Eagle boys rally for third place

Monday, December 10, 2007

YATES CENTER -- Uniontown's boys took third place Saturday at the Yates Center Tournament managed to get in its final day of play before the ice storm started playing havoc with travel plans.

The Eagles defeated Three Rivers League rival Southern Coffey County in that game, 48-45. Meanwhile, Uniontown's girls continued to have trouble scoring points and fell to Erie, 42-10, in the third-place game.

Eagle boys, who evened their record at 2-2 on the season, trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half and were still down by six with a minute to go before going on a game-ending 9-0 run.

"This was a hard-fought defensive battle," Uniontown head coach Nathan Hinrichs said. "We are very happy to get a win against a solid opponent."

The Eagles got a boost from their bench. Travis Aikins scored 15 points off the bench, leading Uniontown for the night, while Drew Johnson added nine. Jesse Johnston also scored nine points for the Eagles.

Uniontown held a 10-9 lead after the first quarter. But Southern Coffey County held the halftime lead, 23-18.

SCC, 1-3, also led after three but the Eagles outscored the Titans 19-10 in the fourth.

Erie girls 42, Uniontown 10.

Coming off a Thursday night semifinal in which they scored just 13 points, the Eagles continued to have offensive problems as they lost to Erie in the third-place game.

Uniontown, 2-2, made only two of its 26 field-goal attempts on the night. Erie shot only 31 percent from the field on 17 of 55 but that was enough on this night.

Danielle Swiler led the Red Devils with 18 points, going eight for 13 from the field. Teammate Kendra Mattox followed up with nine points.

Abbie Smith scored six points for Uniontown, who saw only three players score.

Erie also won the battle of the boards 35-23 and turned the ball over just 16 times to Uniontown's 37 turnovers.

Uniontown's teams will host St. Paul -- weather permitting -- Tuesday night. The Indians, along with Chetopa, joined the Three Rivers League this season and the games in this doubleheader will count in the standings as this is the only time they will meet this season.

The girls' contest will tip off about 6:30, following the girls' JV game. Varsity boys will follow.

Girls

UNIONTOWN: Smith 2-7 2-8 6, Stephens 0-4 3-4 4, Shank 0-5 1-2 1, Spainhoward 0-0 0-0 0, Warren 0-4 0-0 0, Clayton 0-3 0-0 0, Rathbun 0-0 0-1 0, Phillips 0-1 0-0 0, Mallen 0-0 0-0 0, Schaaf 0-0 0-2 0, Esslinger 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS: 2-26 6-17 10.

ERIE: Swiler 8-13 0-0 18, Mattox 4-15 0-2 9, Sexton 2-8 1-2 5, Hastings 2-4 0-0 4, Wimsett 0-2 2-2 2, Stipp 1-9 0-2 2, Hartzell 0-4 2-4 4, South 0-0 0-2 0. TOTALS: 17-55 5-12 42.

Uniontown............... 2 5 0 3 -- 10

Erie..................... 12 7 21 2 -- 42

Three-point field goals: Uniontown 0-1 (Esslinger 0-1), Erie 3-7 (Swiler 2-4, Mattox 1-1, Stipp 0-2).

Total fouls: Uniontown 11, Erie 23. Fouled out: none.

Boys

UNIONTOWN: Johhnston 9, Spain-howard 7, Aikins 15, Bloesser 4, Johnson 9, McAnulty 2, Tinsley 2. TOTALS: 48.

SOUTHERN COFFEY COUNTY: Craft 8, Meyer 12, Smith 4, Kraft 6, Redding 9, Ludolph 6. TOTALS: 45.

Uniontown............. 10 8 11 19 -- 48

So. Coffey County.... 9 14 12 10 -- 45

Three-point field goals: n/a.