BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – After a very successful opening half to the 2025-26 campaign for nearly every one of the basketball programs in Bedford County, Friday marks the beginning of the second of three phases – district play.

Five of the six programs enter their respective district slates with a winning record – the Community Viqueens (9-8) and Vikings (11-5), the Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles (11-8), and both squads at Cascade (boys are 9-6) – but the team with the most wins out of the group is the Cascade Lady Champions, who are off to the program’s best start since the 2018-19 campaign with a 13-3 record that features a number of quality early-season wins.

Three years ago, the Lady Champions were in the midst of a rough 3-25 campaign in Janie Demonbreum’s inaugural season at the helm. Last season, Demonbreum’s squad entered this part of the schedule at 6-6 after closing the non-district slate on a three-game winning streak, eventually finishing 14-14. Now, in Demonbreum’s fourth season at the helm, the Lady Champions have completely reinvigorated the basketball appetite in Bell Buckle, and they have won nine of their last 10 games since December 3rd. It also doesn’t hurt that they are led by a bona-fide superstar, Kaegan Young, who is both a BCAT Class AA Player of the Year Midseason Watchlist nominee and proving to be a definitive TSSAA Class AA Miss Basketball candidate. 

Kaegan Young (22) looks for a pass at Fayetteville City. Young has announced herself as a Class AA Miss Basketball contender this season, averaging a team-high 20.2 PPG on 55/33/77 shooting splits over the last 10 games while leading Cascade to a 9-1 record over that span.

David Smith

The UT-Southern commit is leading the Lady Champs in almost every major statistical category so far this season, averaging 18.1 PPG, 6.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 3.1 steals on 49/29/75 shooting splits. Moreover, as the team around her has grown in the last 10 games, so has the senior’s production. Since suffering a 56-43 loss at Moore County on December 2nd, Young has taken on more of a scoring load, averaging 20.2 PPG, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.9 assists with efficient 55/33/77 shooting splits on an increased usage, highlighted by her hitting a half-court game-winner in the rematch against Moore County two days after Christmas.

Taking her game up a notch right there with Young has been Lizzie Keele. Now in her sophomore season, the second-year starting guard got off to a slow start to open the year, but she has begun to find her stride at the perfect time. The dynamic duo of Keele and Young have each scored 20 or more points in the last two games leading up to Friday’s District 9-AA opener against Loretto, punctuated by Keele’s 29-point performance in just three quarters on Tuesday against a quality Huntland squad from Class A.

On the season, Keele’s numbers sit at a respectable 13.6 PPG, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 2.1 steals on modest 44/35/61 shooting splits. However, in the past 10 games, like Young, Keele has seen an uptick in production, averaging 15.1 PPG, 4.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.2 steals on efficient 50/40/60 shooting splits. Granted, the free throw shooting must improve across the board for Cascade, as on the season the Lady Champs shoot just 69% as a team on 19 attempts per game, but they make up for that lower number with increased production in other areas. 

Lizzie Keele (11) connects on one of her six three-pointers as part of her 29-point performance against Huntland. The sophomore guard has shown herself to be a dynamic scoring threat as a No. 2 option, averaging 15.1 PPG on 50/40/60 splits over the last 10 games.

David Smith

Cascade comes into Friday averaging 57.4 PPG as a team while giving up just 45 PPG defensively. Last season, following Game 16, the Lady Champions actually had a negative point-differential, averaging 48.9 PPG while conceding 49.1 PPG. The marked improvement, at least on the stat sheet, can be pointed to from a few key spots. First, the team field goal percentage from two-point land has improved by exactly 10 percentage points, from 38.8% to 48.8%, bringing in a higher overall field goal percentage (34.9% in 2024-25 to 39% in 2025-26) and increasing the amount of three-pointers made from an average of five per game last season to averaging seven connections this season.

However, Demonbreum started the year with four sophomores featured heavily in the rotation for the first time – Jocelyn Laughlin, Mackenzie Fisher, Jade Tolar, and Lexi Comstock. Over the past 10 games, the Lady Champions have improved in just about every statistical category except rebounding (even then, they’ve been able to tread water while missing Suzanna Crews over the past handful of games due to an illness). Overall, Cascade has shot 42.3% from the field, 51.9% from inside the arc, and 32% from downtown, and this has resulted in a team scoring average of 61.2 PPG compared to just 48.2 PPG allowed. They’ve averaged nearly 24 points-in-the-paint despite not having a true back-to-the-basket post player, in large part due to the more than 19 points-off-turnovers that the Lady Champs generate on average every night.

Although Demonbreum has wanted her team to take more three-pointers this season, the increased success heavily relies upon quality paint touches from drives to generate good open looks from downtown. Knockdown three-point shooters like Jade Tolar, Jocelyn Laughlin, and Lizzie Keele rely on catch-and-shoot three-pointers, but if there are no drives to the paint to suck in the defense, there won’t be any space to fire clean looks from outside. In the last 10 contests, Keele is shooting 40% on six attempts per game while Tolar is connecting at a 41% clip. Laughlin has been no slouch herself, nailing 35% of her three-pointers in that span as well. 

The single biggest factor for Cascade’s long-term success is health. The Lady Champions’ starting center and most impactful rebounder, Suzanna Crews, has missed four of the last five games due to an illness after missing all of last year with a preseason ACL tear. Once Demonbreum and Co. re-incorporate the senior and she gets back into basketball shape over the next month, Cascade should be considered true contenders to qualify for the program’s first-ever trip to the Glass House. 

Yes, it’s true that Cascade, along with Community and Chapel Hill, were assigned to a new district featuring perennial basketball powers in Loretto and Summertown. And yes, it’s true that both the Lady Mustangs and Lady Eagles pose significant threats to a potential Lady Champions postseason run. In the last two years, both Loretto and Summertown have ended Cascade’s season in the regional semifinal round en route to their own state tournament appearances. Despite this, this Cascade squad plays with a level of confidence that can only generate organically through successfully competing – and winning – tough, grueling, and nail-biting games over the course of a season.

Even so, Cascade still looked a little wobbly to start the year on the offensive end as they tried to find their rhythm while playing a different style than in the past.  Now, with 16 games under their belt together, the Lady Champions are looking to crash the District 9-AA party in style.

Cascade opens the District 9-AA slate tonight at home against Loretto at 6:00 p.m.