FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. – The Union County girls basketball team held on to win the opener of the Class 2A sectional at Northeastern as the Patriots defeated Hagerstown 52-47 on Tuesday night.
The Patriots (8-15) face Northeastern (3-18) in Friday’s opener at 6 p.m.
After defeating Centerville 67-29 on Tuesday, Winchester (18-5) meets Lincoln (19-3) in the second affair scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The championship game is slated for Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Union County built a 40-19 advantage after three periods.
“I kept telling the girls, Hagerstown is going to make a run,” Union County coach Scott Gray said. “They’re going to get after you.”
The Tigers scored 28 points to close the gap, but the Patriots were able to make just enough free throws to hang on for the victory.
“We did not handle the pressure well,” Gray said. “Most of them haven’t been in that type of environment. When there wasn’t a whole lot of pressure in the third quarter, we were fine.”
Union County led 13-4 after one frame and then 20-12 at the intermission. In the third quarter, the Patriots took their 21-point lead into the final period.
“We had a big enough lead that we held them off,” Gray said. “I really believe we won it in the third quarter.”
Taylor Pinkerton led Union County with 13 points and Sierra Dowler finished with 12. Tara Williams tossed in 11.
For the Tigers, Madison Brown led the way with 14 points. Brytni Dale added 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Box Score
HAGERSTOWN (8-13) – Hannah Rogers 0 5-8 5, Victoria Pierson 1 0-0 2, Madison Brown 4 5-8 14, Brytni Dale 5 2-7 13, Kassidy Oliger 3 0-0 6, Beth Jenkins 0 0-0 0, Camryn Bradway 1 0-0 3, Caysey Farmer 2 0-0 4. Team – 16 12-23 47.
UNION COUNTY (8-15) – Sierra Dowler 4 1-9 12, Taylor Pinkerton 2 8-10 13, Tara Williams 4 2-3 11, Fayth Hill 0 1-2 1, Rainey Shepler 3 0-0 6, Kyla Miller 2 2-2 6, Brooklyn Wilson 1 1-2 3. Team – 16 15-28 52.
Hagerstown 4 12 19 47
Union County 13 20 40 52
3-pointers – Hagerstown 3 (Brown, Dale, Bradway), Union County 5 (Dowler 3, Pinkerton, Williams). Rebounds – Hagerstown 37 (Dale 9, Brown 8, Oliger 7), Union County 28 (Miller 6). Turnovers – Hagerstown 16, Union County 16. Fouls – Hagerstown 20, Union County 16. Fouled out – Williams.