If anyone ever doubted who the heart and soul of Elizabeth Forward’s girls’ basketball team is, they should have watched the Warriors’ 48-41 Section 4-AAA win over host Ringgold Thursday night.

Not only did Abigail Sporio lead EF (15-3, 9-1) in scoring, but she also gave her team the defensive spark it needed that turned a 12-point deficit into a win that avenged the Warriors’ only section loss of the season.

Ringgold (10-9, 5-5) took a 25-17 lead at halftime and scored the first four points of the third quarter to go up 29-17.

But EF went on a 27-2 run that completely turned the game around and it was Sporio scoring 13 of her game-high 22 points in the second half that was the catalyst.

Also, EF coach Krystal Gibbs switched defenses at halftime, going to a box-and-one defense with Sporio guarding Ringgold’s Bailey Cooper.

Cooper had 12 points in the first half, including 10 in the second quarter when the Rams outscored EF 17-8 to take the halftime lead.

In the second half, Sporio shut Cooper down as the Ringgold guard managed just a 3-point field goal with 2:33 to play in the game.

“We changed up our defense and I told Abby that I didn’t want (Cooper) to touch the ball,” Gibbs said. “I thought she did a tremendous job for us defensively. She means so much to our team.”

And while Sporio was shutting Cooper down in the second half, EF – which couldn’t buy a basket in the first half – couldn’t miss in the second half.

“That’s been the story of our team all year,” Gibbs said. “Sometimes we’ve struggled offensively, but our girls never quit. They just fight through it and that’s what we did tonight.”

Ringgold coach Laura Grimm said she didn’t want to take anything away from EF, noting, “Any time you come back from 12 points in the second half and win, it says something.”

However …

“I know they went to the box on (Cooper), but we have practiced and prepared for that all season,” Grimm said. “The problem was we made some dumb plays and allowed them to take the momentum back and before you knew it, we went from 12 up to 10 down.

“Honestly, we gave that game away. We have nobody to blame but ourselves.”

Ringgold was trailing 9-6 late in the first quarter before the hosts went on a run behind Cooper that gave them the lead at the break.

In the third quarter, after Marlena Schmidt and Ashley Briscoe scored to give Ringgold a 29-17 lead, EF turned on the power.

EF pulled ahead 30-29 on a basket by Breaonna Brinson with 57 seconds left in the third quarter.

Ringgold regained the lead, 31-30, on a basket by Johnna Mocniak with six seconds left in the quarter.

However, that was the last lead Ringgold would have the rest of the night.

Sporio started the fourth quarter off with a 3-pointer and a short jumper to put EF back up, 35-31 and the winners scored the next nine points to increase the lead to 44-31 with four minutes to play in the game.

Ringgold had one last run as Schmidt hit a layup, Cooper drained her trey and Briscoe converted a three-point-play with 1:52 left and the Rams trailed 44-39.

But the hosts could get no closer.

The win allowed EF to gain at least a share of the section crown while Ringgold still needs to win one of its final two section games to get into the playoffs.

Backing Cooper’s 15 points for Ringgold was Schmidt with 12 points and five blocked shots.

For EF, Jessica Palady had 10 points, all in the second half.

“We need one win to get in,” Grimm said. “I gave the girls three days off to get away and clear their heads. After this one, we need to do that.”

Jeff Oliver is a sports editor for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-684-2666 or joliver@tribweb.com.

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