Union City went 1-1 against Humboldt in a pair of close games to open its 2024-25 high school basketball season.
The Lady Tornadoes came out on the winning end of a 41-34 final Tuesday night, while the UC boys battled gamely to the final buzzer before dropping a 65-61 decision to the Vikings.
The Twisters continue a busy first week with two more Hall of Champions matchups this week – Thursday night at Trenton and Saturday afternoon vs. South Gibson County at UT Martin.
Union City’s effort was plenty good in their respective season openers. The Lady Tornadoes were able to overcome typical first-game execution challenges, but the Twister boys fell victim to those same issues despite a gritty performance.
Union City played without inside ace Derionna Jones and never trailed in the opener, but could never comfortably put away the visitors. The Tornado girls held Humboldt to one first-half field goal and then made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 93 seconds to hold off a Lady Viking rally.
Uriah Davis and Alli McMillan sank a pair of charities apiece, and Kennedi Robinson hit one to secure the Twister victory.
In the boys’ game, the Twisters’ max effort was nearly enough to overcome their inexperience and a typically athletic Viking squad.
Union City cut a 15-point second-half deficit to a deuce with the aid of Ben Kail’s old-fashioned 3-point play, a triple by Kobe Maddox, and Kwinton Purifoy’s follow shot that made it 61-59 with 1:50 to go.
The Tornadoes couldn’t convert in the final stretch, though, making just one more bucket on a Kail layup with the margin at six and just 10 seconds to play.
(photos: Mike Hutchens – School Communications Director)
