Gibbs' shooting show sparks Lady Champs

Senior Tiffany Gibbs (33) skies for a rebound against Hampshire. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

CULLEOKA -- Tiffany Gibbs went off for 10 of her game-high 22 points in the first quarter to help propel Cascade past Hampshire 59-30 at the Culleoka Classic on Monday night.

The senior drained four field goals in the opening frame and her Lady Champion teammates locked up defensively midway through the contest to help them improve to 7-4.

"Our defense in the second half was somewhat better, but we've just got to come compete every night, every possession," Cascade coach Chad Spencer said. "I told the girls, 'We've got a lot of seniors on this team. You're not going to have these opportunities to be together too much longer, take advantage of it. Once you graduate, people go their separate ways. You've got to enjoy this time together.'

"That seemed to get them fired up a little bit in the locker room."

Kayla Lemire's 3-pointer for Hampshire with 33 seconds left in the first quarter knotted the game at 13-all. Ten seconds later the lead changed hands for the fifth and final time when M.K. Potts put the Lady Champs in front with a bucket.

"I could tell warming up that they didn't have a spark about them," Spencer said of his team's relatively cold start. "We've got to speed up a little bit on offense. On defense, we've got to work on staying down in our stance and sliding over."

The rest of the first half was plagued by whistles as referees called 25 fouls in the opening 16 minutes. Nevertheless, Cascade went to work hunkering down on defense by holding the Lady Hawks to without a field goal for 8:59 until Hannah Boyd broke their cold streak early in the third quarter.

"We don't want to overachieve on the defensive end of the floor. There's going to come a night where we're not going to score 60 points like we've done several times this year," Spencer said.

Lady Champion Lauren Ware tries to pry the ball away from a Lady Hawk. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Four different ladies thinned the twine in the third frame to help the Orange and Black to a 42-25 advantage.

An already thin Cascade team that had only eight girls in uniform got even thinner when Megan McBee fouled out in the fourth quarter. Despite the lack of warm bodies, the upper hand only increased down the stretch.

Spencer noted the contributions off the bench of Michelle Bauman and McBee. Bauman came through with a team-high 15 boards.

Lemire drained all three of the 3s for Hampshire (4-5) and totaled 14 points.

Cascade heads back to Maury County tonight for more Classic action. They face Huntland at 6.

"I want to see us come out and defender better and I want to see us push the ball a little more," Spencer said.