Cass Girls Fall in First Round

The Cass Lady Colonels took a 6-point lead into the fourth quarter of their first round game of the Region 7-AAAA Tournament only to lose the lead and eventually the game, 56-46, to the South Forsyth Lady Eagles.

With 4 minutes left to play in the third quarter, South Forsyth started using a full-court press. Cass had a 9-point lead but immediately started turning the ball over.

During a timeout to regroup, Cass head coach Jamie Horton told his girls to calm down and reminded them that they had a lead. He wanted his team to get into a set offense and run it.

But Cass could never figure out how to beat the press from South Forsyth, leading to turnover after turnover as well as transition baskets on the other end.

“We don’t have anyone that can handle the ball,” said Horton. “Pressure gets to us and we don’t have a point guard. The girl we have playing the point has been a post since middle school. It hurts us when someone pressures us, we can’t get the ball where we need it to be successful.”

Cass turned the ball over 13 times in the second half as a result of the South Forsyth press. And the Lady Colonels lead evaporated quickly.

Horton called a timeout and told his girls to calm down and look for ways to dribble through the press. The Lady Colonels were throwing the ball away “because no one wanted to handle it.”

With 6 minutes left in the game, Cass led by 6 points. But an 8-point run by South Forsyth over the next 90 seconds erased that lead and gave the Eagles their first lead since the opening quarter.

Ironically, it was two free throws from Octavia Pendleton that stopped the run and gave Cass some life. The Lady Colonels had trouble at the line throughout the game. They were 14-for-28 from the charity stripe and any time you shoot that poorly at the free-throw line, it’s tough to win.

“Yes that’s typical,” said Horton about his teams’ troubles shooting free throws. “We’re a young team and we don’t know yet exactly how important things like free throws and layups are. Most of our girls are coming up from playing middle school basketball or are sophomores. It’s tough some nights. Hopefully we’ll spend the summer in the gym and get better.”

With such a young team, Horton does have a lot to look forward to. One of those things is Jasmine Estwick, who scored a team-high 12 points coming off of the bench.

“She’s a freshman and we’re looking for good things out of her in the future,” said Horton. “I think we played six freshman tonight. We’re a very young team.”

Tyshika Jackson was the only other Cass player to reach double digits, scoring 11 points, nine in the first quarter.

As poorly as his team shot from the free-throw line and as much trouble as the Lady Colonels had with the press, Horton still fell on his sword, taking the blame for letting South Forsyth come from behind to win.

“Bottom line there is no excuse for losing a lead like that. That’s on me,” he said.