Madeline Adams
TIPTON, Ind. – One down and one to go.
The Union City girls basketball team took care of business on Saturday morning as the Indians defeated Liberty Christian 54-45 in the opener of the Class 1A regional at Tipton.
“They were excited to be here and maybe a little nervous,” Union City Head Coach Sarah Hines said. “We had a long bus ride.”
“Hopefully, we can use that energy for tonight in a positive way,” Hines continued.
The Indians (21-5) face Tri-Central (16-11) in Saturday night’s championship game at 8 p.m.
Tri-Central beat North Vermillion 58-47 in second contest of the day.
The plan for the Indians is simple heading into the title tilt.
“We’ve watched a lot of game film,” Hines said. “Just get them some rest and prepare them as best we can in the short time that we have. We’ve got to be fundamentally sound.”
A victory would give the Indians their second regional crown with the first coming in 2001.
With the score tied 6-6, Union City took advantage of back-to-back steals by Baylee Hartman and Justiss Cantu that led to lay-ups as the Indians took the lead for good. Cantu was fouled on her basket and she added a free throw to give the Indians an 11-6 lead at the 2:36 mark.
“We worked on a lot of things in practice this week that we thought would be beneficial for the game this morning,” Hines said. “A couple of those didn’t work so we made some changes and we figured out what did work and then we ran with that.”
Union City led 16-12 at the first stop and then 38-27 at the intermission.
“Once we started to get going, I thought they did a nice job pushing the ball and getting up a down the floor,” Hines said.
By the end of the third frame, Union City was on top 43-33.
The Lions (16-11) began to close the gap in the final quarter to 45-38, when Hartman ran the length of the floor for an offensive rebound and score with 4:02 left to play.
“That was a huge play for Baylee to get that rebound and put it back up and in to give us a little bit of room,” Hines said. “Not to relax, but a little bit of room that if we took care of the ball and hit our free throws, we’ll be alright.”
The Indians proved to be fine although the Lions cut their deficit to 51-45 with 34 seconds remaining.
Madeline Adams hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 22.4 seconds to put the game away.
“She doesn’t want it to be over,” Hines said of Adams, who led the Indians with 16 points. “She going to do everything she can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Courtney Wise tossed in 13 points for the Indians, while Hartman finished with a dozen points, nine rebounds and five blocks.
Cantu added seven points and four assists. Kora Kerns had eight rebounds and four steals.
Box Score
UNION CITY (21-5) – Justiss Cantu 1 5-7 7, Kora Kerns 0 1-2 1, Courtney Wise 6 0-0 13, Madeline Adams 4 8-11 16, Baylee Hartman 5 2-2 12, Kelsey Zimmers 2 0-3 5, Ellie Kerns 0 0-0 0, Joette Sigler 0 0-0 0. Team – 18 16-25 54.
LIBERTY CHRISTIAN (16-11) – Monica Watkins 4 2-3 10, Sarah Aikin 5 0-0 10, Melody Davidson 4 0-0 8, Breanne Walters 1 0-0 2, Savannah Rees 2 1-2 5, Kennedy Fillmore 1 0-0 2, Karli Petty 3 0-0 8, Maci McFall 0 0-0 0, Sarah Cabello 0 0-0 0. Team – 20 3-5 45.
Union City 16 38 43 54
Liberty Christian 12 27 33 45
3-pointers – Union City 2 (Wise 1, Zimmers 1), Liberty Christian 2 (Petty). Rebounds – Union City 35 (Hartman 9, K. Kerns 8), Liberty Christian 27 (Davidson 8). Turnovers – Union City 15, Liberty Christian 12. Fouls – Union City 11, Liberty Christian 17.