Madeline Adams
UNION CITY, Ind. – Madeline Adams had her Union City girls basketball teammates celebrating on Friday as the Indians won 61-58 over Union County in a Tri-Eastern Conference affair.
With the score tied 58-58 and 1:03 remaining, Union City Head Coach Sarah Hines had a plan.
“We worked on situations in practice,” Hines said. “We were prepared for this.”
The Indians (4-2, 2-0) kept their offense spread out and worked the clock down as Justiss Cantu found Adams, who drove to the basket for what proved to be the game-winner.
“They did a very nice job,” Hines said. “I’m proud of how they took care of the ball.”
“We called a play with 15 seconds to go,” Hines continued. “We’re confident in having Justiss getting the ball to Madeline. (Madeline) really stepped up for us.”
Adams scored with nine seconds left and Union County called a timeout. The Patriots then committed their 17th turnover.
Union County Head Coach Scott Gray talks to his team during a timeout.
Union City gained possession and Adams was fouled. She hit one of two free throws with 3.7 seconds remaining to finish the contest.
When Adams missed her last free throw, the Patriots had the outlet pass stolen as the game ended.
“At the end of the game, we didn’t handle ourselves well,” Union County Head Coach Scott Gray said. “Too many turnovers. Careless turnovers we can’t make.”
“We talk about three things you have to have every road game,” Gray added. “You’ve got to have rebounding, poise and you’ve got to value the basketball. We didn’t do those things.”
Turning Point
Baylee Hartman
Union County built a 32-22 advantage late in the second quarter before the Indians scored two baskets in the final 30 seconds of the period to cut their deficit 32-26 at the intermission.
“We had to make some adjustments,” Hines said. “We had three on the bench with foul trouble (in the first half).”
“We told them in the second half, when we come out the first three minutes were huge,” Hines added. “We’ve got to finish and take it to the basket.”
Hines was right. After giving up a score to the Patriots, who made it 34-26, the Indians went on an 8-0 run to tie the contest as 34-34 when Baylee Hartman scored with 4:55 left in the third.
“Our bigs were active inside,” Hines said. “They attacked and finished.”
Hartman led the charge in the third period with 12 of her team-high 18 points as Union City took a 46-45 lead at the stop.
“She plays hard and she does little things,” Hines said. “She did a great job of getting us that lead.”
Courtney Wise added 17 points and six rebounds, while Hartman grabbed 14 rebounds.
“They beat us up inside,” Gray said of the Indians. “Wise and Hartman both had big games. We didn’t have anything for them.”
Adams finished with nine points. Kelsey Zimmers contributed 14 points. Cantu had just three points, but she handed out 11 assists and had five steals.
The Patriots had three players in double digits as their point total was a season high.
“Offensively, we had a pretty good game plan and it involved some threes,” Gray said. “We got what we wanted. We hit some big shots and did some good things.”
Maddie Fulton had a game-high 20 points for the Patriots (3-4, 0-1). Sierra Dowler tossed in 15 points and Tanner Henry added 11 points.
Union City won the JV contest 37-21. Kahlee Dowler led the Indians with 10 points, while Breanna Partin added nine. Tara Williams had 11 points for the Patriots.
The Indians visit Cowan on Tuesday, Dec. 1. Union County is at Connersville on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
Watch Adams hit winning shot (not available for moble devices).
Box Score
UNION COUNTY (3-4, 0-1) – Sierra Dowler 5 0-0 15, Tanner Henry 4 1-2 11, Maddie Fulton 7 5-6 20, Madison Walters 4 0-0 8, Sammie Elleman 0 0-0 0, Danielle Franklin 0 0-0 0, Tara Williams 1 1-2 4. Team – 20 7-10 58.
UNION CITY (4-2, 2-0) – Justiss Cantu 1 1-4 3, Kora Kerns 0 0-0 0, Courtney Wise 8 1-2 17, Kelsey Zimmers 5 0-0 14, Baylee Hartman 9 0-0 18, Madeline Adams 3 3-4 9, Joette Sigler 0 0-0 0, Breanna Partin 0 0-0 0, Ellie Kerns 0 0-0 0. Team – 26 5-10 61.
Union County 14 32 45 58
Union City 15 26 46 61
3-pointers – Union County 9 (Dowler 5, Henry 2, Fulton 1, Williams 1), Union City 4 (Zimmers 4). Rebounds – Union County 27 (Walters 8, Fulton 7), Union City 33 (Hartman 14, Cantu 7). Turnovers – Union County 18, Union City 14. Fouls – Union County 13, Union City 13.