Cascade Middle stops Forrest twice

Abi Hunt banked in a shot from just above the foul line with 2 seconds left in the first half to cap a 9-0 run for the Cascade Middle girls that propelled them to a 47-27 win over visiting Forrest Middle on Thursday night.

Although the Lady Champions (3-1) never trailed, their upper hand was a slim 13-8 after a quarter of play. However, the second and third quarters saw the hosts outscore the Lady Rockets (3-4) 30-10 to put the game away.

"We made an adjustment to our man-to-man defense," Cascade coach Chad Spencer said. "They were setting high-ball screens. We'd been over that, but it had been awhile, about veering and hedging out there and stopping that girl from driving the lane. That made all the difference in the world."

Cascade heated the twine from long range to help with the early scoring frenzy, led by Katie Vincent and her three 3-pointers. The eighth grader finished with a game-high 18 points despite not seeing the floor in the final quarter.

"Coming out against a zone (defense), we shot the ball at a pretty good percentage for a junior high team," Spencer said. "We were moving the ball around. We had several baskets where every girl on the floor touched the ball before we scored."

Spencer credited point guard Hunt for getting the team into its offense and only turned the ball over once. She also contributed eight points.

Savannah Brothers scored in every quarter and led Forrest with 11 points.

Cascade 40, Forrest 32 (B): Trailing 29-28 heading to the final period, it looked like the Champions would have their work cut out for them if they were going to come out on top of this back-and-forth contest.

A 12-1 run to start the stanza erased any doubt from the home side and Cascade improved to 4-0. The Rockets dropped to 2-4.

Point guard Alex Hatchett paced the Champs with 12 points. Nolan Barnes and Will Holt pitched in seven apiece.

The teams were knotted at 12-all early before Cascade went into the half up 23-22.

Cascade plays host to Moore County on Monday night. The girls tip off at 6.