BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The No. 3 Cascade Lady Champions (16-3, 3-0) used pestering defense to force 21 turnovers from the Lady Rockets of Chapel Hill (13-6, 0-2) en route to a 61-32 blowout district win on Friday.

With Friday’s win, the Lady Champions are off to the best start in program history this century, surpassing the 15-3 record set by the 2018-19 squad before losing to Eagleville.

Kaegan Young finished the game leading all scorers with 15 points in limited minutes, Lizzie Keele added 14 points, and the trio of Caroline Parker, Jade Tolar, and Jocelyn Laughlin all chipped in with eight points apiece. As a team, Cascade shot 55% from the field and outscored the Lady Rockets in the paint, 36-24.

For Chapel Hill, Baeliy Stalnecker was the only Lady Rocket to reach double-figures, finishing with a team-high 10 points while Sadie Smith added nine points.

The Lady Champions never let the visitors stay close, jumping out to a 14-6 lead at the end of the opening period. Lexi Comstock, although she finished with just three steals officially, spearheaded the defensive pressure, forcing numerous turnovers off of deflections and bad passes from Camreigh Warner and Allie Dillon that prevented the Lady Rockets from setting up their offense. Comstock also finished with a game-high seven assists.

Lexi Comstock (12) leads the fastbreak for her only basket from Friday's win over Chapel Hill. Comstock finished with a game-high 7 assists and 3 steals.

David Smith

“Lexi [Comstock] does what Lexi does,” Lady Champs’ Head Coach Janie Demonbreum said, “She brings us that energy, and she knows and accepts her role. When she knows it and fulfills it in the best way, we are that much better because of it. She gives us that defensive intensity every single time, and that’s just her strength. I think this year alone, she has gotten 10x better with using her feet and using her hands to make an impact defensively. She’s so quick with her feet, and she uses that as her main weapon defensively and it’s fantastic. It brings an energy to our game.” 

Comstock kept up the pressure in the second quarter, allowing Cascade to outscore Chapel Hill, 15-9, after Jocelyn Laughlin’s corner-three kissed off the top of the backboard into the net at the buzzer to send the hosts into the halftime locker room with a 29-15 lead. 

Coming out for the second half, the Lady Champions continued to turn defense into offense, extending their lead to 46-21 at the end of the third quarter.

In the final frame, Cascade was able to empty the bench at around the three minute mark, cementing a 61-32 district win over Chapel Hill to win its sixth-consecutive game.

The Lady Champions improve to 16-3 overall. Cascade travels to Richland on Saturday night before hitting the road again on Tuesday to take on Cannon County, LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 at 5:45 p.m.