An early run in the opening quarter propelled the Catawba Ridge boys’ basketball team to a convincing win over Marvin Ridge to open their regular season.
The Copperheads won 71-53 as three of their players scored in double figures to lead Catawba Ridge, who is now 3-1 on the season. Carter Hendrick led the Copperheads with 18 points, as Landon Foley and Grant Lovette each added 10 points also.
“We looked solid,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Brett Childers. “We had two good days of practice. We made a real concerted effort to get the ball inside.”
The Copperheads doubled up Marvin Ridge in the opening quarter going up 18-9 after the first period. Catawba Ridge was able to get second chance points and were big on the glass as they looked inside at higher percentage shots in the early going.
Marvin Ridge played better in the second quarter, but Catawba Ridge distributed the ball well and had six different players score in the quarter to take a 36-24 halftime lead.
Catawba Ridge did show some signs of struggles in the second half, especially in the third quarter as they turned the ball over six of their first seven possessions. Once they worked those kinks out, the Copperheads were able to start converting and hit seven of 11 field goals in the period to go up by 20 at one point.
Hendrick continued to dominate inside for the Copperheads in the fourth quarter getting rebounds and second chance points for Catawba Ridge. The Copperheads also got some key bench play from players like Tyler France and Jack Turnbow throughout the game.
Up next for Catawba Ridge is a rematch with Fort Mill, who beat them last week in the Milltown Classic at Catawba Ridge. This time the game is at Fort Mill Tuesday night at 8 p.m. roughly.
“It should be four quarters of scrapping,” Childers said.
Girls pull out a win late
The Catawba Ridge girls team pulled away in the final minute with the help of key plays from Makailah Davis.
Davis hit the go-ahead bucket with about a minute left in the game and then came up with a steal with six seconds left as the Copperheads won 51-49.
Catawba Ridge was led by 20 points from Skyla Tuthill and Davis added 10 points in the win as the Copperheads improved to 3-1 on the year.
“We are learning from these close ones,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Sheridan Pressley. “We got in a little foul trouble and we have to take care of the ball better.”
The match up with Marvin Ridge was a back-and-forth effort from both teams, as the Copperheads trailed after each of the first three quarters. Catawba Ridge turned the ball over six times in the second quarter and another four times in each of the third and fourth quarters.
Catawba Ridge played better in the second half and was able to get better looks inside the lane to get off better shots. They also took advantage of their trips to the charity stripe hitting 8-of-14 second half free-throws.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
