Coalmont, Tenn. – The Cascade Lady Champions (8-10, 2-3) held a 14-point lead at halftime of Monday’s District 9-AA contest at Grundy County (8-10, 3-3), but a 37-point third quarter explosion by the hosts paved the way for Ricky Richards Gymnasium to explode into celebration in a 72-62 victory for the Lady Yellow Jackets.

Gracie Panter scored 19 of her game-high 28 points in the third quarter alone as Grundy County converted their full-court pressure into easy buckets offensively. Panter shot an incredible 8/10 from the field, including a trio of three-pointers in the third, and also finished 5/7 from the free-throw line. Kallie Parson, after Cascade held her to three points in the first half on just three shots, scored 13 in the second half to finish with 16 points total. Kasadee Crabtree, who fouled out at the end of the third quarter after picking up four fouls in the first half, chipped in with 11 points. 

For Cascade, Sophie Ray put in a team-high 20 points, shooting an efficient 8/12 from the floor and converting on 4/5 free-throw attempts. Caroline Parker shot 5/8 from downtown en route to an 18-point night while freshman Lizzie Keele finished with 12 points. Perhaps most notable for Cascade is that star junior guard, Kaegan Young, who led the team coming in averaging more than 12 PPG, was shut out for the first time all season, finishing 0/8 from the floor as she battled foul trouble all night long. 

Six different players finished the night with five fouls, including four for Cascade, and Grundy County took full advantage of that in the second half, outscoring the Lady Champions by 24 points, 51-27.

To start off, Cascade seemed to be in moderate control of an extremely frenetic contest, finishing the opening frame with an 18-11 lead despite Young picking up her second foul earlier in the quarter.

In the second quarter, Grundy began to rack up the personal fouls at an alarming rate while the Cascade defensive pressure continued to keep the Lady Jackets from getting into an offensive rhythm. Grundy scored just 10 points in the period as Cascade grew their lead to 14 points at the halftime buzzer, 35-21. 

Coming out of the halftime locker room, however, the tide began to turn almost immediately. Young and senior Kaydence Miller both picked up their third foul within the opening minute, and then moments later Young was whistled for her fourth foul. This forced Janie Demonbreum to take out her primary ball handler and steadying force on offense, and Brittany Woodlee’s Lady Jackets’ squad immediately went into their aggressive 2-2-1 full court press. 

What followed can only be described as a collapse of the highest proportion. Grundy County forced turnover after turnover as Cascade suddenly couldn’t get the ball across half court, leading to layup after layup for the Lady Jackets as part of a 21-7 run to tie the game at 42 with 2:57 left in the period. If Grundy didn’t end the possession in a layup, they found Panter for an open corner-three, and she responded with three connections from downtown. In all, Panter scored 19 points in the third quarter as part of a 37-point period for the hosts as the Lady Jackets turned a 14-point halftime deficit into an eight-point lead going into the final frame, 58-50.

Cascade would go on one last run in the middle of the fourth quarter following Panter picking up her fifth foul at the 6:36 mark, trimming a 12-point Grundy lead to single-digits before the Lady Champs simply ran out of both gas and fouls. One by one Cascade saw their starters foul out of the game, starting with Young fouling out with 3:20 left in the fourth, followed by Miller, then Ray, and it finally ended with Lizzie Keele. Grundy County finished the night shooting 34 free throws, connecting on 20 of them in the 72-62 win. Likewise, Cascade shot 19/27 at the charity stripe in a game that saw 61 free-throw attempts between the two teams.

 Cascade falls to 8-10 (2-3) and moves a half-game behind Grundy County for second place in the district standings. The Lady Champs return home on Tuesday night for a non-district clash against Fayetteville before the rematch against Grundy County on Friday, LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 starting at 5:45 p.m.