FORT MILL – The Catawba Ridge girls and Fort Mill boys’ basketball teams took sweeps in the season series against each other before the Christmas break.
Fort Mill boys team took the season series against Catawba Ridge beating them on the home court in the Arena 58-36 after pulling away in the second half. The Jackets outscored the Copperheads 14-2 in the third quarter after clinging to a five-point half time lead.
Fort Mill ended the first half and started the second half on a 9-0 run.
“I think the big thing was the end of the first half gave us some momentum,” said Fort Mill head coach Dwayne Hartsoe. “We played well in the third quarter. We are where we want to be, but we are still turning the ball over too much.”
The Jackets nailed a 3-pointer from Conlan Costanzo right before the half to make it 30-25 and then had Jackson Fewster open the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers before a Catawba Ridge timeout. Fewster led Fort Mill with 15 points.
The two teams played a close first quarter with Fort Mill holding a slight two-point lead. Both teams struggled with turnover throughout the game, as the Jackets Jordan Herman, scored five of his seven points in the second quarter as the Jackets went down low on the block to feed him the ball. Catawba Ridge answered getting their big man the ball with Luke Krawczyk scoring seven of his team leading 11 points in the second quarter.
The big difference in the game was the third quarter where Fort Mil held Catawba Ridge to just 1-of-8 shooting and forced them into seven turnovers unofficially.
“We hit a lull in the third quarter,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Brett Childers. “We got hit in the face to start the second half and we didn’t hit back. This is a lesson learned. There is growth there, we just have to put together two good halves.”
The Fort Mill boys will play in a tournament in Chapin during the Christmas break and the Catawba Ridge boys will play in a tournament in Chesnee during the break also.
Catawba Ridge 29, Fort Mill 27 (overtime)
Catawba Ridge’s Victoria Jordan hit a lay-up with about 3.5 seconds left in overtime to give the Copperheads a two-point victory over Fort Mill and to sweep the season series against them.
Fort Mill battled back from being down 27-17 entering the fourth quarter and outscored the Copperheads 10-0 in the final quarter to tie the game and send it into overtime. In the extra period, Fort mill got off three shots, but couldn’t continue their hot shooting that got them into overtime. Catawba Ridge took just two shots in overtime and hit the only one it needed for the win.
“They wouldn’t quit,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Kate Edwards. “I am proud of them. We are dealing with so much inexperience, but if you don’t let them play, they aren’t going to figure it out.”
Jordan led the Copperheads with 11 points and Fort Mill was led by Izzy Giarrizzi with nine points. The only two points Jordan scored after the first half was in overtime. Giarrizzi scored four of her nine points in the fourth quarter to rally Fort Mill and lead them into overtime.
Fort Mill started the fourth quarter off with a 7-0 run before a Copperhead time out. Catawba Ridge tired holding the ball for most of the final period to ice the clock, but also struggled with their shots and ball handling as they unofficially turned it over six times in the final quarter.
The Fort Mill girls will have the majority off the break off before resume the second half of the season Jan. 7 against South Pointe. Catawba Ridge girls will return to action Jan. 3 at Clover and be back home Jan. 6 against Great Falls.
Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM
