It’s important for us to learn about what we have to do.”

Cascade Lady Champs Head Coach Janie Demonbreum

BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – After a heartbreaking 42-33 loss in last year’s Region 5-AA semifinals against Summertown, the Cascade Lady Champions are hungry to not just get back to that point for the third-consecutive season, but break through to the state-sectional round entering Janie Demounbreum’s fourth year at the helm. 

The Lady Champs finished 14-14 in 2024/25, but got hot down the stretch, winning six of their final eight games to finish as the District 9-AA Runners-up against Cannon County before falling to Summertown. Expectedly, Demonbreum and her staff have been stewing on that game all offseason.

“I think [that game] has had more of an impact on the coaching staff,” she said. “If there was a way to look at my Hudl watchtime for that game specifically – as well as Coach Woodson – that’s one that we’ve looked at a lot. That and the Community game where we scored 22 points because teams would throw zone at us and we would struggle. We’ve been going back and trying to figure out, how do we fix that? What did we do wrong? What is the disconnect, and how do we make adjustments to that?” 

“I think for the group of girls that we have right now – outside of Kaegan [Young], Caroline [Parker], and Lizzie [Keele] – they weren’t as involved in the actual playing of that game. I don’t think it’s in their mindset, but we do bring it up a lot. I reference it a lot because I’m trying to fix things right now that ended our season last year. I don’t want those problems to be skeletons in our closet that walk out and show themselves in February and March again. It’s important for us to learn about what we have to do.”

Cascade graduated a trio of seniors – 1,000-point scorer Sophie Ray, starter Kaydence Miller, and a rotation piece in Laina Carter – but returned key contributors such as Kaegan Young, Lizzie Keele, and Caroline Parker. They also welcome back Suzanna Crews into the fold after she missed basically the entire season last year due to an ACL injury. Young, who led the team in scoring a season ago with 12.3 PPG, and Crews are the only two seniors with Parker as the lone junior. 

Despite the horde of underclassmen filling out the rest of the roster, Demonbreum has been pleased with the work ethic and dedication of the younger players, especially the sophomore class. 

“I’ve really been impressed with Caroline Parker as well as my sophomores. In the preseason, they would stay after and shoot, like I was here until 5:30 and they’re still shooting,” she said. “Everybody’s making 100 threes, rapid-fire shooting on the gun, and when we have early practices, most mornings I would have 4-5 girls at 7:00 in the morning in the gym getting their shots in. I think that just speaks to their work ethic. They want it so bad, especially that sophomore class. The sophomore class has really impressed us this summer and in the preseason as far as how much they just want it. They want to be successful, they want to contribute, and they’re putting in the work to where you’re going to have to step out and guard them.”

The sophomore class includes names such as Lizzie Keele, Lexi Comstock, and Jocelyn Laughlin, as well as relative unknowns in Jade Toler and the Fisher twins – Mackenzie and Makayla. The Fisher twins specifically have been putting in extra work before school starts every day, and Demonbreum has seen a shift in mindset as the sophomores enter their second season on the varsity squad. With openings in the rotation that Demonbreum is still piecing together, all six girls sense an opportunity to play meaningful minutes this season as Cascade moves into one of the tougher districts in all of Class AA. Loretto and Summertown, who both made the State Tournament last season, along with much-improved Community and Chapel Hill squads round out the five-team district.

“The goal is to get those underclassmen as much game experience as possible so that when we get to district play they have that in-game knowledge that they’re going to need every night,” explained Demonbreum. “They are super young, but Lizzie having the experience she had last year…she could almost be considered a junior. She got a lot of experience this summer. While the numbers seem daunting, we have a very experienced core-four [Kaegan Young, Suzanna Crews, Caroline Parker, and Lizzie Keele].”

As it pertains to Keele, she became a key contributor late last season for the Lady Champions, and it all culminated with a 25-point performance in the District 9-AA Championship game against Cannon County.

“I think Lizzie sees what she can be now,” continued Demonbreum, “I really think she believes in herself in the most humble way. She is not a selfish kid at all. Just her understanding of the game, her understanding of movements, asking questions, she’s just really put in an effort to be a student of the game and I think that’s one of her biggest blessings.”

Looking towards the senior leadership in Kaegan Young and Suzanna Crews, Demonbreum has already felt the impact of Crews’ return after missing almost the entire season a year ago due to injury.

“Suzanna's presence is huge,” Demonbreum said. “She’s not one that I just want to throw inside. When you look at us we’re not big at all, and from the outside she would seem to fit in at that role with her height, but she has one of the best outside shots on the team, so I want to utilize her on the outside as well. Her presence on the glass by going to get rebounds is huge, and we missed her a lot last year on our press break offense. She usually would take the ball out and be that relief for Kaegan or Caroline when we would be pressured. Being able to have that back is huge. I think she’s going to have a great season. She’s worked hard in her recovery [Torn ACL] and physical therapy, but she’s also worked hard in our weights program and leading us in runs too. Her leadership has been there. There were so many times last year that we thought we’d be able to put her back out there on the court, and even going back to watch the Summertown game from last year, she was dressed out but I couldn’t put her in. That hurt, especially with how that game ended. Having her back with her experience is going to be key.”

With that lack of size, Demonbreum revealed how she has adjusted to her personnel in preparation for this season, and the biggest change has come on the offensive end.

“We’re going to try and get up and down as much as possible,” she said. “If you can’t get to the basket, you’d better make a three, or drive and kick to someone else who will. We’ve put in two set offenses – one against zone and one against man-to-man – of just motion, like let’s go be basketball players.”

“It’s a completely different look than what I’ve had the past three years, and kind of a different mindset. Coach Woodson called us Alabama this year in terms of the playstyle,” she chuckled.

Of course, the offensive strategy is spearheaded by none other than star returner and recent UT-Southern signee, Kaegan Young. Young led the team in scoring a year ago, averaging just over 12 points-per-game, and recently reached the 1,000 points mark for her career.

Of course, she isn’t the sole offensive option, and Demonbreum expects her lead-by-example style of leadership is already paying off for her squad. She has high expectations for how hard her team should play as she begins her fourth season at Cascade.

“They [the fans] can expect intensity,” she concluded, “I think my girls are gonna bring it. That’s my expectation, that’s what I’m harping on, just a group of girls that are going out there and doing their job, whatever that job might be, they’re doing it to the best of their abilities. They’re gonna dive on the floor, and they’re gonna be scrappy, and when I picture it in my mind it looks like us just picking up right where we left off from the middle portion of the game against Summertown. I just feel like the intensity of our team is going to be different this year.”