By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City’s 56-26 rout of Peabody in the District 14-2A consolation game was everything the Lady Tornadoes wanted and needed in a bounce-back win.
The Twisters rebounded from a hard-fought semifinal loss two nights earlier against Gibson County to claim third place with a dominating overall performance against Trenton on Saturday.
UC dictated a fast pace with full-court pressure that forced countless Trenton turnovers, exhibited unselfish passing that led to numerous easy buckets, and emptied its bench in the fourth quarter after building a 35-point mercy-rule lead.
Union City (15-13) got balanced scoring as Sh’Nyla Moss (23) and Ainsley Sadler (16) reached double figures, with Blair McKinnis finishing just one marker shy of that status in beating the Lady Tide for the second time in three meetings this season. Kiyah Gordon yanked down a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Lady Tornadoes will now move on to the Region 7-2A Tournament, playing at District 13 runner-up Scotts Hill (10-10) on Friday at 7 p.m. Should Union City win, it would play either District 14 champion Westview or Jackson Central-Merry in the regional semifinals on Monday (Mar. 3) at the Chargers’ home court, with a sectional berth at stake.
“We’re always looking to speed up the pace, and we were able to effectively do that with our pressure tonight,” UC head coach Mason Storey said after Saturday’s romp. “We moved the ball around a lot, too, and it touched a lot of hands. We went to a five-out concept with a lot of cutting, we made some really good decisions and shared the ball well.
“It was pretty basketball, for sure.”
Six first-quarter points apiece by Sadler and Moss, five from Alli McMillan, and four more by McKinnis helped the Lady Tornadoes streak to a 21-9 lead at the period’s buzzer.
Gordon’s triple three minutes into the second quarter made it 28-14 and ignited a 12-point flurry for Union City, which got 11 markers from Moss and seven more from Sadler in the period. It was 41-16 at the intermission.
The Lady Twisters added to their already commanding lead with 11 consecutive points to open the third period. Moss had a pair of run-out buckets, McKinnis connected from both inside and outside the arc, and Sadler capped her stellar offensive night with two deuces before Peabody made its only field goal of the frame in the final minute of the stanza.
Storey emptied his bench with reserves playing the final eight minutes as the clock ran continuously.
“We got our hands on a lot of balls tonight, had a lot of deflections and were really flying around defensively,” the Lady Tornado coach added. “We played to our strengths and sped them up, which led to several transition buckets.
“Offensively, we had several kids make some shots, and it was great to see Ainsley (Sadler) get in a good rhythm for us offensively.”
Moss, McKinnis, and Gordon were named to the All-District team, based on seasonal play, while Moss and McKinnis were chosen for the All-Tournament squad from UC.