Friday, March 29, 2024

Cascade girls' basketball team holds on for tough win over Liberty Bell

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The Cascade girls' basketball team played Liberty Bell in the first round of the Cascade Hoops Classic on Dec. 27 at CHS. The Kodiaks forged a lead in the first quarter 16-12. In the second quarter, the Lions outscored Cascade 12-8 to tie the score at 24-24 at half.

In the third quarter, the Kodiaks kept the pressure on with some solid defense, outscoring LB 14-6 in the quarter. Cascade led 40-30 after three.

Liberty Bell cut the lead to six points, 48-42, but Cascade was able to hold on in the final minutes for the 55-48 win.

"This was actually a tough Liberty Bell team. They are on top of their 2B league. They played Omak to a three point game. They just hang around and are pretty consistent with what they do," said Cascade Head Coach Dane Lewman.

Junior Bekah Francis had 14 points to lead the Kodiaks. Sophomore Kascia Muscutt had 12 and junior Kaija Lovelady had 11.

"For us to do what we did, jump on them early. We had a let down in the second quarter. We gave up a lot in the second quarter in terms of energy and intensity. To come back in the third quarter and keep pushing, that was something we needed to do," Lewman said.

Cascade kept pushing the ball up court as normal, but they were able to keep the turnovers to a minimum, which Lewman liked.

"We had 22 turnovers. We would like to be sub-15 for the way want to play, but 22 is better than what we've been doing. We cleaned it up quite a bit. We didn't overpass. That was big. We weren't passing to people who weren't open. We had been forcing things. That was good," he said.

The Kodiaks also debuted a trapping defense, which is a Cashmere staple. It gave the Lions lots of problems.

"We've been holding onto to our zone, trapping at the wings. We've been holding back on that because we don't want to show our hand too early in league," Lewman said. "If we can play at the right intensity while doing it, then it will be really productive for us. It has to be something we can turn on and off quickly. If we can do that, it will be really positive for us."

Cascade played a talented Eatonville team in the tournament finals on Dec. 28. Cascade trailed 13-7 in the first quarter. Behind three-three's, Eatonville took a 31-15 lead at half. To their credit, Cascade hung in there. They kept battling in game, which last year, would have gotten away from them.

They lost 61-40, but overall it was decent performance. The speedy Muscutt, who is improving game to game, led the Kodiaks with 15. Francis had 7, Alondra Acevedo had 6.

Cascade is now 0-4 in league, 3-6 overall with league play resuming tonight at home against Chelan. The Goats are 1-3 in league, 2-6 overall. Chelan beat Cascade 48-27 on Dec. 5. The Kodiaks play at Omak (3-1, 6-3) on Friday, then at Cashmere (4-0, 9-1) on Jan. 9.

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

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