By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.—Despite different results, both Union City High School basketball coaches deemed themselves well-pleased with much of what they witnessed in their respective season openers.
Heralded freshman Amari Bonds scored a game-high 22 points in her varsity debut and the Lady Tornadoes outscored visiting Ridgeway 40-14 in the second half on their way to a 64-42 Hall of Champions victory Tuesday night at Marty Sisco Gymnasium.
“I saw a lot of good things, and I’m really happy with our total effort as a team,” second-year head coach Chuck Reedy said of his squad’s performance.
Despite a 61-53 loss in the nightcap, veteran Union City boys’ skipper Shane Sisco – whose team was missing three players expected to be in the rotation as the season progresses – said: “We competed. We competed against a really athletic team and these types of games will help us in the long run.”
The Twisters lost despite a 31-point outing by standout junior guard Ben McMillan, who hit a half-dozen first-half 3-pointers to help his team to as much as a nine-point lead.
The two Union City clubs will play a second Hall of Champions game Saturday at Gleason, the girls facing Adamsville at 11:30 a.m. in the “old” gym, while the Tornado boys meet University School of Jackson at 4 p.m. in the “new” gymnasium at GHS.
UC 64, Ridgeway 42 (G)
Bonds, who showcased a variety of moves and made shots from both the perimeter and after drives to the bucket, scored 14 of her game-best total in the second half when Union City posted runs of 14-2 and 15-4.
Equally as important, she created multiple opportunities for her teammates after drawing close the Ridgeway defense as Shyon Stephens finished with 14 points underneath and Jada Williams tallied 10 to give the Lady Tornadoes a trio of double-digit scorers.
“That’s the thing, when Amari is able to make a couple of shots from the outside, she opens things up and creates chances for everyone else,” Reedy continued. “If teams decide they’re going to stop just her, we have several other girls who can be equally dangerous, and she does a good job of finding the open girl.
“We finally got them out of their zone in the second half, and they just couldn’t guard us man-wise defensively.”
UC trailed 12-10 after one quarter and 28-24 at halftime before overtaking the Memphis visitors and dominating the final two periods.
After forging ties at 28, 30 and 32 on buckets by Williams, Bonds and Stephens, respectively, the Twister girls went ahead for good when Bonds drained a triple at the 3:48 mark of the third stanza. Sophie Theobald then doubled that difference with an old-fashioned 3-point play before Stephens and Williams scored again to stretch the Union City lead to double-digits at 42-32.
Bonds, who made four 2-point shots, four 3-pointers and two free throws in the contest, fed Stephens with a nice pass inside as part of the UC run that sealed the outcome before sinking a trifecta and converting a steal into an easy deuce to make it 59-40 with just over three minutes to play.
“We challenge all our kids every day to get better in practice,” Reedy concluded. “We saw some signs of that improvement tonight, but we still have a lot of things we can do better.”
Ridgeway 61, UC 53 (B)
McMillan was literally unstoppable in the first half when he hit several shots from well beyond the arc in an impressive shooting exhibition.
He was guarded closely by multiple Roadrunner defenders over the final two frames, though, and a consistent complimentary scoring threat for Union City never emerged.
The Tornadoes were without the services of Neil Brown and Sam Theobald, both of whom are rounding into shape from football season and dressed but didn’t play; suspended guard Tariq Broadway; and Taylan Tribble, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in a preseason scrimmage.
Still, UC battled until the final horn, but was done in by a third quarter stretch that saw the Purple and Gold commit eight turnovers – six over an eight-possession stretch.
“Their athleticism sped us up,” Sisco said. “We always preach to do the opposite of what the other team is trying to force you to do, and we needed to slow down, rather than speed up. That third quarter was obviously the difference.
“I really was encouraged by a lot of things, though. These types of opponents, and we’ll see five really good ones in the first five games, are all athletic. We didn’t let that overwhelm us and when we see this type of competition in the tournaments, we won’t panic.”
The aforementioned third period, when UC saw a seven-point lead (37-30) turn into a six-point deficit (43-37) via a stretch when they failed to handle Ridgeway’s fullcourt pressure, was indeed the difference.
Union City did get within two twice after that, first on two free throws by Hudson Calfee, then on a putback by Carter Walton, but could get no closer.
“It was good to see both Nick (Sanders) and (Hudson) Calfee both step outside and make shots from the perimeter,” Sisco said. “We need that from them, and it makes defenses have to respect them when they step away from the basket.
“Obviously, when we get two or three of our guys back, we’re going to be a better team with a different rotation. You either get better or you don’t when you play games like this, and I felt we got better tonight.”
Sanders had seven points and Calfee six behind McMillan’s 31 markers for UC.
GIRLS
RIDGEWAY — 42
Kataya Grissom 12, Drew 8, McGlown 8, Mull 7, Price 5, Early 2.
UNION CITY — 64
Amari Bonds 22, Shyon Stephens 14, Jada Williams 10, McCadney 7, Theobald 5, Davis 3, German 2, C. Williams 1.
Ridgeway 12 16 8 6 — 42
UC 10 14 20 20 — 64
Records: Ridgeway 0-1 UC 1-0.
BOYS
RIDGEWAY — 61
Kendall Thomas 19, Stinson 9, Burks 9, Dockery 6, Foster 6, Donely 6, Banks 4, Black 2.
UNION CITY — 53
Ben McMillan 31, Sanders 7, Calfee 6, Walton 4, Bobo 4, Blackman 1.
Ridgeway 17 9 17 18 — 61
UC 13 18 6 16 — 53
Records: Ridgeway 1-0; UC 0-1.
Next Games: Saturday, UC plays Hall of Champions games at Gleason, the girls vs. Adamsville at 11:30 a.m., the boys against USJ at 4 p.m.
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