By Mike Hutchens, By UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–The gap between first-place Union City and No. 2 Greenfield in District 13A remains wide.
The Golden Tornadoes, who beat G’field in an earlier meeting by 32 points, remained perfect in league play with a second resounding victory over the Yellowjackets this season, 57-35 Friday night at Marty Sisco Gymnasium.
The homecoming triumph was UC’s sixth straight overall, improving its record to 15-7 and an unblemished 8-0 mark in league play.
Tyler Walton continued to play with a hot hand, dropping in five 3-pointers and a game-high 26 points as the Purple and Gold scored the game’s first 10 points and were never threatened.
In the opener, the Union City girls had a good stretch in the opening quarter when they scored 11 straight to briefly lead the reigning Class A state champions and No. 2 ranked Lady ‘Jackets before ultimately falling 60-31.
Kylie McCadney and Kendall Davis sank 3-pointers during the Twisters’ impressive run that erased an eight-point deficit and UC led 15-13 before G’field’s relentless fullcourt pressure that forced 33 total turnovers took over.
The Lady Tornadoes fell to 8-11 overall, 4-4 in District 13A, with the loss.
UC 57, Greenfield 35 (B)
Walton nailed two of his treys as part of the Tornadoes’ early burst, essentially ending any thoughts the Yellowjackets might’ve had of hanging around.
“That run early really set the tone,” Union City head coach Shane Sisco said. “Defensively, we were very good early, too, contesting shots and hurrying shots.
“I don’t think they ever recovered from us getting out early.”
Walton not only was “on” from outside, but also regularly got to the basket on several drives for deuces underneath. He’s averaging just over 20 points-per-game in his team’s last five games.
UC hit 8-of-22 from 3-point range as a team and shot 60 percent (15-of-25) from inside the arc.
“We didn’t shoot a great percentage from 3-point range, but we were efficient,” Sisco added.
“And outside of our careless turnovers and the offensive rebounds we gave up, it was a pretty good effort. We still have some things to clean up, though.”
The Tornadoes led 14-3 after one, 30-14 at the half, then got back-to-back triples from Kaler Bobo and Walton to extend their lead to 19 (43-24) near the end of the third stanza.
Sisco emptied his bench with a little more than two minutes to play with Ben Martinek scoring a pair of buckets and Jaxon Moran marking the scorebook to account for Union City’s biggest lead at the end of the contest.
Ben McMillan tallied nine as the Twisters’ No. 2 scorer behind Walton.
Greenfield 60, UC 31 (G)
The Lady Tornadoes hung around for eight minutes, thanks largely due to their aforementioned stretch when they somewhat handled G’field’s pressure.
The heat began to take its toll in the second period, though, with top scorer Jada Williams in foul trouble and Union City regularly committing floor mistakes. UC was guilty of 23 of its 33 turnovers in the first half and the visiting Lady ‘Jackets outscored the host team 26-4 in the second period to take a commanding 44-19 lead at the intermission.
“When we were playing hard, we did some good things and I was happy,” Twister head coach Chuck Reedy said following the game. “But the turnovers just killed us.
“You just can’t give teams the caliber of Greenfield – with all the athletes they have – extra chances to score. You can’t beat any good team doing some of the things we did as far as ballhandling.”
UC outscored G’field reserves 10-0 with a running clock in the fourth quarter to account for the final count.
Williams finished with 14 points to pace the Lady Tornadoes.
Menu
