By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Try as they could, neither Union City basketball team could recover from what ended up being an insurmountable early deficit against Peabody on Friday night.
It wasn’t from a lack of effort.
The Tornado boys gamely rallied from a 20-point deficit in the first six minutes to within six in the final 43 seconds before eventually falling to the top-ranked Tide 58-48.
And the Twister girls – minus two starters (Sh’Nyla Moss and Addy Launer) due to injuries – fought from down 17 points to within nine in the second half before losing 57-40 in the opener.
Senior La’Kiyah Gordon was crowned 2026 Basketball Homecoming Queen during ceremonies at halftime of the boys’ game. Seniors Ca’Lae Ervin and Rylee Stone were announced as Princesses on the court, along with freshman Rylan Ali Bondurant, sophomore Alli McMillan, and junior Blair McKinnis.
UC will play twice at home next week – vs. Ripley on Tuesday, and against University School of Jackson on Saturday night.
The following is a recap of Friday’s games:
Peabody 58, UC 48 (B)
Trenton (18-1, 2-0 in District 14AA) came out red-hot, scoring the game’s first 12 points and hitting five 3-pointers while racing to a 21-1 lead.
J.B. Thompson sank UC’s first field goal at the two-minute mark to begin a run of nine straight points by the Twisters, who got a deuce and a triple by Tayshun Gentry.
Union City (8-12, 1-2) was still down big at the half (34-18) and 44-29 after three quarters before mounting a furious rally.
Hollister Johnson threw down a monster dunk after going end-to-end to highlight a 19-10 run. Thompson made a bucket, then knocked down a pair of free throws to draw the Tornadoes within 54-48 with 43 seconds left before the Tide scored the final four points to hold on.
Johnson finished with a team-high 14 points – 12 in the second half – to pace UC. Thompson also reached double figures with a dozen markers.
Peabody 57, UC 40 (G)
Challenged greatly offensively by the absence of leading scorer Moss and Launer, the Twister girls (9-12, 0-3) were forced to play catch-up immediately after hitting just two first-quarter field goals and falling behind by double digits.
For the game, Union City shot just 14-of-64 (21 percent).
Ainsley Sadler gave the Lady Tornadoes a mini-lift with nine of her 11 markers in the second stanza, including a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer that narrowed what was a 16-point deficit to 35-24.
Baskets by Alaja Crawford and Blair McKinnis briefly cut the Peabody lead under twin figures in the third period for UC, but the visitors again spurted and carried a 48-32 advantage into the stretch run.
Despite facing more challenges when both McKinnis and McMillan fouled out in the fourth quarter, the Twisters got within 50-40 at the 3:30 mark when McMillan connected from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, Union City did not score again.
Sadler finished with a double-double, adding 10 rebounds to her 11 points. McKinnis led UC in scoring with 13.