Union County Upends Christian County for First Regional Win Since 2018

The Union County Braves are headed to the 2nd Region semifinals for the first time in seven years. The Braves moved on with a 62-45 win over the Christian County Colonels Wednesday night at Madisonville-North Hopkins.

The win was the Braves’ first in a regional tournament since 2018 when they knocked off Crittenden County 54-42 at Henderson County. Union County then lost to KyKy Tandy and University Heights in the semifinals.

Christian County came out and appeared to be maybe a little bit ‘too ready’ to go. The Colonels had several shots in the early moments that were a good bit too strong and went across the basket as the Braves took an early 5-2 lead.

Both teams were getting after it on defense coming out of the gate, making it tough on the other’s offense.

Trailing 7-4, Christian County got a spark from Aiden Jesse. Jesse knocked down a pair of threes and gave the Colonels their first lead of the game at 10-9. The lead would move out to 12-9 moments later.

Union County got a late quarter scoring flurry from Jaidyn Wilson, who quickly put up 6 points and put the Braves in front 15-14 in the final seconds of the quarter.

But just as it appeared Union County would lead at the end of the quarter, NaDarien Rowe sank one from beyond half-court just ahead of the horn to give Christian County a 17-15 lead instead.

The second quarter opened up with the two teams back in the ‘in your face’ defensive mode. NaDarien Rowe made a three to give the Colonels their biggest lead of the half at 20-15.

Jaidyn Wilson then started to get locked in from deep for Union County. Wilson hit a couple of threes and moved the Braves to the front at 27-24 late in the half. Three points would be the margin at the half as Union County went into the locker room up 29-26 after NaDarien Rowe just missed beating the buzzer for the second time of the night.

A big first half for Wilson was part of the story in the opening half as the Union County senior put up 14 points in the opening half.

The Braves shot an even 50 percent for the first 16 minutes, hitting 13 of 26 from the floor. Christian County managed 10 more shots but hit three fewer.

The Colonels did a great job with ball security, committing just three turnovers in the half while forcing the Braves into seven.

The cool shooting woes in the first half for the Colonels would not go away anytime soon as the third quarter got underway. After a basket from Zion Acree to open the second half cut the lead to 29-28, someone apparently attached a lid to the basket while the Colonels were not watching.

Christian County got good looks in the lane and from outside the arc, and the shots would simply not go down. And, with the Colonels struggling to get the ball to go through the net, Union County took advantage.

The Braves went on an 11-0 run that turned the one-point advantage into a 40-28 lead. Much of the damage in the run was done by Daishawn Curry, who scored 7 of the 11 points.

Christian County did manage to trim the lead to 8 points by the end of the quarter at 42-34.

The Colonels came out and worked to crank up the defensive heat to start the final eight minutes of the game. The problem for the Colonels was that when they stopped the Braves on the defensive end, they still could not get shots to fall on the other end of the floor. And it seemed like every loose ball that the Chrstian County defense caused went right back into the hands of the Braves and then ended up as a Union County score.

Christian County would get as close as 11 points at 49-38, but then the Braves slammed the door shut on the Colonels with a 9-0 run that pushed the lead out to 20 points at 58-38. From there, it was a matter of playing it out to the final score.

Daishawn Curry led three Braves in double figures with 20 points, 14 of them after the break. Jaidyn Wilson added 16, all but two coming in the first half of play. Cameron Miller ended up with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Cortayvion Rapier had 9 points.

For Christian County, NaDarien Rowe hit for 15. Aiden Jesse also had double figures with 12. Rahsean Stevenson ended the night with 6 points.

Shooting told the story of the game as Union County hit 56.5 percent for the night and Christian County made just 29.5 percent.

Union County improves to 16-10 for the season and will advance on to next Tuesday night’s semifinal round to face the Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons.

Christian County ends the season at 8-23.