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A family legacy

Piedmont’s Ridley scores 1,000th career point in Georgia tournament game, joins coach/mother, uncle in elite group; also, Oxford’s girls find a way to win

Piedmont junior LeLe Ridley (R) stands with her coach/mother Terrace after scoring her 1,000th career point late in Wednesday’s tournament game. On the cover, mother and daughter take in the Piedmont boys game in the Champions Christmas Classic.

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

TALLAPOOSA, Ga. – There’s a lot of points on the Ridley family tree and LeLe Ridley just added another branch.

Ridley, Piedmont’s junior post, scored her 1,000th career point on a pair of free throws with 10.9 seconds left in the Lady Bulldogs’ 50-38 loss to East Paulding Wednesday in the 46th Hilburn-Patterson Haralson County Invitational.

She only needed 13 to reach the milestone and hit it on the number after being fouled on a put back after taking an inbounds pass from Gracie Naugher near the end of the game. They stopped the action briefly to acknowledge the milestone and it will be recognized more formally at the Lady Bulldogs’ next home game.

“I wasn’t really worried about it,” Ridley said as she watched the Piedmont boys play in the Champions Christmas Classic championship game. “I was just trying to play. It came as a shocker to me at the end.

“I always was just trying to play my game. I never really cared about the points. But it does feel good to accomplish that.”

She became the second member of her household and third in the family to reach the 1,000-point plateau. 

Her mother, Piedmont coach Terrace Ridley, is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,124 points (a mark Alex Odam is expected to eclipse sometime this season) and her uncle, Randall Ridley, is the third leading scorer on the school’s boys all-time list (1,570). Randall was in the stands Wednesday to watch his niece hit the milestone.

Another brother, Dennard, finished his career about 20 points short of the milestone. That’s more than 4,100 points in the house and nearly 5,700 on the family tree.

“It feels good that it runs in the family,” LeLe said.

She also becomes the third 1,000-point scorer Terrace has produced in her Piedmont coaching tenure and easily the one closest to her heart.

“It feels great to know that her junior year she was able to accomplish that goal,” Terrace said. “I’d have never thought it was going to come so soon, but she just had so many games where she had breakout games and I knew she would get it this year.

“To have my own daughter and to be able to coach her to this milestone it feels great.”

HILBURN-PATTERSON HARALSON COUNTY INVITATIONAL
Girls Game
East Paulding 50, Piedmont 38
EAST PAULDING – Destinee Lovejoy 3 1-2 8, Laniya Foster 0 0-0 0, Halie Verkerk 8 3-5 19, Makayla Mann 1 0-0 2, Cora Barger 3 0-0 8, Alley Padilla 0 0-0 0, Kate Kinnamen 1 0-0 2, Wunmi Atiba 5 1-2 11. Totals 21 5-9 50.
PIEDMONT – Ava Pope 4 2-2 13, Josie Young 0 0-0 0, Rylie Anne Holbrooks 0 0-0 0, Jaycee Glover 1 0-2 2, LeLe Ridley 5 2-2 13, Carson Young 0 0-0 0, Gracie Naugher 1 1-1 3, Z’Hayla Walker 2 0-2 4, Emily Farmer 1 0-0 3. Totals 14 5-9 38.
East Paulding  16  11   11  12   –   50
Piedmont           9     6  10   13   –   38
3-point goals: East Paulding 3 (Lovejoy, Barger 2); Piedmont 5 (Pope 3, Ridley, Farmer). Total fouls: East Paulding 11, Piedmont 10.

Lady Jackets find a way

DECATUR – Kaleah Taylor scored eight of her game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter, including 4-of-6 from the free throw line, to lead Oxford’s comeback in a 43-38 victory over Fairview. The Lady Jackets trailed by four entering the quarter and outscored Fairview 16-7.

“We couldn’t get anything to fall, but we kept battling and chipping away and pulled it out,” Oxford coach Melissa Bennett said.

All-tournament pick Xai Whitfield had 15 points for Oxford.

DOC GIRLS CLASSIC
Oxford 43, Fairview 38
OXFORD (12-2) – Justice Woods 1 1-1 3, Xai Whitfield 7 0-0 15, LaMya McGrue 1 3-6 5, Kaleah Taylor 6 4-6 18, Jamea Gaston 1 0-0 2, Keziah Mickler 0 0-0 0, Shaniya Calloway 0 0-0 0, Kaylen Kenney 0 0-0 0, Mikiya Wilson 0 0-2 0. Totals 16 8-15 43.
FAIRVIEW – Jaycee Alemon 1 0-0 2, Sadie Smith 2 0-1 4, Somer Harris 0 0-0 0, Reagan Dunkin 0 0-0 0, Kabri Redding 0 0-0 0, Morgan Lindsay 2 3-4 8, Emma Garcia 4 2-2 10, Georgia Gorham 4 4-4 12, Abigail Davis 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 9-11 38.
Oxford             10    9   8  16   –  43
Fairview          14   9    8    7   –  38
3-point goals: Oxford 3 (Whitfield, Taylor 2); Fairview 3 (Lindsay, Gracia 2). Fouled out: Smith. Total fouls: Oxford 12, Fairview 13. Officials: Madden, McDonald, Brewer.

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