
Sophie Rays scores for the Lady Champs. Ray finished with seven points for Cascade. (Post Photo by Rickey Clardy)
By RICKEY CLARDY
Sports Writer
UNIONVILLE — It was a District 9-2A intra-county battle that had ebbs and flows, twists and turns, and runs for both teams, but in the end the Cascade Lady Champions used a suffocating double-team press against the Community Viqueens to come back from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter and the Lady Champs held on for a hard-fought 55-51 victory over the Viqueens Tuesday night.
Kaegan Young drilled a three-pointer 51 seconds into the game as Cascade (8-8, 2-1 D9-2A) was patient with its motion offense in the opening quarter. With the help of a cold Viqueen start out of the gates and two treys and eight points from Young, Cascade took its biggest lead at 11-4 with 57 seconds remaining. Alyssa White scored four points in the paint for the Viqueens as the Lady Champions took a 13-6 advantage to the second quarter.
The Lady Champs continued to be a step faster and used some second-chance shots to increase their lead to 17-8 with 5:55 left.
But Community (8-12, 0-3 D9-2A) righted the ship and started to get in a flow on offense as White took control in the lane.
White scored six points in the quarter while Sara Flannagan had five as Community cut the Lady Champion lead to 22-19 with 1:34 remaining.
It looked to be a one-possession game going into the half, but Young drilled a trey to beat the buzzer as Cascade took a 25-19 lead to the intermission.
The Viqueens battled back as the Lady Champs came out cold in the second half.
After trailing 27-23, Community used a field goal by Flannagan to take its first lead at 28-27 with 3:50 left.
After the smoke had cleared, the Viqueens scored 11 consecutive points to take a 34-27 lead with 2:14 left as White and Flannagan led the way with six points. Despite scoring just two points in the first seven minutes of the quarter, the Lady Champs took advantage of White having to sit with three fouls as Ray scored three of her five points in the final seconds as the Viqueens took a 34-32 lead to the fourth quarter.
White reentered the game to start the quarter and the difference was evident as the Viqueens went on a 9-0 run to take their biggest lead at 43-32 with 4:41 remaining.
But with the Lady Champs implementing a double team on any Viqueen that possessed the ball and with Lizzie Keele scoring five of her 10 points, Cascade exploded for 10 points in just 59 seconds and cut the Viqueen lead to 43-42 with 3:42 left.
A 3-pointer by Flannagan doused the flames as the Viqueens led 46-42 with 2:45 remaining, but the Lady Champ press continued to give Community problems.
A key three-point play by Young gave Cascade the lead for good at 47-

Alyssa White scores from inside for the Viqueens. White led Community with 20 points. (Post Photo by Rickey Clardy)
46 with 1:58 left and a trey by Keele completed an 8-0 run as the Lady Champions led 50-46 with 1:48 remaining.
Maddie Maxey helped keep the Viqueens close with 5-of-6 shooting from the free throw line in the final two minutes, but Community could only get as close as two.
Young sealed the deal by sinking two free throws with 14 seconds left to make it a two-possession game as the Lady Champs outscored the Viqueens 23-17 in the quarter to close out the district win.
Young scored 22 points, including four treys to claim high-point honors for the Lady Champions.
Keele finished with 12 points and Kaydence Miller had 10 as three Lady Champs reached double figures.
The Viqueens also had three players in double figures with White leading the way with 20 points.
Flannagan finished with 16 points and Maxey had 10 for Community.
The Lady Champs were 12-of-17 from the foul line while the Viqueens were 10-of-11.
Both teams return to district action Friday night as Cascade travels to district-leader Cannon County while Community hosts Forrest.
Cascade 13 12 7 23 — 55
Community 6 13 15 17 — 51
Cascade: Kaegan Young 22, Lizzie Keele 12, Kaydence Miller 10, Sophie Ray 7, Caroline Parker 4, Laina Carter, Emerald Tillman.
Community: Alyssa White 20, Sara Flannagan 16, Mattie Maxey 10, Anna Haskins 5, Taylar Wessner, Brooklyn Yoes, Savannah Pearson, Brailey Whitehead.
3-Point goals: Cascade (7): Young 4, Miller 2, Keele; Community (3): Flannagan 2, Haskins.
Halftime score: Cascade 25, Community 19.