LORETTO, Tenn. – Following an eight-day hiatus due to the winter storms that swept through Tennessee, the No. 7 Cascade Lady Champions (18-5, 5-0) remained unbeaten in District 9-AA, stamping their place atop the league with a 59-52 win at Loretto (11-9, 3-2) on Friday night.

“I think overall, the break was great for us as far as getting our legs back under us,” Lady Champions’ Head Coach Janie Demonbreum said postgame, “A lot of our shots had been short in the last few weeks, even in the days leading up to this game, but the girls came out despite the long drive and were able to knock down key shots.”

After Sophie Weathers trimmed Cascade’s lead to 25-23 with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter, the Lady Champions put the clamps on the Lady Mustangs, responding with a massive 15-4 run over the next 4:30 to take their largest lead all game, 40-27, with about 90 seconds to go in the period. First Laughlin nailed a wide-open three on the wing, then Loretto’s Ally Augustin managed to knife her way to the basket for two of her 23 points on the night.

The two teams traded turnovers, and then Lizzie Keele found Kaegan Young on the left wing, allowing her to nail one of her two three-pointers of the night to put Cascade up by six, 31-25. Young split a pair at the line, then paid back Keele by finding her on the same left wing for her own triple to go up 35-27 with 2:27 left in the third.

On the next Cascade possession, it was Caroline Parker’s turn to join in on the action, knocking down a three from the right wing in front of the visitors’ bench for three of her 16 points on the night with 1:46 to go. Parker connected on a pair of free throws on the following offensive sequence to complete the massive run.

“It’s great to see her [Caroline Parker] get back in that shooting rhythm,” said Demombreum, “She has one of the prettiest shots, and it helps Kaegan [Young] a lot when we have that kind of scoring around her.”

Caroline Parker (5) knocks down one of her three made three-pointers in Friday's win at Loretto. Parker finished second on the team with 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field.

David Smith

Parker nailed another three-pointer early in the fourth quarter to put Cascade up by 12 points, 46-34, with 7:20 remaining. The junior point guard finished with 16 points on 50% shooting from the field, and she also went an efficient 5-for-6 at the foul line.

Even as Loretto attempted one final surge, the Lady Champions were able to hold the hosts off at the free throw line, finishing 17-for-22 (77%) as a team after shooting just 46% in their last outing against Summertown. 

“I keep telling them that hitting free throws wins those big games,” Demenbreum said, “After Summertown, we came in on Friday and had a light practice before shooting free throws. Everyone had to make 100 before we left. Just being intentional, and when you’re on the free throw line in practice you have to make them as game-like as possible. It was nice to see us improve in that area compared to where we were last Thursday.”

As a team, Cascade shot 8-of-16 (50%) from downtown, as well as 50% from the field as a whole to go with just 11 turnovers in what turned out to be an offensive clinic of sorts. 

Individually, Young finished tied for the game-high with 23 points, and she went 11-of-14 at the charity stripe with the majority of her attempts coming in the fourth quarter. The TSSAA Class AA Miss Basketball candidate nearly finished with another double-double, yanking down seven rebounds on the night as well. 

Defensively, the Lady Champions held Loretto to just 19 points in the first half, shutting out Sophie Weathers in the process. Weathers, who scored 17 points in the fourth quarter in the first meeting, was held to just eight points all night. 

“Jo [Laughlin] and Suzanna [Crews] did a great job of not letting Sophie Weathers get her spot,” said Demonbreum, “We were preaching in practice to establish your position before she can establish hers, and then we had specifically identified who would be the primary helper and who they would be helping off of. A lot of times in that first half we collapsed really well and made it extremely difficult for her.” 

Despite Ally Augustin finishing with 23 points for Loretto, Lizzie Keele frustrated the Loretto guard all game, holding her to eight points in just the first half. Despite finishing with 23 points, Augustin had to take 19 shots to reach that mark, and she committed three turnovers as well, showing visible frustration a number of times late in the second half.

Lizzie Keele (11) lays in two of her 12 points at Loretto. Keele added six rebounds, three assists, and one steal along with pestering defense on the Lady Mustangs' Ally Augstin (12) all night long.

David Smith

“Defensively, we’ve talked to the girls about how you can’t react to an opponent’s frustration,” Demonbreum said, “The moment you react, they always see the second person, and I was especially proud of Jocelyn [Laughlin], Suzanna  [Crews], and Lizzie [Keele] for all holding their composure. It is annoying when someone is falling you up and down the court, but that’s how good Ally Augustin is and she can take over games. I thought the girls followed the scouting report and the gameplan exactly how we wanted.”

Cascade set the tone early on, taking a 14-9 lead at the end of the opening period of play as both teams found their sea legs following the long layoff. In the second stanza, the Lady Champions outscored the Lady Mustangs, 11-10, to take a 25-19 lead heading into the halftime locker room.

Perhaps remembering how tight the first meeting on January 9th was, the visitors went on that 15-4 run in the third quarter, outscoring Loretto, 18-12, in the period to take a 43-31 lead heading into the final frame.

Loretto attempted to mount one final rally, but Cascade never let the hosts get closer than six points late, securing the district win and cementing its place atop the league with three games to play.

“This game gives us a huge advantage in terms of where we stand in our district, but at the end of the day, I know that the District Tournament is where you get your seeding for the Region,” said Demonbreum, “If we match up with Loretto again, we know it would be tough to beat a team three times, but I would pick my team every time. They just play so hard.”

Loretto falls to 11-9 overall. 

No. 7 Cascade improves to 18-5 overall. Cascade returns home on Tuesday night for the second ‘Battle of Bedford’ this season against Community, LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 at 5:45 p.m.

CASCADE: K. Young 23 (2), C. Parker 16 (3), L. Keele 12 (2), J. Laughlin 6 (1), S. Crews 2. 

LORETTO: A. Augustin 23 (2), A. Crosby 14 (4), S. Weathers 8, J. Chance 5, K. Stutts 2.