SUMMERTOWN, Tenn. – On Thursday, Cascade’s Kaegan Young was announced as one of three finalists for the Class 2A Miss Basketball Award for her incredible regular season. On Friday, the UT-Southern commit scored a team-high 19 points to not only help Cascade (21-6, 7-1) fend off District 9-AA foe Summertown (15-10, 3-5) in overtime, 54-47, but to also become the new Lady Champions’ all-time career-leading scorer with 1,473 career points, eclipsing the previous mark of 1,464 points set by Heather Walling in 2000. 

The record-breaking moment came with 4:46 to go in the third quarter on a pair of free throws for her first points of the second half. 

 After breaking the record and scoring 13 of Cascade’s 40 points in regulation, Young opened the scoring in overtime with a long two from the corner to put the Lady Champions in front, 42-40, with 3:45 remaining. Then, Young and Keele trapped Lady Eagles’ star, Ella Busby, and after Young stole the ball, she was fouled by El-Lee Lu Mason. At the free throw line, Young made a pair to give Cascade a 44-40 lead with 3:35 to go in overtime.

“That [traps] is something we can use with her [Kaegan Young],” said Demonbreum postgame, “We can use Lizzie’s [Keele] length too, Lexi is great at it as well, it’s just something we are able to utilize in the right spots. We’re not the biggest, we’re not the tallest, but we do a good job with our long arms.”

Finally, at the 1:13 mark of the extra session, Young knocked down two more free throws to bring her total to 19 points after she was intentionally fouled, giving her team an insurmountable lead at 52-44 with just over a minute to go.

The Lady Champions led after every period except for the fourth quarter, taking an 11-9 lead at the end of one. In the second quarter, Cascade outscored the hosts, 10-8, to take a 21-17 lead heading into the halftime locker room. Young led the way at the break with nine points while Ella Busby scored seven points to lead Summertown.

Coming out for the second half, the two teams played even in the third quarter, 11-11, to send the Lady Champions into the final frame with a four-point lead, 32-28. 

However, in the fourth, after Caroline Parker knocked in three of her 15 total points and Keele’s 4-foot jumper put Cascade ahead, 37-31, Summertown would make one final push over the final 5:30. Tess Long knocked down her only three-pointer of the night when she was left open in the corner to trim the lead to three, and then a few minutes later, Long converted on an and-one to tie the game at 37 with 3:46 to go. 

After both Jocelyn Laughlin and Mason split a pair of free throws, neither team scored for the next two minutes until Young stole the ball from Busby and went coast-to-coast to go up 40-38 with 44 seconds remaining. However, the Lady Eagles instantly responded, finding Zoei Bonner underneath for the game-tying layup. 

Cascade had a chance to win in regulation on the ensuing possession, but Young was called for a charge on a light push-off with 5.6 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

“[This win] was just about maintaining our composure under pressure,” Demonbreum said, “Tonight was one of if not the first time we saw a run-and-jump, and Summertown is great at that. Getting our girls to stay under control and flash towards the ball was big, and I thought we defended well overall as well.”
With the win, Cascade confirms Summertown as the No. 4 seed in the upcoming District 9-AA tournament, where the Lady Eagles will host Chapel Hill in the play-in game for the right to take on the No. 1 seed, Cascade, on Thursday night. 

Both teams struggled at the free throw line with Cascade finishing 12-of-22 while Summertown shot 13-of-22, but the Lady Champions made four more three-pointers and outscored the Lady Eagles in points off turnovers, 19-11.

Young closed out her stellar regular season with a near double-double, finishing with 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Caroline Parker continued her strong run of games with 15 points and three treys while Lizzie Keele reached double-figures with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

After being held scoreless in the final 27 minutes of the first matchup back on Jan. 23, Ella Busby finished with a game-high 21 points to lead Summertown. She was the only Lady Eagle to reach double-digits.

With the win, No. 9 Cascade improves to 21-6 overall. The Lady Champions will take on Monday’s winner between Summertown and Chapel Hill at home on Thursday in the District 9-AA semifinals, LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 at 5:45 p.m.

CASCADE: K. Young 19 (2), C. Parker 15 (3), L. Keele 10 (2), J. Laughlin 6, S. Crews 3 (1), L. Comstock 1. 

SUMMERTOWN: E. Busby 21 (1), T. Long 9 (1), E. Mason 6 (1), Z. Bonner 5 (1), G. Long 2,  E. Franks 2.