonight and I can make most of my 3s. That was definitely the case tonight. I got hot and I just felt good and they started falling.”
Pope and Jaycee Glover both hit two 3s in the first quarter as Piedmont opened an 18-6 lead. The Lady Bulldogs then held Faith scoreless in the second quarter to build a 30-6 halftime lead.
Until it “let up a little on defense” in the fourth quarter and allowed the Lady Lions to double their scoring, Piedmont was on track for its best defensive game of the season. But it was the Lady Bulldogs’ only grey area in the game. They got good ball movement, rebounded well and shot it well.
“This was a carryover from playing in that tournament in Gaston,” Ridley said. “Ranburne was a really good team that gave us a lot of good looks (in the championship game) and we were able to capitalize off a lot of those. It just carried over to this game tonight.
“These girls right now, when you’re winning it feels great. Their confidence is up so much now and they’re jelling. It makes a difference when the girls know they can win and they play hard.”
Piedmont 60, Faith Christian 22
FAITH – Ona Marple 0 0-0 0, Ariana Arevalo 0 1-2 1, Anna Strautman 2 1-2 5, Serenity Pate 1 0-0 2, Alligrace Emerson 5 0-0 11, Erin McVeigh 0 0-0 0, Megan Ford 1 0-0 2. Totals 9 2-4 22.
PIEDMONT – Ava Pope 9 0-1 22, Jaycee Glover 3 1-2 10, Lele Ridley 5 0-0 11, Armoni Perry 0 1-2 1, Caycee Brothers 1 0-0 2, Gracie Naugher 0 0-0 0, Z’Hayla Walker 6 0-0 12, Emily Farmer 0 2-2 2. Totals 24 4-7 60.
Faith 6 0 5 11 – 22
Piedmont 18 12 18 12 – 60
3-point goals: Faith 2 (Emerson 2); Piedmont 8 (Pope 4, Glover 3, Ridley). Total fouls: Faith 7, Piedmont 11.
Heflin Holiday Hoops
HEFLIN – Oxford enjoyed one of its most balanced games of the season with 10 of 13 players finding the scoring column and four going for double figures in a 70-41 win over Ranburne.
Xai Whitifield, Lauren Ellard and Kaleah Taylor all came in with 13 points, and LaMya McGrue had 10. Ten players also grabbed at least one rebound.
“It was a very good overall effort, not just one or two people,” Oxford coach Melissa Bennett said. “That was probably one of our most balanced (games), all the way down the book. Just about everybody (contributed).”
SPRING GARDEN 72, HEARD COUNTY (GA.) 45: Neely Welsh led four Spring Garden scorers in double figures with 29 points. Lexy Adkison had 15 points and Ace Austin and Sarah Kate McKay both had 11.
Oxford 70, Ranburne 41
OXFORD – Justice Woods 2 0-0 4, Xai Whitfield 6 1-1 13, Lauren Ellard 6 0-1 13, LaMya McGrue 5 0-0 10, Kaleah Taylor 5 1-1 13, Emma McCullough 2 0-0 5, Lisa Montgomery 2 2-2 6, Ashley Paulson 0 0-0 0, Chloe Hulsey 0 0-0 0, Keziah Mickler 1 0-0 2, Aniya Elston 1 0-0 2, Jamea Gatson 0 0-0 0, Mikiya Wilson 1 0-0 2. Totals 31 4-5 70.
RANBURNE – Autumn Phillips 0 0-0 0, Briley Merrill 2 5-6 9, Julianna Merrill 5 1-3 11, Kayli Olds 1 0-0 2, Abigail Howle 3 2-3 8, Natalie Merrill 1 2-2 5, Auburn Rollins 2 0-0 4, Crimson Rollins 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 10-14 41.
Oxford 24 19 23 4 – 70
Ranburne 11 14 10 6 – 41
3-point goals: Oxford 4 (Ellard, Taylor 2, McCullough); Ranburne 1 (N. Merrill). Total fouls: Oxford 14, Ranburne 7. Officials: Tidwell, Hinkle, Ratliff.
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