Injury, fouls add up as Lady Champs' season ends

McEWEN -- In a span of 2 minutes, 31 seconds, the fourth-seeded Cascade girls went from being up nine points to down two in the fourth quarter against No. 1 seed McEwen.

After holding the lead the entire second half up to that point, the Lady Champions simply couldn't circle the wagons down the stretch and lost 60-56 in the opening round of the Region 5-A tournament.

"It's tough on them, they'll get experience out of it, but we should have won that basketball game," Cascade coach Chad Spencer said. "We had a lead again, and we found a way to lose it."

The distraught third-year coach wanted to blame himself for the loss, but his girls were fighting a wave of momentum brought on by a key injury, foul trouble and playing far from home.

With a minute left in the third quarter, Cascade's top scorer, team leader and Motlow State commit M.K. Potts leapt in the paint on a fast-break and tossed a behind-the-back pass to a wide-open Kelsey Parker. Potts came down awkwardly and laid on the baseline writhing in pain from her knee.

A hushed crowd looked on as Potts was carried from the floor for the final time in an orange and black uniform.

"I've seen M.K. play through injuries her whole life. I didn't know how severe it was, but when she said it was her knee I wasn't going to take any chances with that," Spencer said.

"I hate that she had to end her last game playing at Cascade in that fashion. I've been extremely proud to be her coach all these years."

The Lady Warriors (23-4) responded quickly with four points in the next 25 seconds, but Jessica Popp scored with 3 ticks on the clock to push the Lady Champion advantage to 42-36 before the fourth quarter got underway.

Two free throws by Haley Simpson pushed the visitors' lead to 50-41 with 4:29 to play.

It was mostly downhill from there for Cascade, which was playing in its first region tournament since 2006.

A 3-pointer and a 3-point play by the hosts paired with a fifth foul called on Tiffani Grogan left the Lady Champs down another key player and desperately trying to hold their slim 50-47 lead at the 4-minute mark.

Cascade beat the McEwen full-court pressure with ease resulting in a Popp layup on two straight trips down the floor to push their upper hand to 54-50 with 3:28 showing. However, the second Popp field goal was her team's last of the season.

"I used three timeouts because we were getting double-teamed and trapped and about to throw the ball away or to save a 5-second count," Spencer said. "I just hope we learn from it. It hurts me because I know we should have won that game."

The Lady Warriors snagged their first lead since the second quarter when Josie Hall drained a long 3-pointer to put them in front 57-55 at the 1:58 mark. It was their fourth trey in a stretch of 4:51.

The Lady Champs got a pair of free-throw attempts down a point with 37 seconds to go but missed both. They fouled Lady Warrior Allison Hobson with 8.7 ticks showing and got the miss on her second charity toss they needed but failed to get the rebound.

Sam Smith drained two foul shots with 4.1 showing to ice it.

McEwen was the lone team from District 10-A to win Friday night. District 9-A winner and second-ranked Forrest manhandled East Robertson 67-18. Moore County knocked off Houston County 39-32. Middle Tennessee Christian defeated host White House-Heritage 52-35.

The Region 5-A action now shifts to East Robertson High School in Cross Plains on Monday night.

Smith netted eight of her team-high 17 points in the final period and finished 8-for-11 at the charity stripe. Hall canned three 3s and wound up with 15 points. Rachel Tate followed with 13.

Popp provided points in every quarter and finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Elora Skuce sank five of Cascade's seven 3s en route to 15 points. Potts netted 12. Parker hauled in seven boards.

The Lady Champs were up 12-10 after a quarter and 25-24 at the half.

McEwen hit 17-of-28 free throws, while the Orange and Black hit 11-of-20.

When Popp fouled out late, it left the Lady Champs with five freshmen on the court. The inexperience showed but gives plenty of optimism for the future.

"We're young. I thought we got better as the season went on. Our district next year is going to be every bit as tough," said Spencer, whose season ends with a record of 17-11.

Potts and Jessica Walker depart as the lone seniors.