UC Lady Indians fall to Randolph Southern

We knew going into the season we’re not big ... Coach Sarah Black

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Union City's Oaklee Reichard. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

UNION CITY, IN – The Union City Lady Indians dropped an early season basketball game to the taller Randolph Southern Lady Rebels 65-22.

Oaklee Reichard quickly gave the Lady Indians a 3-0 lead in the opening minute of the contest before going down with an injury at 6:51 in the period, sending the Union City senior leader to the bench for the remainder of the quarter.

“She is a huge leader in our team, and when that happens, our mindset changes a little bit,” Union City Coach Sarah Black said of Reichard. “We’ve seen that in the last two games when she’s out, what that looks like, and how does that affect us? It just proves what a big part of this team she is and how much the girls look up to her as their leader.”

Nova Mote launches a shot for Union City in home game with Randolph Southern. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

With Reichard on the bench, Southern put 12 unanswered points on the board to take a 12-3 lead after one period of play.

Period No. 2 saw Reichard return to the court in the opening minute of the quarter. Unable to jumpstart the offense, the Lady Rebels took advantage of their height to log 24 points while limiting the Lady Indians to four points. Reichard went 4-4 at the charity stripe, sending the teams to the break with Southern holding a 36-7 advantage.

Union City coach Sarah Black talks with her Lady Indians during timeout. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

“We knew going into the season we’re not big,” Coach Black noted. “We’re going to struggle when it comes to size, but there have been a lot of teams that aren’t very big that have been extremely successful, so we can’t use that as an excuse. We have to find a way to make that work for us.”

The Lady Rebels battled to an 11-10 third-quarter, with O. Reichard dropping in six points, including a 3-pointer, and four Campbell Kerns points.

Campbell Kerns looks for a Lady Indians outlet pass in matchup with Lady Rebels. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

Southern’s offense scored 18 fourth-quarter points while limiting the Lady Indians to five, giving the visitors the win.

“There are a lot of things we can work on obviously that was shown to us tonight,” Black stated. “We have a lot of things to try and perfect and get better at – that is what we will do starting tomorrow.”

Union City freshman guard takes her place at the free throw line. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

Union City’s 5’5” Oaklee Reichard paced the Lady Indians with 15 points in three-quarters of action.

Randolph Southern was led by 6’0” junior Haileigh Allen’s 20-points, 6’0” senior Alexis Shumaker tossed in 15-points, and 5’6” sophomore Joselyn Smith logged 13 points.

Gabrielle Ordonez takes a shot for Union City in home matchup with Randolph Southern. (Gaylen Blosser photo)

Union City is a member of the Tri-Eastern Conference. Teams include Cambridge City Lincoln, Centerville, Hagerstown, Knightstown, Northeastern, Tri, Union City, Union County, and Winchester.

BOXSCORE:

RANDOLPH SOUTHERN 65, UNION CITY 22

UNION CITY – O. Reichard 15, C. Kerns 4, N. Mote 3 – TOTALS 4 8-16 2 22

RANDOLPH SOUTHERN – H. Allen 20, A. Shumaker 15, J. Smith 13, T. Watson 8, B. Gerber 4, M. Saylor, 3, A. Mills 2 – TOTALS 20 7-14 6 65

3-POINTERS

Union City 2 (O. Reichard 1, Mote 1)
Randolph Southern 6 (Allen 2, Smith 2, Saylor 1, Shumaker 1)

SCORE by QUARTERS

03-04-10-05 22 Union City
12-24-11-18 65 Randolph Southern

Sophia Emrick puts up a Lady Indians jumper in game with Randolph Southern. (Gaylen Blosser photo)