McIntosh Dismantles River Ridge in Tournament Championship

McIntosh used the strength of River Ridge's offense against the Lady Knights to register a 52-16 victory in the basketball championship game of the inaugural Kell Longhorn Shootout tournament Tuesday night.

Averaging 55 points in their 12 previous games, River Ridge's explosive offense was silenced quickly and decisively by the 8-1 Lady Chiefs.

McIntosh buried River Ridge early with a barrage of 3-pointers in the first quarter to take a stunning 19-2 lead. Sophomore shooting guard Amanda Lindsey canned three consecutive 3-pointers in the period and fellow sophomore Gabi Seiler hit two more, including one at the buzzer.

"It felt great," said Lindsey, who scored 12 of her season-high 15 points in the first half. "I got comfortable and was in the zone."

Conversely, River Ridge (5-8 overall) appeared uncomfortable and rattled throughout the contest.

McIntosh played an aggressive, up-tempo style in the first half. The fast pace of the Lady Chiefs helped them hit 7-of-14 shots in the first quarter and 6-of-14 in the second. River Ridge went 1-for-10 from the field in the first quarter and 1-for-12 in the second to wedge them into a 34-4 halftime hole.

"You can only call so many plays, but you gotta put the ball in the hole," said second-year River Ridge coach Jason Taylor. "When we're on, we're on–we can play with anyone. But, when we're cold. It's bad. There's no medium with these girls, and that's part of being young, and we'll figure it out. It's something we'll learn from and get better when we step back on the floor."

Using the Lady Knights speed against them and aiming to tire them out were two of McIntosh's primary goals for the game.

"We wanted to run them down so they would get tired," said McIntosh's Evelyn Keysar, who scored six points. "We were kind of shocked and amazed because we thought they were going to shoot better. It was exciting to beat them the way we did."

The 36-point defeat to the Lady Chiefs was twice as bad as the previous worst loss suffered by River Ridge this season when they fell 50-32 to Armuchee Dec. 14.

Comprised solely of freshmen and sophomores, the Lady Knights were led by sophomore Jordan Livesay's six points. Jessica Baker, Carson Bedford, Maggie Sigler, Jessica Mlaska and Parker Nayman all scored two points for River Ridge, which played a junior varsity schedule last season during the new school's first year.

"You gotta give credit where credit is due," Taylor said. "(McIntosh) played great defense."

After scoring a career-high 35 points Monday night in a 46-40 win over St. Pius X, Seiler continued her strong shooting for McIntosh with 14 points. Laura Higgason added five points and Crystal Ojukwu chipped in four points for the Lady Chiefs, who play next week in the Deep South Classic tournament at Brookwood High in Snellville.

River Ridge will not compete the rest of the holiday season and will resume play Jan. 4 against Sonoraville.