In the early going of the Cascade-Community showdown in Unionville on Friday night, it looked like a typical rivalry game between teams with a similar level of talent.

Community's Aubrey Boyce and Cascade's Jessica Popp tangle for a loose ball. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

After five ties and five lead changes, a 3-pointer by Millie Carter brought the Lady Champions to within a point with 2:30 left in the second quarter.

The Viqueens answered by continually attacking the basket on offense and jumping into the face of the outside-shooting threats on defense. The result was a 20-4 run that left the Purple and Gold up 41-24, a stretch in which the Lady Champs managed but a pair of Michelle Bauman field goals over a span of 8:57.

Community continued hammering away with the lead reaching 20 at one point and they took the crucial District 9-A contest 52-34.

"We just started executing the plays and also started pushing the ball down the floor, which we wanted to do the entire time, push the ball and get it to the open player," Viqueen coach Allison Layne said. "Whenever you play team ball, you find the open player and hit the shots that count."

"We've got two different teams," Cascade coach Chad Spencer said. "We've got a team that comes out and beats teams we weren't supposed to beat. We've got a team that doesn't even play hard. I had girls that played the whole game and didn't even have any sweat on them after the ballgame. I don't understand. I don't like coaching effort, I like coaching ballgames."

The victory pushes the Viqueens' overall record to 13-7, but, more importantly, they are now 6-5 in the district, which locks them up for a home 9-A tournament game in the first round and likely a rematch with the Lady Champs.

"It's huge," Layne said of playing the postseason opener in Unionville. "The first part of the season we played so many away games and we're finally getting the feel back at home. It's good to get into the same routine staying at home and having the crowd behind us."

Cascade's Tiffany Gibbs (left) reaches for a rebound versus Viqueen Marissa Jones. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Marissa Jones and Jessica Thompson netted 12 points apiece to lead Community. Sophomores Courtney Vassar and Aubrey Boyce combined for 19. Heather Small contributed eight rebounds, while Vassar had five.

Carter paced Cascade (9-12, 4-7) with 17 points, including four 3s. Bauman finished with 10. A hobbled Tiffany Gibbs was held to two free throws.

The Lady Champs entered the game with 98 3-pointers made, including 11 their last time out in a win over Webb. That number (5) was cut in half by the Viqueens.

"They went to a 1-2-2 zone (defense) and we should have gotten all kinds of looks," Spencer said. "We've had teams play 1-2-2 on us before and we've scored 70 points.

"Our biggest problem is that we can't rebound. We're probably the worst rebounding team in the district. That means if we're not going to rebound, we have to shoot an unreal shooting percentage. If we're not going to do that, then we don't have a chance."

"We knew that they had good shooters, so we keyed on that," Layne said.

A bucket by Carter gave Cascade their largest lead at 12-7 late in the first quarter, but Community answered by scoring the next eight points.

The hosts' tenacious efforts at driving the ball toward the basket were evident in the number of free throws attempted as the small Lady Champion front line was nearly defenseless after Viqueen guards blew right by their defenders time and time again. Community shot 14 free throws in the first half compared to but four for the Orange and Black.

Aubrey Boyce tries to get around Cascade's Ashley Bledsoe (right). (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

"Our goal was to come over here and play with some intensity like the last time we played Community. We just didn't have it. We played flat," Spencer said.

"I tried to warn the girls before the game that it's not going to be easy."

The Viqueens kept their feet on the throttle in the second half, tripping to the charity stripe 18 more times. The game could have been more lopsided, but they struggled at the foul line, hitting a total of 13-of-32.

"If you're going to go far, you have to improve there," Layne said. "It's nothing that stuck out tonight, but I was proud that we got there 32 times. We haven't seen that all season."

Community was up 43-29 heading to the final quarter. They turned the ball over a total of eight times. They will need a similar performance when they trip to Chapel Hill on Monday night to face two-time reigning 9-A champion Forrest in a make-up game at 6.

Cascade looks to bounce back versus Middle Tennessee Christian on Tuesday night in Murfreesboro.