They’ll just always fight.”

Lady Champs Head Coach Janie Demonbreum

BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The Cascade Lady Champions (14-14, 4-4) led by as many as eight points in the first half, but ultimately could not find enough offense against a stingy Summertown Lady Eagles’ (24-4, 6-2) defense as the visitors advanced to their fourth-consecutive Region Championship Game, 42-33, in the Region 5-AA Semifinal on Monday inside The Stable.

After falling behind 19-11 in the first half, the District 10-AA Champions Summertown went on an extended 22-9 run into the fourth quarter to go up 33-28 with just over six minutes left. Cascade eventually cut it to as little as two points, 35-33, after Young connected on a pair of free throws with 1:10 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Eagles were able to get a stop on the Lady Champions’ ensuing possession to close out the win.

“I mean, our girls, they fight every game,” an emotional Janie Demonbreum said postgame.  “That’s something that they can hang their hat on because they were undersized every single game. Even going into this game, we were a little bit undersized inside, but we fought. We fought on the boards, we were scrappy, we were able to hit shots we needed early, but unfortunately we had to start fouling at the end and they eventually hit their free throws.”

Playing in their second-consecutive Region Semifinal for the first time since 2012-14, the Lady Champions brought the fight to the heavy favorites, but ultimately just ran out of answers on the offensive end against a lengthy Lady Eagles’ zone in the half court. Young scored nine in the second half, but a Laina Carter layup were the only other points Cascade could muster up in the final 16 minutes.

Cascade senior Laina Carter (1) lays in two of her four points in the second half on Monday. She also scored a layup to beat the first-quarter buzzer that gave Cascade a 17-11 lead after the opening period.

David Smith

“When they were playing man early on, we were able to get exactly what we wanted, which was to attack the paint on them and try to get them in a little bit of foul trouble. Then, when they went to that zone, we kind of got a little stagnant and weren’t making the inside pass, and that just comes with experience, being able to know where to flash, know where the pass should go, just reading the open slots. That was the big difference for us.”

After initially falling behind, 7-2, early in the first quarter, Kaegan Young stabilized the Lady Champs with a pair of three-pointers to spark a 15-4 run to close the opening frame and give Cascade a six-point lead, 17-11. 

Sophie Ray opened the second quarter with a pull-up jumper from the free-throw line, giving the Lady Champions their largest lead of the night at 19-11.

Cascade Senior Sophie Ray (5) connects on a two of her four points on Monday. Ray finishes her career in the 1,000-point club.

David Smith

However, Summertown switched to an extended 2-3 zone, igniting a 14-3 run of their own to close out the first half and giving the Lady Eagles a three-point lead at the break, 25-22.

Both teams struggled to find any rhythm in the third quarter, but Summertown narrowly outscored Cascade, 7-6, to enter the final frame up by four, 32-28, setting up the dramatic finish.

Sumertown opened the fourth quarter by splitting a pair of free throws to grow their lead to five, 33-28, but then both teams went ice cold. As tensions rose and the minutes ticked away on the clock, neither team could buy a basket. Both teams went scoreless for the next four minutes until Gabi Long found Lauren Howell wide open underneath the basket for a layup against the Lady Champs’ press, extending the Lady Eagles’ lead to 35-28 with 2:33 remaining. 

Kaegan Young, who scored a game-high 18 points and yanked down a team-high seven rebounds on the night for the Lady Champions, responded with a massive three-pointer on the wing for Cascade’s first points of the fourth quarter to cut the lead back to four, 35-31, with 2:05 left. 

Kaegan Young (22) connects on her third three-pointer of the game late in the fourth quarter. She led all scorers on Monday with 18 points.

David Smith

“You can’t put it [what Young means] into words because to know mentally, physically, and emotionally what she goes through on a day-to-day basis, and then she’s able to come out and score 22 points, 27 points, 25 points in games, it’s just mind-boggling for me,” Demonbreum said about her superstar guard. “She is one of the hardest-working kids I’ve ever seen. She doesn’t settle for anything, she’s always trying to hone in on specific things with her game, and that’s just not something that a lot of kids have anymore. And she’s not forced to do her workouts or anything like that, she wants to do her workouts, and she’s just a fantastic kid, a fantastic role model for our locker room and our kids in the future, she is just an overall great person.”

