Season-long problems continue as Rams fall to Foxes
By Jeremy Tepper
MVI Sports
Ringgold coach Matt Regula readily admits that in a normal season his team wouldn’t have been deserving of a playoff spot.
But no matter, his coaching staff and his team treated Monday’s game against Fox Chapel differently.
With every team having the opportunity to play in the playoffs this season, Ringgold fully embraced the challenge, scouting to the max and getting as ready as they possibly could.
Still, when the game started, Ringgold’s season-long problems reared their head immediately. In a 25 against 8-seed matchup, Ringgold (2-14, 2-10) fell to Fox Chapel (11-8, 9-4) 69-25 in the WPIAL Class 5A preliminary round.
“If you go off of standings, we obviously didn’t deserve to be in it. But we didn’t play our best basketball most of the year and even tonight we didn’t play our best basketball,” Regula said.
The Foxes dominated the Rams in just about every aspect, playing aggressive defense, crashing the boards for a sizable rebound advantage and executing well on the offensive end.
Four Foxes scored in double figures, with Domenica Delaney leading the way with 15 points. Angelina Massey paced Ringgold with 11.
Fox Chapel asserted its dominance early on, rushing off to a 9-0 lead after three minutes, and a 18-0 lead after nearly five and a half minutes.
Massey broke the shutout with 2:36 left in the first quarter when she knocked down two free throws. The Foxes used an aggressive, pressing defense to build its early lead, forcing the Rams into loads of turnovers. In a 25-2 first quarter, the Rams seldom were able to get the ball past halfcourt.
“All year long we’ve been a team that’s struggled a bit with the press because we have a lot of people who aren’t fully comfortable handling the ball against high school kids yet,” Regula said.
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