Cascade Middle notches victories

Cascade Middle's Will Holt popped out to the wing, caught an in-bounds pass from the baseline and calmly stroked a 3-pointer to break a 27-all tie against Moore County Middle with 2:40 to play. The trey was part Cascade's 13-4 run to close out the contest that propelled the home team to a 39-31 win on Thursday night.

The game contained a total of 12 lead changes before the Champions found their spark midway through the fourth quarter.

Cascade coach Mike Edmondson credited a "hustle play" on defense as the igniter to the late rally.

"The ball was loose and we were scrapping," he said. "You could tell at that point that we finally got our energy back."

The victory pushes Cascade's record to a perfect 5-0.

"They just have that way of knowing what they need to do at the end of the game to pull it out. They believe they're going to win it in the end. They're great kids to coach and listen to what you say," Edmondson said.

A basket from Jesse Barnes brought the Champs to a tie at 5-all after a quarter of play.

Dylon Smith scored just 2 seconds before the horn to pull Moore County (6-4) to within 17-12 at the half.

Holt's first 3-pointer snapped a 5-0 rally by the Raiders to push the hosts in front 24-23 with a quarter left.

Holt led all scorers with 12 points. Barnes and Alex Hatchett had eight points apiece.

Smith paced the Raider scoring effort with 11 points. Cole Boyce provided nine.

Both teams struggled at the free-throw line. Cascade made just 8-of-21, while Moore County was 3-for-18.

Cascade 45, Moore County 13: Katie Vincent put forth a dominant effort in contributing to the Lady Champion win. The eighth grader bucketed nine field goals and sank 3-of-5 shots at the foul line to net 24 points in only two quarters of play.

"When Katie's focused, she can be a special player," Cascade coach Chad Spencer said. "She's got great basketball savvy on the offensive end of the court. There's still some things -- like all of them -- to work on defensively. She's gifted when it comes to putting the ball in the hole.

"On top of her getting a lot of points, her teammates run the offense that allow her to get those shots."

The defense for the Lady Champs (4-1) was smothering. Their pressure enabled them to go up 15-3 in the first and extend the advantage to 29-6 by halftime. The third Raiderette field goal didn't come until Savannah Williams scored with 26 seconds remaining in the third period.

Rashonda Johnson scored nine fourth-quarter points for Cascade.

Williams and Sierra Powell led the visitors with three points each.

The rematch between these two teams in Lynchburg next week was cancelled. Cascade won't play again until it goes to Liberty on Nov. 30.