The 47-40 loss at Rushville on November 30 was a turning point for Union County. Three days later, the Lady Patriots turned around to beat Shenandoah, 40-36, with the clock running down in the fourth quarter.

“The final score was a seven-point Rushville edge at the end, but it was one possession all the way,” UC coach Scott Gray said. “Our kids played extremely hard throughout the game.”

The long trip to Shenandoah on Saturday told a different story. 

“We started off kind of stagnant against the Lady Raiders but we got going  and played hard,” Gray said. “We started rebounding and hitting shots.”

The second quarter began with UC down, 12-9, but not for long. A pair of 3-point field goals from the McCashland sisters (Katie and Carly) and good team defense put Shenandoah down 22-20 at halftime and 30-28 at the three-quarter break. 

The Raiders targeted Union County’s leading scorer Brooke Fields in the fourth quarter with little success. The 5’1” senior guard finished with 11 points on one field goal and 9-of-13 free throws – including four trips in the fourth quarter.  

“We play way too fast, we’ve got to slow down. When we do that, we’ll be hard to handle.”

As Gray indicated, the loss at Rushville was a much closer game then the final score when Gray went to his bench to keep things close.

‘Kids like Peityn Gillman came in and had a great game and Hallie Hughes working the middle,” Gray said. “And our guards did what they needed to do – took care of their top two scorers.” 

Union County’s roster was down to 12 girls for the Saturday night game which resulted in the junior varsity playing only two quarters. The  JV game ended in an 8-8 tie.

“We don’t like being 2-4,” Gray said after the loss to Rushville. “All of our kids compete at a pretty high level. They’ll give it everything they’ve got and as a coach, I’m very happy with where we are right now but we want to score enough to win!” 

South Decatur visits Saturday, December 10
Union County played at Hagerstown on Wednesday, Dec. 7 and will host South Decatur Saturday, Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m. UC visits Tri Dec. 14.
 
Quarter scores
Union County        9   22   30   40
Shenandoah       12   20   28   36 

Union County (3-4) Carly McCashland 2-0-5, Katie McCashland 3-2/2-9, Brooke Fields 1-9-13-11, Ally Gray 1-2/4-5, Shelby Hill 3-1/1-7, Peityn Gillman 1-0-3, Hughes 0-0-0. Totals: 11-14/20-40.
Shenandoah (2-6) Lynch 0-2/2-2, Sharritts 1-1/4-3, Muterspaugh 4-2/2-11, Patrick 3-0-8, Hughes 1-0/3-2, Chandler 0-1/2-1, McKnight 2-0-5, Farmer 0-0-0, Schwagmeier 1-0-3. Totals: 12-6/15-36.

3-pointers-Sh 4 (Muterspaugh 1, Patrick 2, Hughes 1). UC 4 (K. McCashland 1,Gray 1, C.McCashland 1, Gillman 1).     
Rebounds-Sh 276. UC 24. UC 22.    
Turnovers-Sh 28. UC 23.
Total Fouls-Sh 17. UC 14.
Fouled out-None.

JV Quarter scores
Union County     8
Shenandoah     8
UC scoring - Gillman 2, McClure 4, Long 2.  


Quarter scores
Union County        5   16   29   40
Rushville                6   16   32   47

Union County (2-4) Fields 2-3/5-8,
C.McCashland 3-0-8, Gray 1-0-2, K.McCashland 0-6/6-6, Hill 2-0-4, Gillman 4-0-10, Hughes 1-0/1-2. Totals: 12-9/12-40.
Rushville (4-3) Smith 0-0-0, Boyer 2-0/1-5, Herbert 3-0-8, Munchel 3-3/8-9, Gossett 6-4/7-17, Kuhn 0-2/2-2, Buzzard 1-3/6-6, Parsley 0-0-0. Totals: 15-13/22-47.

3-pointers-Ru 5 (Boyer 1, Herbert 2, Gossett 1, Buzzard 1). UC 5 (Fields 1, C.McCashland 2, 2 Gillman).     
Rebounds-Ru 26. UC 24.    
Turnovers-Ru 12. UC 15.
Total Fouls-Ru 14, UC 18.
Fouled out-None.

JV Quarter scores
Union County   2   10   14   16
Rushville           7   22   25   29.
UC scoring - Long 4, Gray 2, K,McCashland 1, Robinson 3, Hughes 4, Gillman 2. 
3-pointers -Robinson 1.