By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Union City was relegated to fourth place in the District 12-AA Tournament with a 42-29 loss to Huntingdon in the girls’ consolation game at Westview High School Saturday.
The Lady Tornadoes (15-11) will now play at East Hickman (18-7) in a quarterfinal elimination game in the Region 6-AA tourney next Friday night.
UC had beaten Huntingdon (16-13) twice in the regular season before Saturday’s third-place game.
The Twister girls couldn’t complete the hat trick, though, struggling from start to finish on the offensive end.
Union City had more turnovers (14) than made field goals (13) and shot around 30 percent from the field. The Lady Tornadoes also hit but 3-of-9 from the free-throw line and could manage only two points in the fourth quarter after entering the stretch run down just 33-27.
“We have to do a better job of moving the ball, and we have to have people other than Amari (Bonds) make shots,” Union City head coach Antawn Coby said afterward. “People are obviously going to focus on her, and we have to do more to free her up and get her some space offensively.”
Bonds had 21 of UC’s 29 points. The only other Twister players to tally were Marlee Theobald (5 points) and Aujani Moss (3 points).
Bonds gave her team its first lead (11-10) early in the second quarter and its largest advantage (15-11) with two more buckets in succession soon after. The Lady Tornadoes did not score in the final four minutes of the half however, and trailed 18-15 at the intermission.
Behind by six early in the third stanza, Union City crept to within 24-23 when Theobald sank a 3-pointer from out front at the five-minute mark. The Purple and Gold scored just six points in the final 13 minutes, though, missing several shots from all distances.
“We have to turn the page quickly,” Coby added. “We’ve done well when we’ve had a few days to prepare for an opponent this season, and I am confident we’ll be ready to go next Friday at East Hickman.”
Bonds and Sophie Theobald were named to both the All-District and All-Tournament teams in postgame ceremonies. Theobald and Khia German earned places on the All-Academic team.