Courtesy of Union City Schools
Union City dared someone other than Edie Darby to beat them in the District 13A Girls’ Tournament championship game.
Reese Biggs and Caroline Crouse were up to the challenge for Greenfield.
Biggs and Crouse combined for 36 points and the Lady ‘Jackets relegated UC to league runner-up status for the second year in a row with a 62-54 victory over the Tornado girls Wednesday night at Marty Sisco Gymnasium.
Union City (13-11) will still move on in postseason play with a first round Region 7A game at home Saturday against Madison Academic. Complete brackets won’t be finalized until Thursday.
First-year Lady Twister head coach Antawn Coby tipped his hat to the G’field duo of Biggs and Crouse after Wednesday’s title tilt.
“We wanted to get the ball out of (Edie) Darby’s hands and make someone else beat us, if that was going to happen,” Coby said. “And give credit to them, they had two girls to step up and get the job done.”
A 10-3 Lady ‘Jacket run midway through the second gave the visitors a lead they would never relinquish after six lead changes in the first 12 minutes. UC indeed did a nice job defensively with Kylie McCadney on Darby, but Crouse netted 14 of her 17 markers before halftime.
The Lady Tornadoes made four 3-pointers in the first period, the last by Jada Williams – a 28-footer – at the horn. Williams converted twice more in the opening minute of the second stanza to give Union City its last lead, 18-17.
Greenfield (16-5) outscored the Twister girls 16-6 over the final seven minutes of the quarter though, mixing good perimeter shooting with attacks on the basket inside for a 33-24 intermission advantage.
The Lady ‘Jackets remained in control in the second half, leading by as many as 14 points (54-40) midway through the fourth quarter.
UC did make some noise down the stretch, getting as close as 58-52 with 49 seconds to play after treys by Marlee Theobald, Amari Bonds, Sophie Theobald and Williams.
Darby, though, who didn’t make her first field goal until 1:21 remained before halftime, put the nail in the Lady Tornadoes’ coffin by hitting six straight free throws to seal G’field’s second victory in three meetings with Union City this season.
“It’s really important that we turn the page quickly,” Coby added. “We have a couple of days to prepare for our next two opponents and we’ll get to work on that tomorrow (Thursday). The most important thing is that we’re still alive and can control our own destiny.”
Williams, the Arkansas State University signee, led a trio of double-figure scorers for the Lady Twisters with 17 points and was selected the district’s regular season Most Valuable Player and also chosen to the All-Defensive team in a voting of league coaches. She also earned a spot on the All Academic Team as well, which honors seniors with a 3.0 grade point average.
Bonds and Sophie Theobald also scored in twin figures with 15 and 14 points, respectively, and were named to the All District unit. McCadney was chosen for the All Defensive squad and took her place on the All Academic unit.
