Late Run Lifts Hickman County Past Lady Champions in Region Quarterfinals

SHAWN DIGIANFELICE – Sportswriter 

CENTERVILLE – The Cascade Lady Champions season came to an end Friday night as Hickman County used a late fourth-quarter run to secure a 67–57 victory over the Lady Champions in the Region 5-AA quarterfinals. Cascade battled back to within two points in the final minutes, but nine unanswered points down the stretch allowed Hickman County to put the game away. Cascade took an early 5–0 lead off of a basket by sophomore Lizzie Keele and a three pointer by senior Suzanna Crews. Hickman County would then score the next seven points by way of a Hailee Gordon three-pointer, and a pair of free throws from Karlie Everette and Ava Floyd, to make it 7-5 Hickman Co. Kaegan Young would add a pair of free throws to tie it at seven followed by a three by Keele to give the Lady Champions a 10-7 advantage. The Lady Bulldogs would end the quarter on a 8–0 run, to give Hickman Co. a 15-10 lead at the end of one. Cascade would tie the game at 16 midway through the second period on a three pointer by Caroline Parker and a shot by Lexie Comstock. Everett would score the next five points for Hickman, including a three pointer, to put the Lady Bulldogs up 21-16. A free throw by Young would cut the lead down to four, before a pair of baskets from Floyd would extend Hickman‘s lead to 25-16. Cascade would cut the lead back to 25–23 with the help of three pointers from Crews and sophomore Jade Tolar and a Keele free throw by Young. Hickman would score the final five points of the first half to take a 30-23 lead at intermission. Bailey Cramer would hit two free throws to start the third quarter and give Hickman a 32-23 lead early on. Baskets by Comstock and Parker would pull Cascade to within two, before another basket by Floyd would make it 34–27 Lady Bulldogs. A three pointer by Keele and a free throw by Young would cut the Lady Champions deficit to 34–31 midway through the quarter. Floyd would go back to work scoring the next four points to make it 38–31 Hickman, followed by baskets from Parker and Keele and a free throw by Young to make it 38-36 Lady Bulldogs with a little over two minutes left in the third quarter. A three by Davis followed by another three from Cascade sophomore Jocelyn Laughlin made it 41-39 Hickman Co. A free throw by Floyd would give the lady Bulldogs a 42–39 lead heading to the final stanza. Two free throws by Young would pull Cascade to within one at 42–41 before Hickman Co. would answer with a 7-0 run to make it 49-41 with just over five minutes to play. The Lady Champions would not go away, scoring the next five points with a basket by Parker and a three pointer by Tolar to cut the deficit down to 49–46 midway through the final quarter. Floyd would add another basket making it 51–46 before Tolar would knock down another three to make it 51–49 with three minutes left in regulation.

This would be as close as it would get as Hickman Co. would score nine unanswered points to put the game away and end the Cascade’s season with a 67-57 loss in the quarterfinals. Cascade coach Janie Demonbreum although disappointed after the loss, was very proud of her team’s effort and had high praise for her two seniors Kaegan Young and Suzanna Crews. “I couldn’t have asked for more from my girls tonight. Every player left everything they had on the floor,”Demonbreum said. “Going out this way after the season we’ve had hurts. The girls have worked hard to turn this program around and they had two of the best leaders to follow in Kaegan Young and Suzanna Crews. Those two young ladies truly left our program better than they found it,” she concluded. Parker finished with 14 for Cascade followed by Keele with 11. Floyd led all scorers with 29 for Hickman Co. followed by 13 from Everette and 12 from Cramer. The Lady Champions finish the season at 21-9 to go with a district 9-AA regular season championship. Hickman Co. will face Summertown on Monday at 7:30 in the region 5-AA semifinals at East Hickman High School.

Cascade:        10-13-16-18—57

Hickman Co. : 15-15-22-25–67

 Cascade: Caroline Parker-14, Lizzie Keele- 11, Lexie Comstock-4, Jade Tolar-9, Kaegan Young-7, Jocelyn Laughlin-3, Suzanna Crews-9.

Hickman Co. : Karlie Everette-13, Hailee Gordon-3, Tenley Davis-3, Josie Hassell-4, Ava Floyd -29, Bailey Cramer-12, Zoie Chilton-3, Anderson, Puckett.

Three point baskets: Cascade: 10, Parker 1, Keele 2, Tolar 3, Laughlin 1, Crews 3. Hickman Co. 5, Everette 1, Gordon 1, Davis 1, Floyd 1, Chilton 1.

 Halftime score: Hickman Co. 30 Cascade 23 Records: Cascade: 21-9 Hickman Co. 23-5