RINGGOLD, Ga. -- The challenges delivered at basketball practices Monday afternoon at Ringgold High School were different in subject but had the same goal.
State tournament competition begins tonight with girls' games, with the boys taking center stage Wednesday. What Ringgold girls' coach Margaret Stockburger and boys' coach Greg Elkins were teaching Monday was likely repeated at hundreds of gyms in Georgia: Forget what happened last week and focus on the task at hand.
For the Tigers, recent events have Elkins and his team scrambling. A season-ending ankle injury to point guard Mac Brower has stalled the offense, leading to three losses down the stretch, including a Region 6-AAA tournament semifinal game to North Murray. Ringgold (19-7) rallied to win the third-place game but will be on the road Wednesday against Rockmart.
"When Brower went down, it changed the way we played," said Elkins, who lost 15 points, seven assists and seven rebounds a game with that injury. "We like to get up and down the floor, and when you have a dynamic point guard like that, he's so vital to that way if playing. It was a big blow to us because I feel like we would have won two of the three we lost and would be at worst No. 2 in the region."
With Brower out, opponents have been focusing more defensive intensity on senior guard Kile Sholl, so Elkins is trying to find more offense. In two losses to North Murray the Tigers held the Mountaineers under 50 points but struggled too much offensively.
"We've put in more sets to get Kile the ball," Elkins said. "North Murray played a triangle-and-two against us and dared the other kids to beat them, and we didn't shoot it well enough. We've got to play defense like we're capable of, and we have to have some kids step up."
The biggest obstacle for the Ringgold girls might be in putting their last game behind them. They held a late five-point lead on Calhoun in the region championship game before losing in the final seconds.
Coach Margaret Stockburger is counting on a season's worth of good work -- a 22-win season after going winless two years ago and getting six wins last season -- to help with the preparation for tonight's game with 12-12 Callaway.
"I talked to the girls about goals," Stockburger said, "and some you reach and some you don't. We had to go back and re-evaluate and get more goals. Our goal right now is to win a state playoff game. It was good to get to practice today. They were a totally different group from the one I left Saturday night."
The Lady Tigers have only two seniors, Jessica Hargrove and Brittany Allison, but Stockburger said their leadership has been felt.
"Both our seniors have done a great job, as has (junior) Bethany Headrick," Stockburger said. "We can't let Saturday linger because Callaway has some very quick and athletic players. They're going to be a tough matchup for us, but I feel if we play like we can we'll be all right."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.
GHSA girls' first-round games tonight
Class AAAA
Heritage (12-10) at Buford (23-3), 6
Class AAA
Haralson County (21-6) at Calhoun (23-4), 6
Callaway (12-12) at Ringgold (22-5), 6
Sonoraville (17-10) at Pepperell (17-8), 6:30
North Murray (16-10) at Central, Carroll (23-3), 6:30
Class AA
Dade County (17-9) at Rabun County (16-9), 6
Wednesday
Class AAAA
North Hall (17-11) at Northwest Whitfield (21-7), 6
GHSA boys' first-round games Wednesday
Class AAAA
Monroe Area (17-11) at Heritage (24-3), 7
Northwest Whitfield (16-9) at Buford (15-12), 6
Southeast Whitfield (11-14) at Johnson, Gainesville (27-0), 6
Class AAA
Pepperell (11-14) at Calhoun (21-3), 6
Central, Carroll (12-16) at North Murray (18-8), 6
Ringgold (19-7) at Rockmart (21-6), 7
Sonoraville (11-15) at Callaway (18-4), 6