The Cascade Lady Champions were unable to overcome a perilous slow start at home as the Grundy County Lady Yellowjackets held on to spoil Senior Night festivities, 62-58, on Tuesday.

A 22-5 first quarter in favor of the visitors turned out to be too big of a hole to climb out of for Cascade as Grundy County was able to exact revenge for the 59-49 loss back on January 13. 

Kaegan Young led the Lady Champs with a season-high 27 points, but only Kaydence Miller joined her in double-figures with 10 points. Sophie Ray and Suzanna Crews chipped in with eight points apiece as well. 

For Grundy County, it was freshman Kallie Parsons leading the way with a game-high 32 points in a very impressive showing. Kasadee Crabtree scored 16 of her own, and despite Carlee Smart only finishing with seven points, the Lady Jackets had just enough offense to survive Cascade’s furious comeback attempt.

To start the game, Grundy County jumped out to an early 8-0 lead almost immediately, prompting a quick timeout from head coach Janie Demonbreum. Unfortunately for the home side, things would not improve too much from there, ending the quarter with just a single made field goal as they trailed by 17. 

The Lady Champs offense began to show signs of life in the second quarter, outscoring Grundy 22-15, but they still trailed 37-27 at the break.

Coming out of the halftime locker room, the Lady Champs began to hunker down defensively, and they would hold the Lady Jackets to only eight points in the entire third quarter, culminating in the immediate ejection of Grundy Head Coach Brittany Woodley. Woodley, frustrated by the obvious inconsistencies for both sides that were on display all evening from the officials, flipped over an empty chair on her own bench after a play she perceived to be a foul resulted in a jump ball, prompting the ejection. In contrast, Cascade would put up 12 points of their own, cutting the lead to 45-39 entering the final frame with their head coach still patrolling the sidelines.

Cascade continued to deploy their full-court zone pressure throughout the fourth quarter, and they managed to force turnover after turnover to help trim into the lead. It felt like any moment that the Lady Champs would push ahead and take the lead, but in the end it was not to be. Grundy made just enough free throws and forced just enough missed shots to hold on and win a wild affair, 62-58.

The Lady Jackets improve to 15-6 (3-3) and will play Community in a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday.

The Lady Champs fall to 10-14 (3-4) on the year, and will continue their homestand on Friday against Chapel Hill, LIVE on WZNG The Zinger 100.9 and AM 1400 starting at 5:45 p.m. This game is not only homecoming, but is also the annual Coaches versus Cancer night.