BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The Cascade Lady Champions (13-3) concluded the bulk of non-district competition on Tuesday night with a blowout win over the Huntland Lady Hornets (10-5), 68-33.

Lizzie Keele nailed six three-pointers on the night en route to a season-high 29 points for the Lady Champions, tallying more than 20 points for the second-consecutive game. Kaegan Young also surpassed the 20-point mark yet again, finishing with 21 points on an efficient 8/14 shooting in the win. 

“What we saw tonight was us running good action that we’ve been working on ourselves in practice,” Lady Champs’ Head Coach Janie Demonbreum said, “getting the ball into the high post and attacking the basket instead of just sitting back and only kicking the ball out from the high post. You’ve got to make a read to attack if they step up on you, and I think Lizzie [Keele] did a great job of that tonight.”

In just her fourth season, Demonbreum’s squad has had the program’s best start to a season since the 2018-19 season when Rece Chumley also led the Lady Champs to a 13-3 start. In that year, Cascade won its next two games before suffering a fourth defeat, eventually finishing with a 24-6 record overall. 

Kaegan Young (22) finished with 21 points in Tuesday's win over Huntland.

David Smith

Meanwhile, Huntland’s Riley Maxwell – who led the Lady Hornets with 15 points in Friday’s loss to Community – was held to just four points before fouling out late. Stratton Davis managed to pick up some of the scoring load, finishing with 14 points on the night. Airiana Hill also reached double-figures with 10 points, but ultimately Huntland was unable to generate consistent offensive output against the stifling Cascade defense.

Early on, the Lady Champions took a 16-11 lead after the opening period after turning Huntland turnovers into easy runouts on the offensive end. Cascade started the game shooting just 2/10 from downtown in the first eight minutes, but the hosts began to find their stride in the second quarter. 

With Keele getting hot with four made three-pointers in the first two quarters, Demonbreum shifted Keele to the high post against Huntland’s 2-3 zone. Keele was able to use her quickness and finishing prowess around the basket to convert easy layups, ultimately finishing with 21 points in the first half alone as Cascade took a 35-21 lead into the halftime locker room.

The hosts finished with nine made three-pointers in total. Five came in the first half and four came in the second, including Jade Tolar continuing her hot shooting off the bench with a trio of treys for the game, including two in the final two periods. Cascade outscored Huntland 21-5 in the third quarter to blow the game open and take a commanding 56-26 lead heading into the final frame.

Despite emptying her bench with more than three minutes remaining, Demonbreum’s squad outscored the Lady Hornets by five, 12-7, in the fourth quarter to reach the final score of 68-33.

The Lady Champions improve to 13-3 overall. Cascade begins District 9-AA play on Friday night, welcoming last season’s Region 5-AA Champion, the Loretto Lady Mustangs, to The Stable with tip-off set for 6:00 p.m. LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400.