FORT MILL – The Catawba Ridge Copperheads picked up their first wins ever in The Arena, the new nickname they are affectionately calling their home basketball gym.
The Copperheads’ boys and girls team swept the North Gaston Wildcats to get the wins. The girls team won 53-38 as they had three different Catawba Ridge players in double figures led by 18 points from Victoria Jordan. Tatum Postel had 14 for the Copperheads and Brielle Windisch added 10 points as well for Catawba Ridge in the win.
“We talked about not being satisfied with just winning games,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Kate Edwards. “We want to get better.”
Since the start of the season, Catawba Ridge hasn’t had much practice and has been playing roughly three games a week, so a lot of the time they have been learning on the fly.
“Being so inexperienced, game play is important,” Edwards said. “All this is good experience. We are just trying to prepare for region play.”
Against North Gaston, the Copperheads didn’t waste much time as they opened the game on a 15-0 run scoring most of those baskets in transition. Jordan had 11 of her 18 points in the first quarter as Catawba Ridge led 19-10 after the first quarter.
The Copperheads started the second quarter on an 11-2 run as well and made it 30-12 before North Gaston called a timeout. It was Postel, who took over for Catawba Ridge in the second quarter scoring eight of her 14 points as they took a 34-15 lead into the half.
Despite being outscored in the second half, Catawba Ridge managed to keep their first half pace and pull away comfortably.
The Copperhead boys’ team also cruised to a comfortable 68-48 win as well getting their first home win ever. Catawba Ridge forced North Gaston into 25 turnovers in the game, most of those coming in the first half.
“We made some shots and got inside the arc,” said Copperheads’ head coach Brett Childers. “Any type of game situation is really important for our defense. Our bench really picked the tempo up as well.”
Catawba Ridge was led by Davante Gonzalez, who had 13 points in the win. Both teams started off with their struggles in the opening period, as turnovers plagued each squad. The Copperheads took a 17-12 lead after the first quarter as they got seven players scoring in the opening period.
The Copperheads double up North Gaston 18-9 in the second quarter and took a 35-21 lead into the locker room at the break. Both teams started the second half slowly hitting just one of their first 11 shots combined, but the Copperheads quickly found their offense and took a 20-point lead into the final quarter.
Up next for the Copperheads are games at Nation Ford during the winter break on Dec. 20 and then the boy’s team will play in the Chesnee Roundball Classic Dec. 27-30.
Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM
