BELL BUCKLE — It was another good night on the offensive side of the floor for Macyn Kirby as she dropped a game-high 24 points for the Forrest Lady Rockets in their 52-32 win over the Cascade Lady Champions.

The game came to Kirby early on as she knocked down a game-opening three-pointer to jumpstart a 6-0 run for the Lady Rockets.

After a slow start to the game offensively, the Lady Champions found some production as Kaegan Young got to the basket and the foul line for five points in the first quarter.

But Forrest found their rhythm from behind the arc and knocked down three more three-pointers to take a 14-6 lead behind Kirby’s eight points.

They carried their momentum into the second frame as they totaled 17 points in the quarter with Kirby notching nine of her own and 17 total in the first half despite Cascade’s defensive pressure.

“They ran a box-and-one on Macyn Kirby, and she was still able to lead us in scoring tonight,” Lady Rockets head coach Hal Murrell said. “The last several games she’s been phenomenal.”

The Lady Champions couldn’t get much to fall for them in the second quarter, but were able to scrape seven points with Laina Carter accounting for five of them.

For Lady Champions head coach Janie Demonbreum, Cascade is just struggling to create on the offensive end.

“Offensively, we are struggling to look for our own shots, and that’s where we’re losing every game,” Demonbreum said. “We will keep losing games if that happens.”

At the half the Lady Rockets led 31-13.

Coming out of the locker room, Cascade struck first when Young attacked the rim and drew a foul for two shots at the free throw line, which she knocked down.

The Lady Rockets couldn’t find an opportunity to score after the break until Kinslee Inlow found a crease in the defense, and knocked down her first three-pointer of the quarter.

She added three more in the frame for a Forrest total of four in the third quarter and 10 for the entire game.

“They ran the box-and-one which opened up a lot of opportunities for some girls to knock down shots,” Murrell said. “We were able to push the ball in transition and draw some defenders which opened up the perimeter.”

And without a true post player to produce down low, Murrell emphasized the importance of hitting those shots.

“We don’t really have a true post player, so we have to have those threes moving forward and in the postseason if we’re going to advance,” he said.

Heading into the final frame Forrest held a 45-23 lead.

After Kirby dropped in six points in the first few minutes of the final frame, Murrell was able to take his starters out and give his younger players some playing time.

Despite the big district win, Murrell wasn’t thrilled with his team’s performance.

“Yes, we won and that’s ultimately what we came over here to do, but I just felt like we had some inconsistent play,” he said. “They shot 26 free throws and we shot 14. We’re fouling too much. We can’t do that come tournament time. It just wasn’t a great effort out of us tonight.”

The Lady Champions hosted Fayetteville City on Friday.

Forrest                                14 17 14 7 – 52

Cascade                                6   7 10 9 – 32

Forrest: Macyn Kirby 24, Kinslee Inlow 14, Josie Brown 6, Megan Mealer 3, Meagan Seaggs 2, Adi Howes 1, Kaylin Pope 1, Carli Warner 1.

Cascade: Kaegan Young 11, Suzanna Crews 7, Sophie Ray 7, Laina Carter 5, Sarah Floyd 2.

3-point goals: Forrest (10): Inlow 4, Kirby 3, Brown 2, Mealer.; Cascade (2): Carter, Crews.

Halftime score: Forrest 31, Cascade 13