Sophie Ray battles through contact and finishes the basket, collecting the foul, and scores her career 1,000th point for Cascade. (Post Photo by Chris Siers)
By CHRIS SIERS
csiers@bedfordcountypost.com
CHAPEL HILL — Sophie Ray has made a living of doing the dirty work for the Cascade Lady Champions throughout her high school career.
From battling the opponents’ bigs, to contesting for rebounds, she’s made a living off the block and become one of the more reliable players for the Lady Champs during her time at Cascade.
Caroline Parker drives through the Lady Rocket defense. She finished with 13 points. (Post Photo by Chris Siers)
On Friday against Forrest, with 8.1 seconds left in the third, like so many times before, Ray battled her way through contact, finished the basket and scored her career 1,000th point to help lead Cascade to the 49-44 win over the Lady Rockets.
Offenses were certainly on a premium for both teams through the bulk of regulation,Cascade built an 11-5 lead after the first quarter, with four points coming courtesy of Lizzie Keele.
Ray scored one basket, but added two more in the second.
The two teams combined for just 15 points in the second period and Cascade held an 18-13 lead by halftime.
With a slim lead in hand through three quarters, Forrest certainly made it interesting in the fourth quarter, erupting for 21 points.
Forrest’s Sadie Smith scored 11 of her game-high 19 points in the fourth, highlighted by three treys.
Baeliy Stalnecker battled along Ray in the paint and still collected eight points for the Lady Rockets.
Smith hit a 3-pointer with 44 seconds left to pull the Lady Rockets within a possession at 43-40, but Cascade’s Kaegan Young drew a foul after in-bounding the ball and hit a pair of clutch free throws that helped Cascade cling to the district win.
Parker and Keele both scored 13 points, while Ray finished with 12.
Cascade 11 7 12 19 — 49
Forrest 5 8 10 21 — 44
Cascade: Caroline Parker 13, Lizzie Keele 13, Sophie Ray 12, Kaydence Miller 4, Kaegan Young 4, Laina Carter 3.
Forrest: Sadie Smith 19, Baeliy Stalnecker 12, Kinslee Inlow 7, Camreigh Warner 6.
3-Point goals: Cascade (5): Parker 2, Carter, Keele, Miller; Forrest (6): Smith 5, Inlow.
Halftime score: Cascade 18, Forrest 13.
