Catawba Ridge’s Emma Grace Hilton shoots a shot over a Spartanburg defender during the Copperheads’ game at the Milltown Basketball Classic.

The Catawba Ridge girls’ basketball team sprinted their way to a 54-36 win over Spartanburg, while second half shooting struggles doomed the boys’ efforts in a 50-39 loss on day two of the Milltown Basketball Classic.

With the win, Catawba Ridge girls improved to 2-0 as they had three players score in double figures led by senior Victoria Jordan. Emma Grace Hilton and Elly Zeanchock each had 10 points as well.

“We are still trying to knock the rust off,” said Lady Copperheads’ head coach Kate Edwards. “They played well. We have two seniors (Hilton and Jordan) who have been with me for four years. They have a strong understanding of what we are doing. They play hard and they are good at supporting the younger players.”

Catawba Ridge dominated the first half and never really looked back. Jordan had a big second quarter scoring 10 of her 20 points to give the Copperheads a 34-17 lead at the half. In the third quarter, Hilton scored six of her 10 points, as Jordan added six more of her own.

Zeanchock added six of her 10 points in the first quarter on two 3-pointers, as Catawba Ridge hit 14-of-30 shots in the first half.

Spartanburg played better in the second half against the Copperheads, but it was too much for them to rally from behind as Catawba Ridge took a 22-point lead into the fourth quarter.

In the boys’ game, Catawba Ridge held strong for part of the first half, but hit just six second half shots as Spartanburg pulled away.

Spartanburg jumped out to a 14-5 lead after the first quarter, but Catawba Ridge stormed back in the second quarter to outscore the Vikings 15-6 and trail by just two at the half. The Copperheads hit six of nine shots from the field and was led by Carter Hendrick, who had seven of his nine points in the quarter.

In the second half, Spartanburg opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run and the Copperheads struggled to keep pace. Spartanburg was able to swing the momentum their way by using second chance points and grabbing needed offensive rebounds.

Catawba Ridge hit just three of 12 shots in the third quarter and then three of 13 in the fourth. Despite that, they stayed within striking distance of Spartanburg and only trailed by 10 with about 1:15 left in the game. Landon Foley added nine points as well for the Copperheads, all coming in the second half.

“We were a little flat,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Brett Childers. “We took good shots, but sometimes we didn’t take what was in front of us.”

Catawba Ridge is now 1-1 on the season and both the boys and girls will play Rock Hill today. The Rock Hill boys and girls are 2-0 in the tournament and like the Copperhead girls’ squad the winner in the girls’ game between the two teams should advance to the 4 p.m. title game tomorrow.

Nation Ford falls to Rock Hill

Both the Falcons boys and girls team fell to Rock Hill. The Lady Falcons fell 47-39 and the boys’ team fell 59-44.

The loss by the Nation Ford boys’ team drops them to 0-2 as they will take on Andrew Jackson on the final day of the tournament today.

Nation Ford was led by Quadeir Hand, who scored 10 points for the Falcons. The Falcons again got off to a slow start with Rock Hill going up 22-8 after the first quarter. From there, Nation Ford kept pace with them for the remaining three quarters, but couldn’t really cut into that deficit.

The girls’ game for Nation Ford was similar as Rock Hill had a big first quarter going up 16-8. While the Lady Falcons kept it respectable in the second quarter, Rock Hill really used their momentum to pull away in the third quarter outscoring Nation Ford 14-5.

Fort Mill splits with Andrew Jackson

The Fort Mill girls’ and boys’ teams split games with Andrew Jackson. The girls’ team won 36-26 and held the Lady Volunteers to just 10 first half points. The Lady Jackets are now 1-1 on the season.

Fort Mill’s boys’ team lost 37-36 to Andrew Jackson and fall to 0-2 on the season. Fort Mill was led by Kyle Neibch with 18 points. Both the boys and girls teams will now take on Spartanburg on the last day of the tournament.

Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep

Marques Johnson for Catawba Ridge goes in for a lay-up against Spartanburg.