By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Though their overall records say otherwise, Union City’s two basketball teams are now 1-0 as far as what matters most.
The Tornado squads swept visiting South Fulton in their respective District 14A openers Thursday night, the UC girls winning 49-20, and the Twister boys rolling to a 65-45 triumph.
The themes for both games were the same as Union City forced waves of turnovers that they converted to points on the offensive end in posting the two convincing victories.
The Tornado boys (6-11) put together a complete game vs. SF, combining scrambling fullcourt pressure with an efficient offense that produced 11 3-pointers while leading wire-to-wire.
Ben Kail and DeAngelo Monroe dropped in three treys apiece to pace UC, with Kail netting a game-high 20 markers. Monroe finished with nine points, and Kobe Maddox, who sank a pair of triples, ended up with eight points.
In the girls’ opener, the Twister girls (11-6) forced winless SF into a whopping 43 turnovers and got all the offense they would need with a pair of scoring flurries – one in each half.
Union City ripped off 14 unanswered points with six different players scoring after the Devilettes hit the first basket of the contest. The Lady Tornadoes then opened the second half with a run of 12 unanswered points, highlighted by 3-pointers from Sh’Nyla Moss, Blair McKinnis and Kennedi Robinson, to build a 37-10 advantage.
UC will play host to Dresden on Tuesday in its next games.
BOYS
UC 65, South Fulton 45
The Twisters sprinted to an 11-2 lead in the first three minutes thanks to six points from Kail and a 3-pointer by Jamarious Abbott.
After South Fulton (5-6) had cut its deficit to 14-10 at the first-quarter horn, UC flurried again, fueled by its harassing end-to-end pressure that produced 22 turnovers in all and five made treys.
Maddox went back-to-back from long range before Kail capped a 17-2 run with another trifecta that built the Tornado lead to 31-12 halfway through the second stanza.
Ahead 39-22 at halftime, Union City got a deuce from Kenny Moss and another triple from Kail to go up by 22 points before one minute had elapsed in the third quarter. Three-pointers by Monroe and Abbott in the final 30 seconds of the frame matched the largest difference in the game.
GIRLS
UC 49, South Fulton 20
Though the Lady Tornadoes largely struggled on the offensive end again (7-of-34 from 3-point range), they made more than enough shots to easily break their three-game losing skid.
Alli McMillan’s steal and layup finished Union City’s first burst in the opening quarter and Jayla Turner’s three-ball in the second frame helped the Twister girls to a 15-point (25-10) intermission advantage.
It was 37-16 with three periods in the book and head coach Mason Storey got minutes for all 12 players who dressed late in the contest, experimenting with several different combinations.
Moss led the way for UC with 16 points. McKinnis tossed in eight, and Debrionna Jones scored seven points.