Dec 11, 2017 4 min read

MONONGAHELA – Ashley Briscoe became the 10th Ringgold High School girls basketball player in school history to score 1,000 career points and helped the Rams to a thrilling 40-39 win over neighboring rival Charleroi Monday night.

“To me this is a great accomplishment and my teammates and coaches push me,” said Briscoe. “It is a great win.”

The senior finished with 12 points, giving her 1,001 for her career, and seven rebounds to pace Ringgold.

“I’ve known her since her freshman year and to see her grow, although it can be frustrating, she has her moments and I couldn’t be prouder because she works so hard,” Ringgold coach Erika McCarthy said. “I like that we never gave up even though Charleroi closed on our lead and we were able to pull it out.

“We have some things to keep working on and we will do just that.”

Charleroi had a chance to win on the last possession, but as Maggie Albert drove towards the hoop and attempted a shot, Taylor Costa blocked it to preserve the win.

Charleroi coach Kevin Lee spoke about his team’s struggles on the free-throw line and how it impacted the outcome of the game. The Cougars were 11 of 19 at the line and missed the front end of three one-and-ones.

“Free-throw shooting is in our girls heads right now and it is killing us,” he said. “Our girls have to come out better in the first half. The bright spot was how the girls came back.”

Trailing 4-2 early, Charleroi went on a 7-0 run midway through the first quarter to take an early 9-4 lead, but Ringgold closed the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 10-9 lead into the second quarter.

The 6-0 run was part of a 17-1 Ringgold run that gave the hosts a 21-10 lead halfway through the second quarter, and the Rams led 27-14 at the half.

Ringgold went on a 6-2 run to close the half and a 4-0 run to start the third quarter, but Charleroi stepped up the defense and outscored the Rams 10-0 the rest of the third quarter to trim the Ringgold advantage to 31-24 heading into the fourth quarter.

Charleroi extended its run to 16-0 and cut the Ringgold lead to 31-30 with 6:01 to play.

Ringgold went more than eight minutes without scoring a point during the run.

The Rams went on a 6-0 run to take a 37-30 lead with 4:06 to go with the last bucket giving Briscoe her milestone.

The game was stopped one possession later and Maria Claybaugh, who finished with a game-high 18 points for Charleroi, drilled a three-pointer to make the score 37-33 with 3:51 to play.

After Nya Adams hit one of two free throws to give Ringgold a 38-33 lead with 2:42 to play, Charleroi’s Sierra Short hit two free throws to make the score 38-35 with 2:19 to play.

Taylor Mendicino hit a pair of free throws for Ringgold with 1:43 to play to make the score 40-35, and Ringgold would not score again.

Short hit a basket to make the score 40-37 with 1:30 to go, and Claybaugh hit a pair of free throws with 1:04 to go to close the scoring.

Short finished with 14 points and had eight of Charleroi’s 16 rebounds against the much-taller Rams.

Aislyn Lee played a solid floor game for Charleroi and had eight assistsand Claybaugh added six steals.

Adams finished with six assists for Ringgold while Costa had 11 rebounds for the Rams.

Charleroi played its third straight game to start the season without three-year starter Kaitlyn Riley and hopes to have her back Thursday for the Cougars’ Section 2-AAA opener at South Allegheny.

“It is day-to-day,” Lee said of Riley’s lower leg injury.