UNIONVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 3 ranked Cascade Lady Champions (15-3, 2-0) withstood a valiant effort from the Community Viqueens (9-10, 0-2) in the first ‘Battle of Bedford’ in District 9-AA on Tuesday night with a 51-46 win inside of The Roger Kent Brothers Gymnasium. 

Kaegan Young once again showed why she is one of the best players in Class AA, finishing with a game-high 21 points – including 10 in the fourth quarter alone – despite playing the final 7:05 with four personal fouls. Lizzie Keele provided a heroic display of shotmaking in the first half, netting 14 of her 19 points in the first two quarters on four three-pointers. 

The Viqueens’ performed admirably, led by Anna Haskins’ 19 points, but she was the only player for Community to finish in double-figures. 

Anna Haskins (3) scored 19 points for the Viqueens in Tuesday's loss to Cascade.

T-G Staff Photo - Noah Maddox

“Overall, we didn’t look great tonight,” Lady Champions’ Head Coach Janie Demonbreum said postgame, “We were out of our norm offensively and then defensively we gave up way too many drives. Even so, we told the girls after the game that when we don’t play our best and still come away with a win, that’s something we can build off of.”

Community trailed by nine points, 36-27, with two minutes to go in the third quarter, and it seemed like Cascade was on the brink of blowing the game wide open after a slow start. Instead, the Viqueens got up off the mat, finishing on a 6-0 spurt after Mattie Maxey forced a steal and connected on a buzzer-beating layup to trim the lead to three points, 36-33, heading into the final frame.

Neither team scored for the first two minutes of the quarter until Alyssa White cut the lead to one point on a putback layup. Young, sensing her time coming to close out the game, found a way to the free throw line for just the second time all game, nailing a pair of free throws. White again fought back, once again with a putback layup on the offensive glass to draw the Viqueens within one point, 38-37, with 5:32 remaining. 

After Laughlin left a three-pointer short, Haskins split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 38. Both teams traded empty possessions, and then Caroline Parker and Anna Haskins traded three-pointers. Following another empty trip from Cascade, Haskins once again found herself at the free throw line, splitting a pair to put her team in front for the first time since early in the second quarter. Young split a pair on the other end to draw level, and then White scored off of a set play coming out of a Community timeout to re-take the lead, 44-42, with 2:25 left. 

Young split a pair at the line to trim the lead to one, and then stepped up with the biggest shot of the night. With the clock running past 1:40, Laughlin came up to set a screen on the left side, giving Young the option to get downhill into the lane with her right hand. Instead, Young crosses over on Savannah Pearson, hesitates, then steps back and creates enough space to launch a go-ahead three-pointer that kisses in off the glass. 

On the other end, Haskins was able to tie the game back up momentarily at 46 after she found a loose ball underneath the basket, but then Young connected on three free throws to take a 49-46 lead with 46.0 seconds on the clock.

After Haskins putback attempt fell out of bounds with 8.8 seconds to go, Suzanna Crews – in her first game back from illness after missing the previous five – threw a three-quarters-court pass to Lizzie Keele, beating the press and sealing the win all in one move after Keele converted on the layup.

“Offensively we didn’t look great in the first half,” said Demonbreum, “We were a little out of control, trying to speed ourselves up, not having the best shot selection, and dribbling around the top of the key, but we did make adjustments. Every time Community went into its diamond-and-1, Lizzie [Keele] stepped up and hit some big shots. On the defensive end, we were just able to get stops.”

Early on, Community came out of the gates playing with a sense of desperation, jumping out to an 8-2 lead halfway through the opening period of play. Cascade responded by tying the game up at 10 before Haskins nailed a pair of free throws to take a 12-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second, Community tacked onto those two free throws, extending to an 8-0 run thanks to a threes from both Sara Flannagan and Savannah Pearson and taking an 18-10 lead in front of a rocking home crowd. Jocelyn Laughlin responded with a three to end the run followed by Keele nailing a triple to trim the lead back down to two points. 

Cascade closed the first half on a 16-6 run overall after falling down by eight, taking a two-point lead, 26-24, into the halftime locker room. 

The Lady Champions ratcheted up the defensive pressure in the third quarter, holding Community to just three points for the first six minutes of the period. The visitors were able to patch together just enough offense, punctuated by a difficult left-handed layup from Young to take their largest lead of the night, 36-27, with 2:30 to go before Community managed to fight back.

The Viqueens fall to 9-10 overall. Community continues its homestand on Friday night against Loretto starting at 6:00 p.m.

The Lady Champions improve to 15-3 overall. Cascade returns home to take on Chapel Hill on Friday night, LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 starting at 5:45 p.m.