By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
The 19-day weather-related break may have actually been a good thing for Union City.
Both Tornado squads – playing for the first time in nearly three weeks due to multiple cancellations and postponements – notched critical District 14-2A victories in a rare Saturday afternoon make-up doubleheader at the UCHS gymnasium.
The Tornado boys moved into a tie for third-place in the league standings and avenged an earlier 16-point loss with a 47-35 win over Ripley.
UC’s girls, meanwhile, welcomed back leading scorer Sh’Nyla Moss from the injury list and cruised to a 49-27 triumph in the opener.
Union City’s boys (9-13, 2-3) got back on track after losing seven of their previous eight outings, and moved even with Ripley (16-8, 2-3) heading into the final regular season week of district play.
Sophomore Hollister Johnson led a balanced scoring attack for the Twisters with 16 points – including a pair of thunderous dunks – as UC built a seemingly safe 16-point first-half lead before fighting off a Tiger rally and pulling away down the stretch.
In Game 1, Moss – who hadn’t played in nearly a month (Jan. 9) due to an ankle injury – scored a game-high 20 points for the Tornado girls (11-12, 2-3), who completed a season sweep of Ripley after dropping four of their past five games.
The final week of the regular season will be a busy one for Union City due to mass rescheduling in the aftermath of the recent winter storm.
The Tornadoes will play at Trenton (Peabody) on Monday, and at Gibson County on Thursday, before hosting Westview next Saturday (Feb. 14) for Senior Night.
Play-in games for the 14-AA tournament are scheduled for Feb. 16 and 17, with the semifinals to follow on Feb. 19 and 20. The regular season district champions will be the host teams for the postseason events after the play-in games.
UC 47, Ripley 35 (B)
The Tornadoes – avoiding a slow start that has hampered the team in many of its losses – surged to a commanding 22-6 lead halfway through the second quarter.
Johnson showcased a nice mid-range game with four buckets, and J.B. Thompson and Brayden Marshall sank 3-pointers to put the Twisters in control.
But a period of eight minutes – four in the second quarter, and four to begin the third period – saw the visitors cut that difference to 23-22 with a 16-1 flurry, during which Union City did not make a field goal and was turnover prone.
Thompson finally broke the ice with a bucket, and Marshall connected from beyond the arc before the first of two Johnson jams stretched the gap back to eight points. A critical stickback bucket by Tayshun Gentry at the third-quarter horn made it a double-digit (32-22) game.
Johnson’s second rim-rattling dunk and a Thompson follow shot built the Tornado lead to 16 halfway through the fourth frame before the host team settled on the final margin.
Thompson joined Johnson in double digits with 10 points, while Marshall finished with nine, and Will Kail tallied eight markers.
Ripley’s 35 points represented UC’s second-best defensive showing of the season, the Twisters limiting the Tigers to just four points in the first and third quarters.
UC 49, Ripley 27 (G)
While not always sightly, the Lady Tornadoes doubled the margin from their earlier 11-point victory over Ripley (4-16, 0-5).
Moss sank her first field goal – a trey – 90 seconds into the contest and finished with five total field goals and 8-of-8 free throws to match her seasonal 20-point average in just over 20 minutes of playing time.
She scored in transition on back-to-back possessions in the second stanza, with Alli McMillan’s 3-pointer capping a mini-run that gave Union City a nine-point cushion.
Riyah Gordon, who ended up with eight points, gave the Twister girls a nice lift with seven of those markers in the third period when her team ran off nine consecutive points to build a 29-15 advantage.
The UC lead remained in twin digits thereafter, with triples by Amberly Morgan and Emma Denman in the last two minutes accounting for the largest margin at the final buzzer.
The Lady Tornadoes outscored Ripley 30-14 after the intermission.