Anna Haskins drills a trey for the Viqueens. Haskins finished with 19 points for Community. (Post Photo by Rickey Clardy)
Lizzie Keele connects on a 3-pointer for the Lady Champs. Keele had four treys and 16 points in the Cascade win. (Post Photo by Rickey Clardy)
By RICKEY CLARDY
Sports Writer
UNIONVILLE — The Cascade Lady Champions made the plays in the final minute and scored the last five points of the game to break out of a 46-46 tie against the Community Viqueens Tuesday night as the Lady Champs defeated the Viqueens 51-46 in a District 9-2A and intra-county showdown.
It was Community (9-10, 0-2) jumping out to a lead in the opening quarter of the contest as the Viqueens used seven points from Anna Haskins to take an 8-2 lead with 4:02 left.
Cascade (15-3, 2-0) used two treys and eight points from Lizzie Keele to tie the score at 10-10 before the Viqueens took a 12-10 advantage to the second quarter.
Sara Flannagan and Savannah Pearson opened the quarter with treys as the Viqueens took their biggest at 18-10 with 7:01 left.
But with Keele adding two more treys, the Lady Champions went on a 7-0 run and took their first lead at 20-19 with 4:27 remaining.
Kaegan Young added four points as Cascade took a 26-24 lead into the intermission.
Young and Jocelyn Laughllin accounted for all 10 Lady Champion points in the third quarter as Cascade took its biggest lead at 36-27 with 2:36 left.
The Viqueens could only manage nine points in the quarter, but Community scored the final six points to narrow the Lady Champion advantage to 36-33 heading to the final quarter.
With the game on the line, each team went to its leading scorers in crunch time as Young scored 10 points for the Lady Champions in the quarter while Haskins netted seven for the Viqueens.
It was Cascade leading for over half the quarter before a basket by Alyssa White gave the Viqueens a 42-41 advantage with 3:23 remaining and their first lead since the second quarter.
Another basket by White gave Community a 44-42 lead before a free throw and trey by Young gave the Lady Champs a 46-44 advantage. A basket by Haskins knotted the score at 46-46 with 1:17 remaining and set the stage for the final minute of action.
Young, who was 7-of-10 at the free throw line in the quarter, connected on one charity toss to give the Lady Champs a 47-46 lead.
After a Viqueen offensive foul, Young made two free throws with 46 seconds left to put Cascade up 49-46.
A Viqueen turnover in the final seconds and a finishing basket by Keele closed the game as the Lady Champs stayed unbeaten in district play.
Young had 21 points and Keele added 16 to lead the Lady Champions.
Haskins led the Viqueens with 19 points.
The Lady Champs had 10 treys and were 9-of-12 at the free throw line while the Viqueens had five treys and were 7-of-13 at the line.
“Offensively we didn’t play great and they did a great job of keeping us off-balance with our offensive schemes,” Coach Janie Demonbreum of the Lady Champions said.
“Defensively, we also didn’t play great, and we told the girls when you come out and you’re not playing great and you’re able to come out on the road and still pull out a win, it’s great,” Demonbreum added.
“It’s kind of been our story the last few games that we’ve lost, the last four minutes we don’t make the plays that we need to,” Coach Cody Pierce of the Viqueens said.
“We’re close, we’ve just got to find a way to be tougher and find a way to win these games,” Pierce added.
“I told the girls this is going to be hard to get a win in our district, and that’s for everybody in our district,” Pierce said. “You have to go out and you have to earn it every night.”
The two teams return to district action Friday.
The Lady Champs travel to Chapel Hill to take on Forrest while the Viqueens play host to Loretto. Both games tip-off at 6 p.m.
Cascade 10 16 10 15 — 51
Community 12 12 9 13 — 46
Cascade: Kaegan Young 21, Lizzie Keele 16, Jocelyn Laughlin 8, Caroline Parker 3, Lexi Comstock, Makenzie Fisher 3, Jade Tolar, Suzanna Crews.
Community: Anna Haskins 19, Savannah Pearson 9, Mattie Maxey 8, Alyssa White 7, Brooklyn Yoes, Sara Flannagan 3, Morgan Pridmore, Madisyn Hill.
3-Point goals: Cascade (10): Keele 4, Young 2, Laughlin 2, Parker, Fisher; Community (5): Haskins 3, Pearson, Flannagan.
Halftime score: Cascade 26, Community 24.