By Jack Veltri
Correspondent
The Nation Ford basketball teams swept a road doubleheader with the Catawba Ridge Copperheads on Tuesday night.
Things started well for the Falcons with the girls’ team picking up a 56-41 win in the first game of the evening.
While Nation Ford led by four at the break, Falcons’ head coach Kelly Bennett had one simple message for his players for the second half: “Keep the energy.”
“You gotta keep it up,” Bennett said. “If you don’t keep the energy, this type of team will come back and kill you.”
Bennett’s words didn’t take long to translate over to the floor, as Nation Ford dominated the rest of the way.
The Falcons will move to 9-8 on the season and 3-1 in Region 3-5A play. Meanwhile, the Copperheads are now 7-9 overall and 2-2 in the region.
“I am beyond happy,” Bennett said. “That’s one of the best efforts we’ve put together since we started region. I told them it has to be crucial because we’ve got Clover and Fort Mill coming up. So, our effort here started that little run. That’s huge for us.”
After trading buckets to open the second half, Kayla Wilmore put Nation Ford ahead by 10 after she went to the free throw line for an and-one followed by a three-pointer right after.
The Falcons fed off this strong play, as they went on a 10-2 run out of the break. Catawba Ridge did its best to keep things close, but it never could with Nation Ford continuing to chip away.
After only having 19 points in the entire first half, Nation Ford’s offense exploded for 37 in the second to round out a 15-point victory. Bennett was pleased with his team’s defensive showing, admitting they got back on track in that way after halftime.
“We always have been good on defense,” he said. “We’ve gotten away from that a little bit, but we wanted to make sure we get back to what we’re good at and defensively what we’re good at.”
Ariah Heard led the Falcons with 20 points on the night, while Wilmore had 12.
Nation Ford boys consistent in first Region 3-5A win
Nation Ford had been longing for this type of performance. The Falcons, who were off to an 0-3 start in region play, came into the game on a two-game losing skid.
But behind a strong showing in which they led for most of the night, they were able to earn a 61-52 win over Catawba Ridge. Nation Ford is now back to .500 on the season at 8-8 overall and 1-3 in the region.
“Feels real good to get this one tonight,” said Falcons’ head coach Charles Brown. “It’s really big to beat the in-town rival. Some of the kids across town know each other. It was a real good win for the guys to get this one tonight.”
The Copperheads, who have now lost two straight games, fall to 8-10 and are 1-3 in region play.
Nation Ford got off to a tremendous start, quickly jumping to a 9-0 lead before Catawba Ridge got its first points nearly five minutes in.
As the game progressed, things became a lot tighter knit with the Copperheads hanging around despite the slow start. Trailing by nine at the break, Catawba Ridge went on a 9-0 run right out of halftime to tie the game at 34.
But that would be as close as the home team got. Nation Ford continued to stay consistent and hit its shots to remain ahead.
“Catawba Ridge fought hard to finish that game,” Brown said. “We just continue to do what we need to do to stay ahead.”
With the Falcons up by six going into the fourth quarter, Noah Patrick picked up a big and-one layup to build the team’s lead. Even when Catawba Ridge came back with a basket of its own, Nation Ford was quick to respond and keep the lead where it was.
Down the stretch, the defense came to play, as the Falcons held the Copperheads to two points in the final two minutes. This capped off a strong all-around performance to seal the deal.
Nation Ford did a nice job of spreading the ball around and creating open looks for multiple players. Patrick finished with 15 points, Ben Chuttey and Chase Walters each went for 13, and Garrin Brookover had 10.
“I thought the kids showed a lot of poise,” Brown said. “After the tough loss we had at Rock Hill the other night, it was good to see. I just thought we did a good job of playing together and finishing this game off together as a whole team.”
