BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The Cascade Lady Champions (6-2) put together a 20-7 run in the second half of Tuesday’s win at The Stable, downing the previously unbeaten Richland Lady Raiders (4-1), 53-38. 

Last season, led by Bailey Blair, the Lady Raiders finished with a record of 29-5 and made it all the way to the Class A State Semifinals before losing to Greenfield, 47-40. However, in Tuesday’s contest, Cascade held Richland to a paltry 28% shooting from the field. Blair finished with 22 points, but she shot an inefficient 7/17 shooting from the floor while hitting just a single field goal – a three-pointer – in the second half after scoring 14 points nearly at will in the first 16 minutes.

Suzanna Crews (30) drives against Richland on Tuesday. She nearly posted a double-double, finishing with nine points & 10 rebounds with a pair of blocks.

David Smith

For Janie Demonbreum’s Lady Champions, Caroline Parker found the range early on with eight first-half points before finishing with a team-high 13 points. Kaegan Young finished with 11 points and five rebounds, and helped put the game away in the fourth quarter by going 5/6 from the free throw line. Meanwhile, Suzanna Crews put forth another double-digit rebounding effort, pulling down  10 boards to go along with nine points and two blocked shots.

The Lady Champs jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, seemingly taking Richland by surprise in the first part of the opening period. The Lady Raiders were able to close the gap a smidge by forcing a few turnovers to end the quarter, but Cascade still held a 13-3 lead at the end of one.

In the second quarter, Richland switched to a matchup zone, and it seemed to discombobulate the hosts. The Lady Raiders were able to force turnovers that led to some easy buckets in transition, and by the time halftime rolled around the visitors had trimmed the lead to just four points, 21-17.

Kaegan Young (22) finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, an assist, and a blocked shot in the win over Richland.

David Smith

Coming out of the halftime locker room, Richland continued to chip away. After a Baylee Hollis three-pointer, the Lady Raiders actually took their first lead of the contest, 22-21. However, the Lady Champs would respond in part thanks to Makenzie Fisher, closing the third on a 12-5 spurt to take a 33-27 lead at the end of the quarter before morphing that into an extended 20-7 run that gave Cascade a 41-28 lead with 6:20 to go in the final frame.

Makenzie Fisher (14) scored five key points off the bench - including a three-pointer - in the final two minutes of the third quarter to ensure the Lady Champs held a 6-point lead heading into the final frame in Tuesday's win.

David Smith

Richland Head Coach Chad Hall emptied his bench with about three minutes left to play and his team down by 13 points, and the Lady Champions took advantage by closing out their sixth win of the season. 

This is Demonbreum’s fourth season at the helm, and it’s the most games that the Lady Champs have been over .500 (4) since the 2018-19 season that saw Cascade finish 24-6.

Cascade improves to 6-2 overall and is set to host Cannon County on Friday night, LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 starting at 5:45 p.m.