Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 7:00 pm

By MIKE HUTCHENS
Messenger Sports Editor
No news was good news for both Union City teams when the final prep rankings of the season were released Monday.
The UC girls were a near-unanimous No. 1, while the Tornado boys remained fifth — the exact same spots they held in last week’s Associated Press Class 1A polls.
The Lady Twisters (24-3), who won their 13th straight game and set a school record for most victories in a season with a 49-21 romp over Trenton in the first round of the District 14A Tournament Monday night, were the top-ranked girls’ team in Single-A for the final five weeks of the regular season.
Union City received all but one of 16 first-place votes that were cast statewide by writers and broadcasters in the last poll of 2012-13 of year. The Tornado girls totaled 157 total points, far-outdistancing No. 2 Jackson County, which got the other first-place vote and 129 total points.
The UC boys (19-6), who open 14A district tournament play tonight with a home game vs. Trenton, found a good place to land in the final poll — at No. 5 for the second straight week.
The Tornadoes have won 10 of their last 12 games heading into tonight’s contest and were awarded another victory in addition to ones over Lake County and South Fulton last week when Covington was forced to forfeit 24 games for using a pair of ineligible players.
Covington had beaten UC 93-81 in a Hall of Champions contest in the second game of the year.
The Chargers, who have an official record of 2-27 after those forfeits, fell from No. 2 to 10th in the Class 2A boys’ poll.
Covington will square off against top-seed Westview tonight in Martin in a battle of arguably the two best teams in District 13AA with one of those seeing its season come to an end.
A list of the final rankings can be found on page 7.
Sports editor Mike Hutchens can be contacted by email at mhutch@ucmessenger.com. Published in The Messenger 2.12.13