Madison Walters
CAMBRIDGE CITY, Ind. – After a slow start on Wednesday, the Union County girls basketball team battled but came up on the short end of a 50-45 score against North Decatur in the Healthy Hoopla Tournament at Lincoln.
“I thought we were focused on what we needed to get done,” Gray said. “We missed a lot of easy shots that we would normally hit and we were a little reluctant to shoot the three early.”
North Decatur (9-4) beat Union County 62-30 in the season opener in Liberty.
“That’s a great team,” Gray said. “They’ve got size, they’ve got guard play.”
The Chargers had a pair of 5-11 posts to go with another one at 5-10.
North Decatur led 20-7 at the first stop and then 25-14 at the half, the Patriots rallied to close the gap to 44-42 with 43 seconds remaining in the game when Tara Williams hit a pair of free throws.
“We had a great effort, we just didn’t have enough offensively for them,” Gray said. “We were right there.”
“Our kids just don’t quit,” Gray continued. “They’ve been through these battles and we just didn’t have enough to get over the top.”
Williams led Union County with 17 points, while Sierra Dowler and Tanner Henry added seven points each.
Madison Walters and Maddie Fulton contributed six points apiece, while Walters grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Union County (8-6) faces Cowan in the consolation contest of the tournament Wednesday night. Cowan lost 56-38 to Lincoln in the opener of the tourney.
Box Score
NORTH DECATUR (9-4) – Mary Hughes 0 3-4 3, Samantha Krieger 2 0-1 4, Sarah Bowman 1 5-9 7, Chelsea Hitchcock 4 0-0 11, Olivia Siefert 8 4-7 20, Jesse Closser 0 3-4 3, Ally Gauck 1 0-0 2. Team – 16 15-25 50.
UNION COUNTY (8-6) – Sierra Dowler 3 1-3 7, Tanner Henry 3 0-0 7, Maddie Fulton 2 1-2 6, Madison Walters 3 0-0 6, Sammie Elleman 1 0-0 2, Tara Williams 6 4-6 17, Danielle Franklin 0 0-0 0, Fayth Hill 0 0-0 0. Team – 18 6-11 45.
North Decatur 20 25 36 50
Union County 7 14 24 45
3-pointers – North Decatur 3 (Hitchcock 3), Union County 3 (Henry 1, Fulton 1, Williams 1). Rebounds – North Decatur 29 (Bohman 6, Siefert 6), Union County 25 (Walters 9). Turnovers – North Decatur 17, Union County 14. Fouls – North Decatur 9, Union County 22.