Courtesy of Union City Schools
All’s well that ends well.
After seeing a 16-point fourth quarter lead disappear, the Union City girls got a clutch bucket from Amari Bonds and benefitted from two critical Bradford mistakes in the final second to hang on for a 37-36 win in the District 13A Tournament semifinals Tuesday night.
The top-seeded Lady Tornadoes (13-10) will now play in the district championship for the second straight year, against No. 2 Greenfield (16-5). UC, which split with the Lady ‘Jackets in a pair of regular season meetings, will be the host team as a result of winning the league’s regular season title.
The Lady Tornadoes will be gunning for their first district tournament championship since the 2013-14 state championship season.
Tip-off Wednesday is scheduled for 5 p.m., and tickets must be bought in advance Wednesday from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. at UCHS. There will be no tickets sold at the door.
The Twister girls appeared to be cruising to their spot in the championship game Tuesday, leading 33-17 after three quarters.
But a gritty Bradford bunch caught fire behind post Rebecca Walter, who had 10 fourth-period points, and fueled a run of 12 unanswered markers to get the visitors back in the game.
Sophie Theobald finally broke the ice for UC at the 2:30 mark with a bucket that stretched the difference back to six points before Bradford ran off seven more in a row to take a 36-35 edge after Walter scored inside.
Union City, which made just four field goals in the final 16 minutes, got the biggest of those made baskets when Bonds converted on a baseline drive with 50 seconds showing.
The Lady Red Devils then missed a 1-and-1 free throw chance with 29 seconds left and turned the ball over with less 10 seconds to play after a Lady Tornado foul line miss to help UC ultimately escape a total collapse.
Union City first built a double figure lead in the opening half behind a quick start by Jada Williams, who scored eight of her team’s first 10 points. The aggressor on defense, too, the Purple and Gold gradually expanded its lead, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from Amari Bonds and Marlee Theobald to go up by as many as 15 points (27-12) before the break.
And even though their offense went AWOL in the third period, the Twister girls built on that advantage when Kylie McCadney converted a steal into a bucket and Bonds nailed a pullup jumper in the final 30 seconds of the frame for a 33-17 lead heading into the final stanza.
Bonds finished with 12 points despite subpar shooting to top the Union City scorebook. Williams, who fouled out in the final minute scored 10, as did Marlee Theobald.
Walter led all point-makers with 17 for Bradford (10-18), which will play in the consolation game Wednesday night against Gleason.