Ella Busby, who finished as Summertown’s leading scorer with 10 points, was fouled on the ensuing possession with 1:45 on the timer, but she missed both free throws. Summertown then forced a turnover, but Gabi Long missed another pair from the charity stripe, keeping the door open for Cascade. Young immediately raced up the court, crashing into Busby and earning two free throws 1:10 to go, calmly sinking both to cut the lead to two, 35-33.

“I mean, our girls, they fight every game,” Demonbreum said. “That’s something that they can hang their hat on because they were undersized every single game. Even going into this game, we were a little bit undersized inside, but we fought. We fought on the boards, we were scrappy, we were able to hit shots we needed early, but unfortunately we had to start fouling at the end and they eventually hit their free throws.”

Long was quickly fouled after the inbounds, but this time she nailed both foul shots to put Summertown back up by four. After senior Sophie Ray, who finished her career with four points on the night, saw her contested layup attempt roll off the rim, Busby went back to the free throw line with 43.0 seconds to go and calmly sank a pair to put the game out of reach, 39-33. The Lady Eagles tacked on three more free throws as the Lady Champions were unable to connect, sending Summertown to the Region 5-AA Championship game for a rematch against Loretto. 

Demonbreum, in her third season at the helm, took over the Lady Champions’ program before the 2022-23 season after Cascade had won just 15 games the previous four seasons combined. In her first year, the Lady Champions went just 3-25, but the groundwork had been laid for what was to come.

“I hope everybody remembers where this group started,” Demonbreum emphasized. “I’ve had them now for three years, and they started out as little kids that had very little confidence in any ability that they had, and they get to leave this program knowing that they truly are leaving it better than they found it. It just sets the foundation for the years to come. You couldn’t ask for a better group to do what we’ve done with.”

Demonbreum oversaw the Lady Champions 13-win season a year ago that ended in the Region 5-AA Semifinals against Loretto, and then went 14-14 this year in the midst of a remarkable turnaround following just her third season in charge. One of the primary catalysts for Cascade’s resurgence this year was the emergence of freshman sensation, Lizzie Keele, who scored a career-high 25 points in the District Championship game against Cannon County.

Lizzie Keele (11) is fouled while going up for a layup in the first half against Summertown. She finished with seven points but forced countless Lady Eagles' turnovers all night long.

David Smith

Against Summertown, Keele finished with seven points, but it was her defensive intensity forcing invaluable Summertown turnovers to keep the Lady Champions within striking distance that stood out to everyone watching.

“I think you can look at it as, your impact on the game doesn’t always have to be your scoring, and I think that Lizzie [Keele] has stepped up to the challenge every time we’ve set it out for her defensively,” Demonbreum said. “Obviously there are some things that she still needs to work on, but as a freshman, to be called upon your freshman year in big games like this has been huge. She has a bright future ahead of her. We’ve got a lot of work that her and I are going to do together, she’s got a lot of work to do this spring, and she just has a bright future ahead of her.” 

Although she didn’t get a full four years with this trio of seniors, the group she had this season will always hold a special place in the young coach’s heart. 

Cascade senior Kaydence Miller (14) played admirable defense on the interior against the Lady Eagles, helping the Lady Champs hold the dynamic duo of Abbie Shaffer and Gabi Long to just 11 points combined in the Region 5-AA Semifinal.

David Smith

“Their fight. I will never forget their fight,” Demonbreum concluded. “Those three seniors that played [Sophie Ray, Kaydence Miller, Laina Carter], they could have so easily done what everybody else in their class did and quit, but they never did. They came back every year, they came back every day because they wanted to be better than what they were when they came in. That’s just something that they’ve instilled in everybody on our squad, and if it wasn’t for them, I don’t know if I could have fought the way that I did because I saw how much fight they had in themselves.”

“They’ll just always fight.”

Summertown improves to 24-4 on the season and will take on Loretto in the Region 5-AA Title Game on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. inside The Stable.

Cascade ends the year as the District 9-AA Runners-Up with a 14-14 record overall.