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Lady Champs' offense struggles at Rockvale

By WILL CARTER ~ Sports Writer
Posted 11/29/22

ROCKVALE — It was a tough night for the Cascade Lady Champions as they had a hard time producing much offensively in their 61-22 loss to the red-hot Rockvale Lady Rockets.  Cascade’s …

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Lady Champs' offense struggles at Rockvale

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ROCKVALE — It was a tough night for the Cascade Lady Champions as they had a hard time producing much offensively in their 61-22 loss to the red-hot Rockvale Lady Rockets. 
Cascade’s (1-3) struggles started early in the contest with their only two points in the first quarter coming from freshman Kaegan Young while four different Lady Rockets (4-0) contributed to a 15-2 advantage in the first frame. 
Freshman Suzanna Crews put the Lady Champions back on the board with just under seven minutes remaining in the second quarter and she led her squad with five total points in the frame. 
Shortly after, the Lady Rockets manufactured some quick offense with their full-court pressure defense that caused problems for the Lady Champions. 
Cascade totaled 16 turnovers in the first half due to the pressure, but cleaned things up in the second half, committing only seven.
Despite the turnovers, the Lady Champions ended the half on a 6-0 run to head into halftime down 29-14. 
While it was difficult for coach Janie Demonbreum’s offense to get going, she was happy with how her team was able to slow the Lady Rockets down as much as possible. 
“Our goal was to slow them down and I thought we did that well in the first half,” she said. 
“I thought we held them as well as we could. We just couldn’t put up points of our own.”
Rockvale continued to put their foot on the gas in the second half as they knocked down a trifecta of three-pointers in each of the final two quarters while Cascade’s struggles carried over for the rest of the contest. 
Getting back to the basics of their offense is a point of emphasis for Demonbreum and her Lady Champions. 
“We could have had a lot more points if we rotated the ball better against their zone defense, but that’s something we’re working on,” she said. “We just have to break the bad habits these girls have fundamentally and work from there.”
Leading the attack for the Lady Champions were Crews and Young who combined for 14 of Cascade’s 22 total points. 
And Demonbreum is counting on the freshmen duo to keep playing hard. 
“They’re going to be so important for us,” she said. “I'm super proud of Suzanna and Kaegan both for stepping up and playing hard as freshmen. That’s the Suzanna I know that comes out and is feisty down low.”
Nine different Lady Rockets contributed to their total score with Tonie Davis scoring 20 to lead the way, including eight in the second quarter. 
They also knocked down eight shots from the perimeter compared to Cascade’s one. 
The Lady Champions will try to bounce back on Thursday against the visiting Moore County Raiderettes.
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. 

Cascade 2 12 5 3 — 22 
Rockvale 15 14 16 16 — 61

Cascade: Suzanna Crews 8, Kaegan Young 6, Abrielle Presley 3, Laina Carter 3, Isabella Rhodes 2. 
Rockvale: Tonie Davis 20, Kailah Crawford 9, Talea Gray 8, Ayeden Wilkerson 7, Kamaria Murray 6, Kamryn Clark 5, Annabelle Marlin 3, Isabelle Newcomb 3. 
3-Points goals: Rockvale (8): Gray 2, Clark, Crawford, Davis, Marlin, Murray, Newcomb; Cascade (1): Presley. 
Halftime score: Rockvale 29, Cascade 14