Both the Catawba Ridge girls’ and boys’ basketball teams secured comfortable home wins over Forestview in non-region action Monday night at The Arena.
In the boy’s game, Catawba Ridge used a 17-4 run in the second quarter to pull away from Forestview 70-58 and earn their sixth win of the season.
Guard Zyan Hager scored 27 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead the Copperheads. Brady Ambrose added 12 points, Landon Foley dropped in 11 points, and Grant Lovette scored 10 points followed Hager with double-digit performances for Catawba Ridge, who is now 6-1 on the season.
After the two teams finished the first quarter tied 12-12, Catawba Ridge finally took control of the game with a 17-point second quarter that included a 13-0 run in the opening five minutes. The run was highlighted by a silky move through the paint by Hager that ended in a layup to give the Copperheads a double-digit lead.
Meanwhile, Lovette worked hard and created plenty of opportunities in the paint, both for himself and his teammates. The Copperheads entered the halftime break with a 13-point lead.
Catawba Ridge head coach Brett Childers said he told his team to focus on the “little things” heading into that pivotal second quarter.
“We weren’t doing the little things we need to do,” he said. “We played kind of lackadaisical, so we needed to tighten things up. The way we like to play is defense to offense, so we needed to do that a little better in the second quarter.”
Five different Copperheads scored at least one field goal as Catawba Ridge extended its lead to 23 in the third quarter. And Hager got his license to shoot from beyond the arc late in the game, hitting four buckets from long distance in the final eight minutes.
Eleven different Copperheads got a chance to take the court Monday night, which Childers said was nice for the team’s development.
“Once we settled down, we can do a lot more on offense, and be in the right spot with the passes, that really helps,” Childers said.
CATAWBA RIDGE 73, FORESTVIEW 18
Eight different Lady Copperheads scored in Catawba Ridge’s 73-18 blowout home win over Forestview High School Monday night at The Arena in Fort Mill.
Guard Tatum Postel led all scorers with 26 points, including four 3-pointers scattered throughout the lopsided contest. Starters Brielle Windisch scored 13 points, Makailah Davis added 11 points, and Morgan Davis dropped in 9 points were all given light workloads in the second half.
The Copperheads, improving to 5-3 overall, held the visiting Jaguars to just one made field goal in the first half.
Forestview finally picked up its first made basket of the game through Amani Neely’s layup with 4:17 left in the second quarter to cut the lead to 27-4.
Windisch scored on back-to-back breakaway steals that led to layups in the final minute of the first half to push the score to 41-4 at the break.
Catawba Ridge head coach Sheridan Pressley replaced all her starters midway through the third quarter. Postel’s third trey of the night gave Catawba Ridge a 59-8 lead.
The referees and coaches agreed to a running clock for the fourth quarter. The biggest reaction of the night came from the Catawba Ridge bench when junior guard Amillion Bell hit a mid-range floater with about three minutes left to play that gave the Copperheads a 73-14 lead.
The Catawba Ridge varsity teams next travel to play Nation Ford on Friday, Dec. 16.
