By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Union City split its District 14A openers at South Fulton Friday night, the Tornado boys winning 60-55 after the Twister girls lost 54-46 in the opener.
UC’s boys held on despite less than their best showing, improving to 13-5 overall.
Malaki Brooks had 23 of his game-high 27 points in the second half for the Tornadoes, and Joseph Lattus matched Brooks’ five 3-pointers to finish with 15 markers as Union City overcame subpar shooting and a general lack of energy in the contest.
The Twisters led by double figures twice in the second half before SF made a late charge and got to within three twice in the final 20 seconds.
In Game 1, Union City led 37-31 with 6:45 to play after a Sh’Nyla Moss 3-pointer before the Devilettes ran off 10 points in a row and finished on a 23-9 flurry.
Moss ended up with 19 points, Debrionna Jones finished with 15 before fouling out with 2:30 to play, and Marlee Theobald added 10 for the Lady Twisters, who fell to 7-10 in all games.
UC plays at Dresden on Tuesday, then returns home to host Lake County next Friday.
UC 60, SF 55 (B)
A pair of Lattus treys and one each from Ben Kail and Brooks in the first four minutes put Union City up by double digits in the early going.
Despite forcing half of South Fulton’s two dozen turnovers in the first half, the Tornadoes could not put the Redmen away, cooling off significantly while scoring just nine points in the second period.
Ahead 26-21 at the half, UC saw the Red Devils even things up before Brooks heated up with back-to-back triples to fuel a 16-4 surge with less than two minutes showing in the third stanza. A Lattus 3-pointer gave the Twisters a 47-35 advantage with 6:20 to go before SF fought back to make things close down the stretch.
Brooks sealed the deal with 3-of-4 foul shots in the last minute and an old-fashioned 3-point play with 14 seconds left.
Brady McFarland led South Fulton with 25 points.
SF 54, UC 46 (G)
Neither team led by more than four points over the first three quarters before the Lady Tornadoes twice went up by six – the second (39-33) after Jones converted from in close.
The veteran Devilette bunch put their experience to good use over the stretch run, though, behind their best player, Maddie Gray, who had all 20 of her points in the second half after being held scoreless over the first two quarters.
Aubree Gore’s 3-point play with 3:30 to go put SF in front for good.
UC made it a one-possession game twice in the final 90 seconds, the last time when Theobald scored to narrow the gap to 49-46 with 1:02 remaining.
South Fulton shot twice as many free throws as Union City (20-10), the Devilettes making 16 of those attempts. The Lady Tornadoes hit just half of their charities.