Carter tosses a winner for Lady Champs

Heading into Friday night, Cascade had little to play for as they rounded out their regular season schedule.

Aside from it being Senior Night in Wartrace, their game with Middle Tennessee Christian meant little in regards to the District 9-A standings. Win or lose, the Lady Champions enter next week's tournament as the No. 6 seed.

Chances are the Cascade girls cared less about records, brackets or matchups after how things ended.

The Lady Champs rush the floor after Millie Carter's game-winning 3. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

The Lady Champs had a one-point lead with 1:24 to play before turning the ball over on two straight possessions.

The Lady Cougars made them pay as a basket by Katie Mullins and two free throws by Samantha Barrett pushed MTC ahead 46-43 with 44 seconds left.

Cascade answered with a reverse layup by Tiffany Gibbs and took the lead back after Millie Carter drained a pair at the foul line with 13.3 ticks showing.

A whistle on the other end sent Katie McKnight, arguably the district's best free throw shooter, to the charity stripe with 5.5 seconds to go. She didn't disappoint the Murfreesboro bunch and drained both to put her team back up 48-47.

Gibbs received the ensuing in-bounds pass and sprinted upcourt. Three Lady Cougars converged and forced a pass out to a wide-open Carter, who calmly played a sweet melody of string music from behind the arc just before time expired to give Cascade a 50-48 victory.

"I prayed before I shot it. (Then) I just saw Ann (Mullen) come at me and she tackled me," Carter said.

"I just kept telling them, 'Believe. We're going to win this ballgame.' We just never got down," Cascade coach Tracy Ferrell said. "They came into timeouts hungry, waiting to listen to what we were going to tell them."

Despite how tough the season has been up to this point for the three seniors -- Mullen, Brooke Littrell and Brittany Ross -- they likely will never forget this one.

"It's just great to have a memorable game for Senior Night," Ferrell said. "They were all very appreciative to Millie for hitting that shot."

"They've been together for four years. They've had lots of ups and downs and lots of injuries. They've all three stuck it out."

Gibbs finished with a game-high 15 points for Cascade (9-16, 3-9 9-A). Shelby Nelson hit three 3s and 5-of-6 free throws to total 14. Carter finished with 10.

"We're peaking at the right time," Ferrell said. "It was just a good team effort. We shot the ball well.

"Everybody that came in to play did a good job.

"Chelsea (Calvert) was out sick, but it seemed like everybody stepped up and played her position for her. Shelby (Nelson) at the free-throw line. Millie hit the beautiful 3."

McKnight led the Lady Cougars (17-7, 8-4) with 13 points, including 7-of-8 free throws. Katie Dunn and Amy Mullins contributed 10 apiece.

A trey by Gibbs five ticks before the end of the first quarter gave the hosts a 10-9 lead.

McKnight tied matters at 20 with a free throw 5.4 seconds prior to halftime.

Middle Tennessee Christian carried a 33-28 upper hand into the final period.

The Lady Champs were 13-for-18 at the foul line, while the visitors hit 14-of-23.