By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Down 10 at halftime and with their season on the line, the Union City girls turned to one of their aces to eventually play a winning hand.
Freshman Amari Bonds scored 23 of her game-high 27 points after the intermission and the Lady Tornadoes rallied to extend their season at least one more game with a 51-40 victory over Peabody in the Region 7A Tournament quarterfinals Thursday night.
UC (21-11) is now one more win away from a spot in the regional championship game, as well as a berth in the sectionals, and will face host Gibson County with those perks at stake Saturday night at 6 in the first of two tourney semis.
GC (24-7) advanced to that matchup with a 57-38 triumph over Gleason Thursday.
The Lady Tornadoes’ season appeared to be in serious jeopardy against Peabody after a subpar first half in which they managed just three field goals and had but one less turnover than total points while trailing 22-12.
The Tide was easily the most physical of the two squads in the roughly-played contest, many times beating UC to loose balls while also regularly getting to the rim for point-blank shots.
But Bonds, the Lady Twisters’ leading scorer for the season at just under 18 points-per-game, essentially put her team on her back offensively and willed them to victory, leading the way for the Purple and Gold to outscore the visitors 39-18 in the second half.
Bonds had nine points in the third quarter when Union City closed to within a deuce at the buzzer on Shyon Stephens’ bucket, then opened the fourth period with a layup off a Trenton turnover to even things up.
Attacking the bucket at every opportunity, Bonds had back-to-back buckets to cap a 10-0 flurry to begin the final stanza and give her team a 35-27 lead. Bonds then scored six straight after Peabody had closed to within five and finished her 14-point quarter by sinking four in a row from the foul line.
“She’s just such a special player, and I thought she and Jada (Williams) both really stepped up in the second half and were aggressive in getting to the basket,” Lady Tornado head coach Chuck Reedy said following the contest.
“I never saw Amari’s facial expression change – either in the first half when she struggled, or in the second half when got on a roll. The moment never gets too big for her and she’s always big-game ready. She certainly came up big when we had to have someone tonight.”
Williams gave UC its first lead since the early going with a pair of free throws with 7:11 to play. Stephens and Sophie Theobald both canned charities as part of what was a 16-0 run from late in the third quarter to the midway point of the fourth – a span of nearly six minutes.
Two freebies by Williams and one each by Kylie McCadney and Kyndall Davis in the final minute sealed the deal for the Lady Twisters, who doubled up the Tide, 26-13, over the final eight minutes.
“We just couldn’t keep them away from the rim in the first half and they were much more physical than we were in the first two quarters,” Reedy added. “We didn’t have any rah-rah speeches at halftime, we just talked about valuing each possession and having a purpose on both ends. The first half just wasn’t us.
“They didn’t really do anything we didn’t expect in that first half. We just played harder and smarter in the third and fourth quarter, and when we got them in foul trouble and got in the double bonus, we did a good job of stepping up and hitting our free throws.”
UC made 23-of-31 foul shots, compared to 6-of-10 for Peabody.
Williams just missed hitting double figures, finishing with nine points.
Trenton ended its season at 14-15.
REGION 7A TOURNAMENT
GIRLS QUARTERFINALS
TRENTON — 40
Cece Johnson 11, KK Norman 11, Easley 8, A. Skinner 7, M. Skinner 3.
UNION CITY — 51
Amari Bonds 27, Williams 9, Davis 6, Stephens 5, Theobald 3, McCadney 1.
Trenton 12 10 5 13 — 40
Union City 4 8 13 26 — 51
Records: Trenton 14-15; Union City 21-11.
Next Game: UC faces host Gibson County (24-7), Saturday at 6 p.m., in the first of two semifinal games.