By John Turner
Correspondent
If you were expecting Thursday nights’ showdown between Fort Mill and Catawba Ridge to be a ho-hum affair then you went to the wrong place.
Catawba Ridge’s Zyan Hager hit a school record seventh 3-pointer to win the game 49-46 at the buzzer.
Both teams came out hot as Braylen McCain nailed two 3’s for Fort Mill while Hager pumped in six and Grant Lovette added in six. Zach Jennings drained a 3-pointer at the 1:58 mark giving Fort Mill a 9-8 lead. After a Lovette layup, Fort Mill inbounded the basketball with a long pass into the front court to Will Stumpf to jammed it home to make the score 14-12 Jackets at the end of one period.
Hager would hit two 3’s to start the second quarter and you started to feel like the Copperheads would begin to pull away since Fort Mill came out ice cold. Yet, the score was only 22-14 at the 4:57 mark. Stumpf would add another bucket and Jennings drained another 3-pointer making it 22-21 with 1:51 to go in the first half. Both teams had clean looks at the rim, but couldn’t get it through the basket. Fort Mill missed a shot right at the buzzer giving Catawba Ridge a 25-22 lead at halftime.
The second half got off to a rocky start for both squads. Gabe Tooper’s first bucket of the game came at the 3:51 mark third quarter.
Fort Mill was able to go toe-to-toe throughout the third quarter. Hager hit another three, he hit 7 from long range in the game setting a school record, tying the score at 30 with 3:29 to play in the quarter. Lance Barnes would hit a quick two with two seconds left making it 40-34 Copperheads. The Yellow Jackets made the most of that two seconds as the ball was inbound by Jennings to Tooper to swished it from close range making it 40-36 as the game went to the final period.
Fort Mill carried the momentum into the final quarter as Jennings drained another 3-pointer to get it started cutting the lead to one. Hager scored on a transition layup when McGuire Adams scored on a put back making it 42-41. Lovette, who hadn’t scored since the second quarter, hit a layup off a screen.
Fort Mill would miss four shots in one possession with about three minutes to play. Another long range 3-pointer by McCain gave Fort Mill its first lead of the period as Catawba Ridge called timeout with 2:15 left.
Both teams would defend and grind as both coaches exhausted their timeouts. With 1.2 seconds left every fan in a packed Fort Mill gymnasium looked on as Catawba Ridge would try to inbound the ball near the scorer’s table with the game tied at 46. Hager inbounded the ball to Brady Ambrose, who gave it right back to Hager who drained a 30-footer as the horn sounded giving Catawba Ridge a hard-earned win.
It was efficiency and execution at its finest as the Copperheads were able to pull off the shot with so little precious time remaining. Hager led the Copperheads in scoring with 29 points. Lovette chimed in with 13 points. McCain led the Jackets with 11 points. Jennings and Stumpf had 9 points each for Fort Mill.
With the victory, Catawba Ridge improves to 5-1 overall. Fort Mill falls to 1-4 on the season with the loss.
Copperheads win in OT
On Thursday night, it was the second time the Lady Jackets and Lady Copperheads have locked horns this season. The first one was in the Milltown Basketball Classic which was a close game until the end which the Copperheads won. This time it was Catawba Ridge coming away with a 46-43 win in overtime.
On Thursday, Catawba Ridge came out firing as Makailah Davis nailed a 3-pointer right out of the shoot. She actually hit another one in quick succession, but it was waived off by a traveling call. The Copperheads were so dominant early on, they attempted five shots before the Lady Jackets shot their first, but only enjoyed a 5-0 lead.
After a 3-pointer by Lydia Laney the score was 7-7 with about three minutes to play first quarter. Both teams were bitten by the turnover bug and lack of scoring over the closing moments of the quarter. Fort Mill would hit a basket in the end to take a 10-8 lead to the second quarter.
Catawba Ridge didn’t score for the final three minutes of the first quarter and the first three minutes of the second quarter. Davis hit a bucket at the 3:40 mark restoring the Copperheads lead 13-12. There seemed to be a lid on the rim for both clubs as Catawba Ridge took an 18-13 lead into halftime.
The second half was more of the same when finally, the Lady Jackets hit a basket at the 5:41 mark, but the Copperheads responded immediately. That’s when both teams began to warm up.
Fort Mill’s Clare Moore hit a runner and Ella Marker got a put back score. Makailah Davis scored a pair while Brielle Windisch added five. It looked like the Copperheads would maintain their lead headed to the fourth quarter, but Fort Mill’s Reagan Reyes had other ideas. She nailed two buckets in a matter of 15 seconds to cut the lead to 27-23 at the end of three quarters.
Reyes hit another shot early in the fourth quarter then after an empty trip by the Copperheads, Laney drained another one from downtown giving Fort Mill its first lead since early in the second quarter 28-27.
Morgan Davis and Addison Cunningham came to the rescue to the Copperheads. Morgan Davis would score five points in the quarter while Cunningham would pour in another five.
Copperheads led 35-31 with only 2:56 to play. Reyes scored two more baskets again in quick succession tying the score at 36 with 2:14. Laney’s 3-pointer gave Fort Mill a 39-38 lead with 90 seconds left.
Morgan Davis missed the front end of a two-shot foul, but nailed the second tying the game again at 39 with only 43 seconds left. She would miss another two free throws giving the Jackets a chance to win it in regulation, but Fort Mill was unable to get a shot off due to Catawba Ridge pressure sending the game into overtime.
Makailah Davis was fouled early nailing both free throws giving the Copperheads the early lead in the extra frame. Laney would hit two free throws a few seconds later making the score 41 apiece. Windisch would make a layup with 2:09 to go. Windisch’s layup was the only bucket scored by either team in overtime.
Fort Mill hit 3-of-6 free throws in overtime while Catawba Ridge hit 4-of-6. Laney would miss a 15-foot floater with 22.7 seconds left.
Makailah Davis led the way for Catawba Ridge with 12 points. Morgan Davis finished with 11 points. For Fort Mill, Reyes scored 12 points and Laney finished with nine points.
With the victory, Catawba Ridge improves to 4-3 on the season. Next game up is at home versus Forestview Monday, Dec. 12 for the Copperheads. Meanwhile, Fort Mill’s record fell to 3-3 overall. They welcome Indian Land to The Hive on Tuesday, Dec. 13 as well.
