| By MIKE HUTCHENS
Messenger Sports Editor
Both on the court and off, Tory Reedy was the basketball queen at Union City High School Friday night.
Reedy poured in 25 points to lead the No. 1 ranked Lady Tornadoes to a 61-33 blowout of Humboldt, then took her place at the center of the homecoming royalty in ceremonies at halftime of the boys’ game.
The win was the sixth straight for the UC girls, who appeared unfazed at their lofty standing in the first outing since being adorned as the best Class 1A team in the state by Associated Press writers and broadcasters.
While he was afforded no such crown, Malik Stockdale earned the unofficial title of ‘Homecoming King’ after scoring a career-high 30 and grabbed eight rebounds in helping the No. 10 Union City boys complete a night and season sweep of the Vikings with a 61-50 second game triumph.
Both Twister teams exited the District 14A twinbill atop the league standings — the girls at 9-0 in the district and 17-3 overall, while the Union City boys are 13-6 in all games and 8-1 in 14A with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
Saturday’s girls-only game against Paducah Tilghman was postponed.
Reedy sank five 3-pointers and 14 her game-high scoring total in the second period when the Lady Tornadoes built a commanding 37-15 lead and never looked back.
Stockdale, meanwhile, scored all 12 of Union City’s second-quarter points and made 9-of-12 free throws to go along with a trio of 3-pointers and a half-dozen deuces as the Twisters parlayed the offense of the sophomore standout with an impressive defensive effort to beat their biggest district rival for the second time this season.
UC 61, Humboldt 33 (G)
The Lady Twisters ran off 11 unanswered points after H’boldt scored the first basket — fueled by their trademark defense that forced 10 first-quarter turnovers and 30 for the game.
Raven Fair — starting for the injured Tamara Nettles (knee) — provided Union City with a nice offensive lift, scoring seven of her 12 points in the opening period, including a 3-pointer that game the Tornadoes the lead for good.
Reedy canned two of her triples in her aforementioned second-quarter flurry and Fair added another trey to help put UC comfortably in front.
It was 49-23 after three quarters and Kaleigh Bynum’s bucket halfway through the final frame stretched the margin to 30 (58-28) before subs for both teams played out the string.
“I thought our energy was there from the beginning,” Union City head coach Eddie Suiter said. “We turned them over quite a bit and, unlike the first time when we played them, we were much more efficient and capitalized in the early-going.
“We were not distracted by the ranking or anything else that’s happened to us, and I didn’t expect us to be.”
Suiter also said the team got some good news with Nettles, saying further examination of the injury she suffered against Bradford revealed no structural damage. The coach said she could return to the lineup in two weeks — or possibly even sooner.
Jackie Hudson scored 10 points to give the Twister girls three players in double figures.
UC 61, Humboldt 50 (B)
While Stockdale’s offensive exploits were highlight material, the Tornado defense that forced 20 turnovers and set the tone early was just as important.
“We’re consistently doing the job on the defensive end, and tonight it started with us being able to contain the dribble,” Union City head coach Shane Sisco confirmed. “Anytime you have a 2-to-1 advantage in turnovers, you’ve done a good job.”
Stockdale and Marcus DeBerry drained 3-pointers in the opening stanza when the Twisters spurted to a 12-4 lead, and the former then handled the scoring load all by himself in the second — a trifecta just before the halftime buzzer capping his 12-point quarter and giving UC a 25-17 advantage.
A flurry of nine unanswered points to open the second half stretched the Tornadoes’ lead to 34-17 with DeBerry bottoming another triple, Donte Simpson hitting two free throws and Jamie Hyde making a basket before Stockdale capped the burst at the 5:57 mark.
The Vikings made some noise, though, cutting into that deficit and getting within 38-30 at the quarter’s end.
A disturbance in the Humboldt cheering section — just behind the Viking bench — after standout DeSonta Bradford had fouled out, caused for a stoppage of play for several minutes early in the fourth quarter before order was restored by UCHS administration and local police officers.
Afterward, the Twisters kept H’boldt at arm’s length on the strength of a 15-for-21 effort at the foul line in the final eight minutes.
Overall, Union City hit 22-of-31 from the charity stripe, while the Vikes hit just 2-of-7.
“We were aggressive and got to the front of the rim and that resulted in us getting to the free throw line much more than they did,” Sisco added. “It was obviously Malik’s best game in his two seasons, and it was good to see that he played with a lot of confidence in a big game against one of our biggest rivals.”
Humboldt fell to 5-4 in the district and 14-5 overall.
Sports editor Mike Hutchens can be contacted by email at mhutch@ucmessenger.com. Published in The Messenger 1.21.13 |
