Cascade girls top Danville to win Class 3A Sectional 25 title, end 16-year drought

Campbell scores game-high 17 points in Lady Cadets' win

If they decided to make another movie about Indiana high school basketball, Saturday night’s showdown between the Cascade and Danville girls basketball teams just might make the cut.

Two small schools, county rivals, 21 wins apiece, a senior with a torn ACL, and to top it off a 16-year sectional drought vs. a perennial powerhouse met for the sectional championship.

Cascade ended its 16-year sectional drought Saturday and are headed to the next round of the IHSAA girls basketball tournament, defeating county rival Danville 54-39 for the Class 3A Sectional 25 Championship.

“I watched them year after year lose in the sectional and get upset,” Cascade senior forward Abby Parsons said. “I knew this was my last chance to get the win so it was really cool to get to do this.”

The Lady Cadets started fast with a 20-1 run in the first quarter, including eight points from junior guard Creedance Chittenden. They led the rest of the game and never looked back as they earned their fifth straight win over Danville.

“It was important to start out strong,” said junior guard Liviair Campbell, who scored a game-high 17 points. “We already knew what they did, so we just had to do what we do and make sure that we controlled the game the whole time.”

Danville senior forward Isabelle Wooten, who had been playing on a torn ACL, knew going into the tournament that this was the end of her career.

She only scored four points, but showed her heart and her toughness as she wasn’t afraid to dive for loose balls or battle for rebounds. Wooten helped the team climb back into the game with a layup to cut Cascade’s lead to six in the third quarter.

“I think we hit all of our shots (Friday night),” May said of her team’s 66-42 win over Tri-West. “We got off to a really tough start, but I couldn’t be more proud of my kids for battling. A lot of teams would give up, but it’s not our character. We grinded the whole game out, but it felt like every time we cut it to six, Cascade hit a big shot. I commend them. They were on top of their game and we just didn’t quite have what we needed to have.”

The winningest team in Cascade history, boys or girls, took home the sectional championship trophy and celebrated even more after getting back home.

“As an assistant we got here twice and weren’t able to win it,” third-year coach Adam Parsons said. “So this is something nice to get done for the community.”

• IHSAA GIRLS BASKETBALL | GIRLS BASKETBALL SCORES

Cascade-Danville girls basketball

Photos from Tyler Hart