BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – After Caroline Parker’s three-pointer put No. 1 seed Cascade ahead, 36-34, with just over four minutes remaining, it looked like the Lady Champions (21-7, 7-1) would indeed survive and advance for the third win in three tries over the Lady Eagles this season. When the hosts paired the three with a stop on the other end, No. 4 seed Summertown (17-10, 3-5) looked like they were finally running on fumes. 

Instead, a questionable pull-up three from Class AA Miss Basketball finalist, Kaegan Young, with 2:48 remaining gave them new life, immediately leading to an and-one from Ella Busby 14 seconds later to put the visitors ahead for good. Summertown would connect on enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for the upset, 43-36, to advance to the District 9-AA Championship.

Young finished 2-of-7 from downtown overall, scoring just three of her 13 points in the second half as the Lady Eagles were able to keep her settling for threes and away from doing damage in the paint for the vast majority of the night. 

Caroline Parker finished with 10 of her 16 points coming in the second half, going 8-for-8 at the free throw line and connecting on two three-pointers. Lizzie Keele finished an uncharacteristic 0-for-7 from behind the arc and scored just four points.

For Summertown, Busby finished with a game-high 18 points while Gabi Long gave the Lady Eagles eight of her nine total points in the first half alone despite playing with a bum right shoulder.

Cascade actually looked like the much better team early on, taking  a 7-0 lead by the halfway point of the first quarter. Summertown was able to force some turnovers, but the Lady Champions still led by three, 11-8, heading into the second. 

In the second stanza, the Lady Champions outscored the Lady Eagles, 11-8, but too many self-inflicted wounds kept Cascade from running away with what should have been a double-digit win. The Lady Champs led by 22-13 before Gabi Long was left open on the wing to knock down her only three-pointer of the night,  allowing Summertown to head into halftime trailing by just six points.

Coming out for the second half, the Lady Eagles took advantage of continued mistakes by the hosts, starting out on an extended 10-3 run to take their first lead of the night at 25-24 with 3:42 left in the third. Summertown outscored Cascade 15-5 in the third quarter to take a 31-27 lead heading into the final frame. 

Thanks to Caroline Parker, the Lady Champions managed to battle back and re-take the lead with 4:01 remaining when Parker connected on a fastbreak triple to go ahead, 36-34. However, Young’s  three-point attempt on the following possession led to Busby’s backbreaking and-one, and Cascade did not score again in the final four minutes.

Cascade falls to 21-7 overall. The Lady Champions will take on Community in the D9-AA Consolation Game at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.

CASCADE: C. Parker 16 (2), K. Young 13 (2), L. Keele 4, L. Comstock 2, J. Laughlin 1.

SUMMERTOWN: E. Busby 18 (1), G. Long 9 (1), T. Long 6, E. Mason 5 (1), L. Brown 4.