Viqueens top Lady Champions in District 9-AA consolation.

SHAWN DIGIANFELICE – Sportswriter

WARTRACE – In a game that was closely contested for three quarters, The Community Viqueens were able to pull away in the final quarter, giving the Viqueens possession of third place in the district 9-AA basketball tournament at Cascade High School. Cascade jumped out of the gates early, taking a 4–0 advantage thanks to a made basket followed by two free throws by sophomore Lizzie Keele. Alissa White would score for Community shortly after cutting the lead in half. The Lady Champions would immediately respond with a three point basket from Keegan Young her first of four three-pointers on the afternoon to give Cascade a 7–2 advantage with six and a half minutes remaining. White would score and be fouled on the play adding a free throw to move the Viqueens to within two, trailing 7–5 with six minutes left. Sophomore Savannah Pearson would then hit her first of three first quarter three-pointers giving Community their first lead of the game at 8–7 with 4:50 remaining. Jocelyn Laughlin would tie the game at eight connecting on one of two foul shots. Pearson then nailed her second three to regain the lead for the Viqueens with just under four minutes to go, putting Community back ahead 11–8. Young would then respond for the Lady Champions hitting two free throws to narrow the lead back to one. Pearson and Young exchange three point baskets with the Viqueens clinging to a 14–13 advantage before Young was able to connect on one of two free throws to tie the game at 14 going to the second quarter. Alissa White brought in an offensive rebound and scored to break the tie giving the Viqueens a 16–14 advantage. The next three minutes would see neither team score before Lizzie Keele would connect on one of two free throws to cut the Community lead to one at 16-15. White and Keele would exchange baskets keeping things close with the Lady Champions trailing by one. White would again score off of a Brooklyn Yoes assist to put the Viqueens up 20-17 with just over a minute left before intermission. An offensive rebound and put back by Community junior Sara Flannagan gave the Viqueens a five point lead at 22-17 heading into the locker room. Madisyn Hill would knock down a three point shot to put Community up 25-17 early in the third period. Keele then knocked down two free throws to make it 25-19 with just over seven minutes left. Haskins immediately responded by hitting a basket and was fouled in the act. She made the foul shot to add to the lead with the Lady Champions trailing 28-19 with 6:50 remaining. Lexi Comstock with make her only basket of the game, a three pointer that pulled Cascade to within six at 28-22. Two made free throws by Caroline Parker and a three pointer by Young would bring the Community advantage down to one with the Viqueens holding on by a thread 28-27. Haskins would make one of two foul shots with just over two minutes left in the third to make it a two point game before Young would nail her fourth trifecta of the game giving Cascade its first lead since early in the first quarter, going on top 30-29 with 1:21 left in the period. Community would regain the lead once again on a three-ball by Flannagan with one minute left make it 32-30 with a minute remaining. White would connect on one of three free throws extending the lead to 34-30. A three point shot by the Lady Champions at the buzzer would fall short leaving the Viqueens with a four point advantage heading to the final stanza. White would score for Community to push the lead up to six at 36-30 with just under seven minutes left to play. Young would connect on two free throws to pull Cascade to within four, trailing 36-32 with 6:45 remaining. The Lady Champions would then go without a basket for over five minutes. During this span, the Viqueens would score nine unanswered points to give Community a 45-32 lead with 1:36 left in regulation. Parker would end the drought for the Lady Champions with at three-pointer, bringing Cascade to within ten with ninety seconds remaining. Community would connect on seven out of ten free throws to finish the game and take a 51-37 victory over their cross county rivals. “The second and fourth quarter really hurt us today,” Cascade coach Janie Demonbreum said after the game. “We also scored all but four of our points at the free throw line or from three’s. We have to find a way to get the ball inside and score like we want to.” One the other side, Community coach Cody Pierce was happy with his team’s toughness despite not thinking they played as well as the could in the first half. “It was a rough game in the first half for both teams. We build a lead early in the third quarter and they made a run and took the lead back. I was impressed with how we responded when they went ahead. We didn’t panic and was able pull away in the fourth quarter,” Pierce concluded. White led Community (15-13) in scoring with 17 points. Young had a game high 20 points for Cascade (21-8). Both teams will be on the road this Friday in the first round of the Region Tournament. Cascade will play at district 10-AA champion Hickman County. Community will travel to district 10-AA runner-up Decatur County Riverside. The winners will advance to the region semifinals that are being played at East Hickman High School, who will host the final two rounds of the tournament.

Community: 14-8-12-17— 51

Cascade:      14-3-13-7 —-37

Community: Savannah Pearson-9, Anna Haskins-9, Brooklyn Yoes-1, Alyssa White- 17, Madisyn Hill-8, Sara Flannagan-5, Morgan Pridemore-4.

Cascade: Caroline Parker-5, Lizzie Keele-8, Lexie Comstock-3, Kaegen Young-20, Jocelyn Laughlin-2, Fisher, Tolar, Crews.

Three point baskets: Community: 5- Pearson 3 Hill 2. Flannagan 1. Cascade: 6 Parker 1 Comstock 1 Young 4

Halftime score: Community 22 Cascade 17

Records: Community 15-13 Cascade 21-8.