By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
One good quarter proved to be enough for the Union City girls to snap their four-game losing skid.
The Lady Tornadoes had easily their best offensive stretch of Tuesday night in the third period when they outscored Ripley 17-5 to notch their first District 14AA victory of the season with a 34-23 triumph over the Tiger girls.
Ainsley Sadler scored all 10 of her points in that deciding stanza, and Kiyah Gordon pitched in five markers during that time for UC (10-12, 1-3), which was again without injured leading scorer Sh’Nyla Moss and fellow starter Addy Launer (hip).
Alli McMillan sank three first-half 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 11 points for the victors, while Gordon yanked down a game-best 11 rebounds.
The Twister boys, unfortunately, continued their season-long trend of slow starts – managing just two field goals in the first quarter – in what was eventually a 55-39 setback.
Union City (8-13, 1-3) cut an early double-digit deficit to 25-18 at halftime and was twice within eight in the fourth quarter but made only five field goals in the final eight minutes to allow the Tigers to pull away.
Hollister Johnson was the lone consistent offensive threat for the Tornadoes, scoring 17 points. J.B. Thompson tallied all eight of his markers in the second stanza – knocking down a pair of triples.
UC is scheduled to play host to University School of Jackson on Saturday night, weather permitting.
UC 34, Ripley 23 (G)
Despite suffering through another dismal shooting performance (12-of-51, 23.5 percent), the Lady Twisters put together a quality stretch in the third canto that proved to be the difference. UC made 7-of-15 shots from the field in the quarter.
Gordon had back-to-back buckets to open the post-intermission stretch before Sadler accounted for eight consecutive points to build the difference to twin figures. McMillan’s drive to the bucket capped a run of 10 unanswered points and gave UC its largest lead (31-12) with less than a minute left in the period.
Ahead 19 (33-14), the Tornado girls managed to hang on despite missing all eight of their fourth-quarter field goal attempts and managing only Amberly Morgan’s free throw at the 3:10 mark.
Union City led 16-9 at the half despite shooting just 5-for-28, thanks to McMillan’s trio of treys.
Ripley 55, UC 39 (B)
Union City’s year-long habit of early offensive inconsistencies again put the Twisters in an immediate hole in the nightcap.
The Tornadoes went nearly five minutes without scoring until Johnson broke the ice with one of his two buckets in the first eight minutes.
Down by 10 (14-4) to begin the second frame, UC showed some signs of life behind Thompson and a 6-of-8 performance at the foul line. Johnson’s late bucket from inside closed the difference to seven points at halftime.
The margin fluctuated between eight and 12 points most of the third quarter, and Union City twice got within eight in the first two minutes of the stretch run on hoops from Hollister before the Twisters went cold again and the Tigers widened the gap.
Just five Tornado players scored in the contest, with Brayden Marshall following Johnson and Thompson with seven points.