BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – For their first game action in 14 days, the Community Viqueens (12-10, 2-3) picked a perfect time to put together one of their best performances of the season on Tuesday, handing No. 7 Cascade (18-6, 5-1) its first home loss of the season on Senior Night, 56-46.

“We hadn’t played in 14 days, and I felt like when we walked in here we were all happy that we actually would get to play a game,” Viqueens’ Head Coach Cody Pierce said postgame, “We hadn’t missed too many practices, but it’s nice that we’re back to playing. We played with a ton of passion early, and it just carried over throughout the game. The girls came ready to play tonight.”

After suffering a tough loss against Cascade back on Jan. 13, 51-46, Community took it to the Lady Champions from the jump, taking the early lead by hitting six three-pointers in the first half and never looking back in a wire-to-wire victory. 

“We’ve been eager to find that game to give us a spark – we’ve played well at times but just didn’t make winning plays at the end,” Pierce said, “Tonight we did, and we’re hoping we can carry it over to Loretto on Friday night.”

Community’s lead was as big as 12 points early in the second quarter, and despite trimming the lead to two at halftime, Cascade never managed to grab a lead in an uncharacteristic performance from the seventh-ranked team in Class AA.

“We were just unfocused,” Lady Champs’ Head Coach Janie Demonbreum said postgame, “They just wanted it more, they played harder than we did, they were obviously able to knock down a lot more shots than we did, they got on the floor, they were physical, they just wanted it more, and kudos to them. It’s the purple and gold against the orange and black. This is a district rival, this is a county rival, and I’ve said this every time, it doesn’t matter what the records or rankings are, this game is going to be tight every single time.”

The Viqueens held one of the best players in the state, Kaegan Young, to just 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the floor while Community’s Anna Haskins led all scorers with 15 points. Community also received contributions from Brooklyn Yoes and Madisyn Hill with eight and seven points apiece. Neither Yoes nor Hill registered a single point in the first matchup, but they provided a massive spark with 15 points combined. 

“It was just a team effort,” Pierce said, “Our guards played well, Alyssa [White] did a heck of a job, when she was doubled she would kick it out and we’d make the extra passes. We’ve talked a lot about how we have to care about making those extra passes, care about making a big play, care about knocking a big shot down, and we did that tonight.”

After a fiery start from outside, Community led by seven, 15-8, at the end of the opening period when Brooklyn Yoes nailed a corner three at the buzzer. The visitors extended that lead to 20-8 early in the second before Cascade closed on a 13-3 run to get to halftime trailing by just two points, 23-21. 

Cascade's Lizzie Keele (11) uses a Kaegan Young (22) screen to get free of Community's Mattie Maxey (0) in Cascade's loss to Community on Tuesday. Keele finished with nine points.

David Smith

In the third quarter, the Viqueens again gave themselves a cushion, growing their lead to 32-24 halfway through the period. Cascade’s Lexi Comstock knocked down her first three-pointer of district play from the corner to cut the lead to five, 32-27, with 3:45 to go in the third, but that would be the closest Cascade would come to overtaking Community in the second half. The Viqueens once again responded, pushing their lead back to nine, 39-30, heading into the final frame.

As the fourth quarter wore on, it became abundantly clear that the visitors had the perfect recipe for springing the upset. Cascade struggled immensely at the free throw line, finishing just 14-of-21 on the night, and they only managed to score six two-point field goals in the entire game thanks to the interior presence of Alyssa White. Despite scoring just two points, White was one of the most impactful players on the court as her presence altered a number of Cascade layup attempts.

The Lady Champions nearly put themselves in a position to steal the game with 2:46 to go when Kaegan Young finished strong at the basket with what looked like an and-one layup that would foul out the shotblocking White in the process. Instead, luck was on the Viqueens’ side, as the sliding White was deemed to have established position long enough to draw the charge, keeping her team in front, 48-41. When Haskins immediately converted an and-one on the other end to back up by 10, the upset was effectively complete.

“She [Anna Haskins] did a great job leading in that fourth quarter,” Pierce said, “She knocked some free throws down, knocked a couple layups down, converted an and-one that was huge for us. She just led tonight. She played hard on defense, and she made the winning plays she needed to make.”

Community would tack on some free throws in the final two minutes to secure the massive district win. The Viqueens improve to 12-10 overall, and are set to travel to district foe Loretto on Friday night followed by a rescheduled trip to Summertown on Saturday.

The Lady Champions fall to 18-6 overall, and suffer their first defeat in district play this season. Cascade continues District 9-AA play with a visit to Chapel Hill on Friday night, LIVE on The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 starting at 5:45 p.m.

CASCADE: K. Young 12, L. Keele 9 (2), J. Laughlin 7 (1), S. Crews 6 (2), C. Parker 5, L. Comstock 5 (1).

COMMUNITY: A. Haskins 15 (2), B. Yoes 8 (2), S. Flannagan 7 (1), M. Hill 7 (1), M. Maxey 6 (1),  S. Pearson 4, A. White 2.