Catawba Ridge’s Lance Barnes goes up for a shot against Indian Land during Friday’s Region 3-4A game. Photos by Rob Upton Photography.

By Jack Veltri

Correspondent

INDIAN LAND – Catawba Ridge had a night to remember, winning in both boy’s and girl’s basketball against Indian Land Friday.

The boy’s won in thrilling fashion, while the girls didn’t break much of a sweat in their win.

Copperheads’ head coach Brett Childers described the emotions of his team’s game as a rollercoaster. And he couldn’t have been more right. 

Catawba Ridge hung on to defeat Indian Land 64-59, silencing an energized home crowd in the process. It moved them to 16-4 overall and 2-2 in Region 3-4A. 

“We played really well a lot of stretches — got a little tight there — and (Indian Land) is a good team and you expect them to make a run at you,” Childers said. “I thought we handled it pretty well for the most part. A couple of bad passes, we got a lot of shots that were kind of short on a little bit in the second half, but we came through in the end.”

After a defensive first half from both sides, the Copperheads got off to a phenomenal start in the second half. They opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run to extend their lead to 20. The lead grew to as much as 23 points. 

Then the momentum slowly started to shift. Indian Land started sinking shots while Catawba Ridge was missing and picking up fouls. Eventually, the Warriors cut the deficit to single digits when some questionable fouls were called against Childers’ squad. 

“That’s just part of the game,” he said.  “You’re going to get some you like and some you don’t like. But the guys have got to just play through them.”

Indian Land closed the gap to three late in the fourth quarter before Zyan Hager hit an all-important three-pointer to give the Copperheads some breathing room. Hager finished with 17 points. His teammate Lance Barnes also scored the same number of points in the game. 

The Warriors continued to fight back, though. They stayed in the game with some late shots but were forced to start fouling with less than a minute to go. 

When Catawba Ridge needed it most, its players knocked down a majority of its free throws to narrowly escape defeat. 

The Copperheads have had some close calls lately, losing two of their region games by eight total points. 

“We’ve come up short a couple of times against good teams,” Childers said. “We had a big lead the other night against Lancaster. They came back and beat us. So, it was good to see us sustain one.”

Girls dominate, rolling to blowout victory 

Behind strong defense and consistent baskets, the Copperheads rolled to a 67-49 win over Indian Land. 

After losing its opening game in region play last week, Catawba Ridge has rattled off three straight wins, all by double-digits. They sit at 14-4 overall and 3-1 in the region.

“We’ve got to make sure that we come in and we’re locked in and everybody’s doing their job,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Sheridan Pressley. “We talk about finishing every day, finishing every quarter and finishing every play. That’s going to help make us successful.”

The Copperheads got off to a strong start in the first half with five 3-pointers. They went on a pivotal 11-0 run, holding the Warriors scoreless for more than five minutes. 

From there, it was almost a cakewalk to the finish line. Catawba Ridge continued to force Indian Land to turn the ball over and cashed in on those mistakes. The Copperheads were leading by as much as 27 points in the fourth quarter.

Pressley, who was unphased most of the night, couldn’t help but crack a few smiles as the game winded down, knowing her team wasn’t going to lose. 

“Our execution and effort got better as the game went on,” she said. “But we are a team that likes to have fun and we’ve got a lot of energetic girls.”

Makailah Davis led the way with 22 points, 16 of which came in the first half. Tatum Postel and Morgan Davis also posted double-digit outings, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively. 

Catawba Ridge’s road swing will continue next Tuesday night against the Northwestern Trojans.

Catawba Ridge’s Addison Cunningham shoots over an Indian Land defender.