With one blowout win and one nailbiter, the Catawba Ridge Copperheads basketball program swept the Nation Ford Falcons heading into the Christmas break Friday night.
Both the boy’s and girl’s teams for Catawba Ridge improved to 9-1 on the season as the Copperheads edged Nation Ford in the boy’s game 44-40, while the girl’s game was won handily by Catawba Ridge 70-40.
In the boy’s game, Nation Ford rallied in the second half, but still struggled with turnovers and scoring enough to be able to get the win. The Falcons outscored Catawba Ridge 26-18 in the second half after trailing by 12 at halftime.
Catawba Ridge was led by 10 points from Tyler France, who scored the majority of his points in the first half. Carter Hendrick, Grant Lovette and Zyan Hager all added eight points each for the Copperheads.
“Defensively, we continued the trend of playing solid,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Brett Childers. “We had some flat legs on offense.”
Both teams started the game slow as turnovers began to become an issue for Nation Ford early in the opening quarter. The Falcons struggled to score most of the night and didn’t hit their first field goal of the game until 1:17 left in the quarter.
The tempo picked up in the second quarter as the two teams combined to score 29 points. Catawba Ridge started hitting 3-pointers and widened their lead to go up 26-14 at the half.
Nation Ford opened the second half going on a small run as the Copperheads struggled from the field missing their first six shots. The Falcons’ offense slowed as they were able to outscore Catawba Ridge, but struggle to cut into a 10 point lead the Copperheads had after three quarters.
Nation Ford put together their best quarter of the game in the fourth scoring 17 points, as Nas Berry led the Falcons with 18 points in the game, 11 of which came in the final period. Catawba Ridge was able to use their foul shooting to keep the Falcons at arms-length hitting 9-of-13 foul shots.
Nation Ford is now 3-6 on the season and will play at South Pointe Monday according to their schedule. Catawba Ridge will be traveling to the Chesnee Roundball Classic this coming week at Chesnee High.
Catawba Ridge has four in double figures
In one of their stronger games of the season, the Catawba Ridge girls had four players score in double figures as they continue to seem to get better.
Tatum Postel led the way for the Copperheads as she scored 24 points, hitting six 3-pointers in the game. Makaliah Davis added 19 points, most of which came in the first half, and Skyla Tuthill scored 14 points. Morgan Davis added 11 points as well for Catawba Ridge.
“We are getting better,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Sheridan Pressley. “We are not the same team we were four weeks ago. We are doing things well. Wins aside, our goal is to get better every day.”
The Copperheads came out strong and went straight at Nation Ford going up 20-8 after the opening quarter. Nation Ford struggled with getting good looks at the basket as Camille Kerridge led them with 19 points, but didn’t get hot until the fourth quarter.
Catawba Ridge started the game on a 10-0 run and were never challenged by the Falcons liked they were in their first meeting. The Copperheads led at the half 36-16 and started the third quarter on another 10-0 run. Nation Ford struggled the most in the third quarter with turnovers giving the ball up nine times alone in the period.
The Copperheads outscored them 23-8 in the third quarter and had a comfortable 59-24 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Nation Ford head coach Coretta Richmond said her team played too inconsistent, and that has been a problem this year. The Falcons dropped to 3-7 on the season with the loss.
“We are still trying to find our continuity,” she said.
Catawba Ridge girls have the week off from games, while Nation Ford girls will play in the Y.C. Winborn Classic at Rock Hill High this coming week.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
