| UC, SF riding wins into league meeting | | Posted: Monday, January 16, 2012 7:00 pm
| Union City and South Fulton will come into their Tuesday night matchup on the heels of solid winning performances.
Both the Tornado and Red Devil teams swept District 14A doubleheaders from their homestanding Gibson County opposition on Friday, setting up a critical league twinbill between the two Obion County entries.
The girls’ matchup will pit two teams tied for second place in the 14A standings behind No. 1-ranked and district-leading Lake County, while the second game will match first-place Union City against a SF team hopeful of breaking a long losing skid against the Tornadoes.
UC won vs. Bradford 51-43 in the girls’ opener and 61-45 in the boys’ nightcap Friday, while SF beat Trenton Peabody 60-35 in Game 1 and 56-54 in a Game 2 thriller.
The following is a recap of those contests.
UC 51, Bradford 43 (G)
The Lady Tornadoes (9-8, 6-2 District 14A) outscored Bradford by 14 points in the third quarter, more than enough to make up for the other three periods.
Using a stifling defense that limited the Lady Red Devils to just two free throws, Union City overcame a small halftime deficit by topping Bradford 16-2 in the third.
UC trailed 16-12 after the first quarter and 26-21 at the half. Bradford then outdid Union City by one point, 15-14, in the fourth period.
Foul trouble forced Union City to throw several zone looks at Bradford in the first half, and then the Lady Twisters extended their defense out to halfcourt in the third quarter with Anna Moore and Kealie Reeves disrupting play at the front of the defense.
The two UC guards forced turnovers that were converted into points in transition.
“We had to throw some odd zones at them in the first half because of the fouls,” UC head coach Eddie Suiter said. “But, then we extended our defense in the third quarter, and Anna and Kealie created some things for us.”
Amber Fair led all players with 18 points, and Jackie Hudson pitched in 15 for Union City.
Jackilann Street and Kristian McCrillis each had 16 points for the Lady Devils.
UC 61, Bradford 45 (B)
Up just 29-26 at halftime the Tornadoes gradually pulled away over the final two periods and eventually outscored the host team 32-19 to improve to 7-1 in 14A play and 12-6 overall.
A big 3-pointer by freshman Malik Stockdale at the end of the third quarter stretched UC’s lead to nine points and was critical in the locals pulling away.
Bradford made four 3-pointers in the first half to stay close, but hit just 6-of-19 shots from the field in the second half.
Peyton Mosley was the only Union City player to score in double figures, finishing with 16, while Marcus DeBerry and Jamie Hyde had nine each.
Khiry Lewis totaled eight markers in the Twister cause.
Mosley posted a double-double with 14 rebounds and made 6-of-7 free throws in the fourth quarter when the Tornadoes salted the game away.
Bradford, which was coming off a one-point upset of Humboldt, was led by Tyler McCartney’s 19 points.
SF 60, Trenton 35 (G)
The streaking Devilettes (13-5, 6-2) won for the sixth straight time, following their recent blueprint of success by getting off to a fast start.
Taleeah Cross scored 12 of her game-high 18 points in the first period and both she and Savannah Larson hit two 3-pointers in an opening frame that saw SF take a 20-7 lead after the first eight minutes.
“Our press was good again early and we’ve been giving people fits with it lately,” South Fulton head coach Curt Lee said. “I’ll be interested to see how effective we are against a big team like Union City on Tuesday. They just threw over us a lot the first time we played them.”
UC won the first meeting with the Devilettes 57-41.
South Fulton was firmly in command against Trenton at the half Friday, up 39-12, and led 49-24 with three periods in the book.
Cori Jo Edmison and Kalon Martin joined Cross in double digits with 13 and 11 points, respectively, with Edmison also coming up with four steals. Sydney Easterwood was credited with three steals.
SF 56, Trenton 54 (B)
Jordan Davis — in his first game back after serving a two-game suspension for being ejected vs. Hickman County — drained a game-winning 15-foot jumper with four seconds left to help the Redmen stop a five-give skid.
SF’s leading scorer on the season, Davis finished the night with 14 points.
The Devils (8-9, 3-5) trailed for the majority of the game, according to head coach Wes Miller, down 26-21 at halftime and 44-41 after three quarters.
Kyle Clouse made four 3-pointers and finished with a team-best 16 markers for the winners, while Harrison Hawks and Keshawn McManus each tallied eight points. McManus had six rebounds and Clouse four.
Tyler Gadlen put on a splendid shooting display in a losing effort for Peabody, making eight shots from beyond the arc on his way to a game-high 33 points. Published in The Messenger 1.16.12 | | | | |
