The Cascade Lady Champions advanced to the Region 5-AA semifinals after a 63-42 win over the Lewis County Lady Panthers on Friday night.
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The Cascade Lady Champions under second-year head coach Janie Demonbreum have been in the business of making history this season, and after beating Lewis County, 62-43, in the Region 5-AA quarterfinal at home on Friday night, they surpassed yet another milestone.
For the first time since 2018/19, the Lady Champions advanced to the region semifinals, and for only the second time since 2013/14.
Spearheaded by Suzanna Crews’ career high 24 points and 11 rebounds, including 17 points in the second half, and Kaegan Young’s 16 points, Cascade pulled away from the Lady Panthers in the second half.
“Suzanna Crews had an amazing night, she was just all over the glass and drove to the hole,” Demonbreum said postgame, “You couldn’t ask for more from her.”
Cascade got off to a slow start offensively in the first quarter, perhaps due to some nerves for their first win-or-go-home situation of the season, but their defense helped build a 13-7 lead after the opening eight minutes.
“I thought the girls did well handling the pressure,” Demonbreum continued, “We have been prepping ourselves for this win-or-go-home situation since before the district tournament.”
The Lady Champs certainly started to settle down in the second quarter, outscoring Lewis County 15-4 to take a 28-11 lead into the halftime locker room.
The scoring was pretty spread out in the first half with Young and Crews scoring seven points apiece while Sophie Ray and Kaydence Miller each added six points.
The energy definitely picked up in the second half for the Lady Champs, outscoring the visitors 20-9 in the third quarter to take an insurmountable 48-20 lead into the final frame.
Demonbreum was able to empty the bench late in the fourth quarter after the lead ballooned to almost 30 points, and the Lady Champs moved within one win of a surprise state sectional appearance.
“There are a lot of things we have to tighten up on and do better for Monday night, but these types of games are tough to play,” she said.
Monday night sees Cascade travel to Loretto to take on the hometown Lady Mustangs, the District 10-AA champs with state tournament aspirations, but Demonbreum sees this as a can’t-lose situation with how her team has grown together this season.
Crews finished with 24 points, Young finished with 16 points, Ray finished with eight points, and Kaydence Miller finished with nine points of her own.
For Lewis County, Haylee Carroll finished with 16 points, including 14 in the second half, but the Lady Panthers’ 20 turnovers as a team were too much to overcome.
Lewis County’s season ends at 7-17 (2-4).
The Lady Champions improve to 13-15 (4-4) and advance to the Region 5-AA semifinals to take on the Loretto Lady Mustangs on Monday night LIVE on WZNG The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 starting at 7:15 p.m. with tip-off at 7:30.
