By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Inconsistent shooting plagued both Union City basketball teams in a doubleheader loss to visiting Henry County Tuesday night.
The Lady Tornadoes did not make a field goal in the final 1:46, allowing HC to rally for a 42-40 win that sent UC to its third straight loss in the girls’ opener.
Union City’s boys, meanwhile, cooled off considerably after a hot second quarter and were outscored 38-20 after halftime as the Patriots broke an intermission deadlock and cruised to a 69-51 victory in Game 2.
The two defeats left the Union City girls’ record at 10-6 and the boys’ standing at 5-11 heading into Thursday night’s District 14A opener against South Fulton, which has been moved up a night with the threat of inclement weather.
GIRLS
Henry Co. 42, UC 40
The Lady Tornadoes, who shot just 30 percent from the field, endured costly scoreless droughts of three minutes or more in each quarter and failed to convert a couple of chances in the final frantic seconds to fall to a frustrating defeat.
Largely ineffective against HC’s zone defense, Union City couldn’t put the Lady Patriots away down the stretch. The Twister girls – who led 39-36 after a Uriah Davis bucket – gave up a pair of costly offensive rebounds and committed a handful of turnovers that led to Henry County (8-6) scoring six of the game’s final seven points.
UC did have a pair of good offensive stretches – one in each half. A run of 11 straight points that stretched into the second quarter put the Lady Tornadoes up 20-9 after Debrionna Jones and Blair McKinnis each scored twice.
Another solid spurt consisting of 10 unanswered markers in the fourth period highlighted by 3-pointers from Alli McMillan and Sh’Nyla Moss erased a seven-point Union City deficit and put the Twisters up 37-34.
The Lady Tornadoes largely struggled from the field other than that, though, on the way to their third-lowest scoring output of the season.
Moss was UC’s best threat, finishing with four 3-pointers and 20 points in all. Jones added eight markers, and McKinnis finished with seven.
BOYS
Henry Co. 69, UC 51
With head coach Shane Sisco missing the contest due to illness, the hot-shooting Patriots improved to 12-2 after making more than 55 percent of their field goal attempts.
Union City’s percentage was much lower, especially in the second half when they struggled to find the range after forging a 31-all deadlock at halftime with a 26-point second frame.
The Twisters spotted HC the game’s first 12 points before ripping off a dozen in a row themselves. Ben Kail’s rare 4-point play accounted for the game’s first deadlock, and there were a handful more ties in the second period, even after a triple by Jamarious Abbott that put the Tornadoes up 26-21 midway through the stanza.
Henry County gradually pulled away from the halftime deadlock, however. The Pats, who got double-digit scoring from three players and made 13-of-16 free throws over the final two periods, led 52-40 after three and by as many as 19 points in the final stages of the contest as the Twisters struggled from the field.
Kail made a half-dozen 3-pointers and had 14 of his game-high 27 points in the second quarter to finish as UC’s lone double-digit scorer. Abbott and Kenny Moss each hit a pair of triples, Abbot finishing the game with eight points.