Ragland’s Kailey Echols fights for a rebound in the game against Coosa Christian during the area tournament. Ragland won its fifth consecutive area title and Echols was named the tournament MVP.
After easily defeating Coosa Christian in the semi-finals, ninth-ranked Ragland defeated Gaston 44-32 Saturday in the title game and will host a sub-regional game Thursday against Sacred Heart.
Ragland 88, Coosa Christian 40
The Lady Purple Devils were in control from the get-go. They were up 10-0, 17-2, and 24-4 and that was just in the first quarter, The Ragland girls went on to easily defeat Coosa Christian 88-40 to advance to play Gaston in the area tournament finals, who defeated Appalachian earlier in the day.
By the time the first quarter ended, Ragland’s lead was 27-8. The full-court pressure defense by the Lady Purple Devils forced numerous turnovers by Coosa. By halftime, the score was 53-20 and the visitors had almost as many turnovers as points.
The third quarter was a mirror of the first two quarters with Ragland winning the scoring battle 22-5 to take a 75-25 lead.
The final score was 88-40.
Four Ragland players scored in double figures and leading the way was Emily Church with 21 points. Madison Oliver and Kailey Echols pumped in 14 points each and had 5 steals each. As a team, the Lady Purple Devils had 18 steals. Echols led the team with 9 rebounds. Paige Gann had 11 points while JJ Looney netted 9 points and grabbed 7 boards.
With the win, Ragland improved to 23-4 overall and remained undefeated against area teams at 9-0.
Ragland 44, Gaston 32
Echols had a double-double as she scored 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Lady Purple Devils to a 44-32 win over Gaston.
Ragland led 11-6 after the first quarter and increased its lead to 23-11 at halftime.
The second half was even with both teams scoring 21 points each to make the final score 44-32.
Oliver scored 9 points and grabbed 9 rebounds while Church scored 9 point sand pulled down 7 boards. Looney added 8 points while Gann totaled 7 points.
Kailey Echols was named the tournament MVP. Paige Gann and Emily Church were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Named to the All-Area Team for the regular season included Oliver, Looney, Church and Gann.
Ragland is now 24-4 on the season headed into the playoffs.
Contact Gary Hanner at ghanner@thestclairtimes.com.
