Cascade posts top-10 prep basketball sweep of Iowa City Regina

CASCADE — Two top-10 prep basketball tussles took place Tuesday night inside the sparkling gymnasium at Cascade High School.

In both games, a rousing second half allowed the host Cougars to sprint away from the Iowa City Regina Regals.

In the boys' game, Cascade senior John Supple scored 24 points as the Class 2A No. 3 Cougars outscored No. 10 Regina by 18 points in the second half of a 69-50 victory in a River Valley Conference game.

'We came into this game confident,' Supple said. 'And now we've got to humble ourselves a little bit. We've got to treat every opponent like they're the best, but we're definitely getting more confident in ourselves and everything is starting to click. It starts with our defense and it leads to the offensive side.'

Cascade (8-0, 7-0 RVC) led by one at halftime, 31-30, and started the third quarter with a 13-1 explosion.

A fourth-quarter steal and dunk from Cascade senior Brock Simon gave the Cougars their largest lead of the game at 61-37 early in the fourth quarter.

'We always talk about playing with energy and playing together,' Cascade Coach Jacob Brindle said. 'And this is probably the best we've done at that all year, I'd say, consistently. The biggest thing was getting the stops. Once we realized we were stopping them and they were having a tough time, they looked a little uncomfortable in their offense.'

Simon finished with 10 points, while juniors Haris Hoffman (17) and Reid Rausch (11) completed a Cascade quartet of double-figure scorers.

'Once you see a couple of shots go down, it is like wildfire,' Brindle said. 'It spreads a little bit and the lead goes from two and you realize it's at four and the next thing you know it's at 10 and you kind of take the wind out of a team's sails a little bit. You just kind of slowly, methodically get that lead up.'

Jacob Phillips led Regina (5-1, 5-1 RVC) with 14 points, including four 3-pointers.

The eighth-ranked Cascade girls' team opened the doubleheader by rallying from a 26-13 second-quarter deficit with a 17-0 burst that bled into the third quarter.

Cascade senior post Abbie Ruggeberg led all scorers with 17 points, while sophomore guard Nicole McDermott added 14 in a 51-39 RVC victory over No. 6 Regina.

'We really talked at halftime and we knew that we had to get things going,' McDermott said. 'Our defense had to improve. We only gave up 13 points in that (second) half, so that was big to grind it out. Defense, offense just came.'

In a matchup of state semifinalists from last season, Cascade (9-2, 8-0 RVC) outscored the Regals 33-13 in the second half, but the burst began with five points from senior Anne Ryan that cut the deficit to single digits by halftime.

'That got us back within striking distance,' Cascade Coach Mike Sconsa said. 'We were able to get stops (in the) second half and we were able to make a little bit of an adjustment. … Offensively, I thought we took care of the ball really well and we got to the free throw line and we made some shots.'

Junior Kennedy Wallace scored a team-high 15 points for Regina (6-3, 6-2 RVC), which continues to play without injured all-state honoree Mary Crompton, whose return remains uncertain.

Regina junior post Alex Wiese added 12 points.

'It's a huge, huge win for us,' McDermott said.

Girls' basketball

AT CASCADE

No. 8 Cascade 51, No. 6 Iowa City Regina 39

IOWA CITY REGINA (39):

Alexa Lehman 0 2-4 2, Lauren Gaarde 0 1-2 1, Greyson Dumont 0 0-0 0, Kennedy Wallace 5 0-0 15, Maeve Dunne 2 0-0 5, Anna Martin 0 2-2 2, Alex Wiese 3 6-9 12, Elly Gahan 1 0-0 2, Katie Dunn 0 0-0 0, Totals 11 11-17 39.

CASCADE (51):

Nicole McDermott 4 6-9 14, Skylar Dolphin 0 1-2 1, Zoe Ryan 0 1-2 1, Anne Ryan 3 1-2 9, Jordan Simon 1 0-0 2, Rachel Trumm 3 1-4 7, Robyn Takes 0 0-2 0, Abbie Ruggeberg 4 6-6 17, Abby Welter 0 0-0 0, Totals 15 16-27 51.

I.C. Regina 15 11 6 7—39

Cascade 6 12 13 20—51

Halftime — Regina, 26-18. Three-point goals — Regina 6 (Wallace 5, Dunne 1), Cascade 5 (Ruggeberg 3, A. Ryan 2). Rebounds — Regina 23 (Wiese 7), Cascade 19 (Simon 5). Assists — Regina 9 (Dumont 3, Wiese 3), Cascade 8 (Simon 3). Total fouls — Regina 22, Cascade 12. Fouled out —

Wiese.

Boys' basketball

AT CASCADE

No. 3 Cascade 69, No. 10 Iowa City Regina 50

IOWA CITY REGINA (50):

Zach Seaman 0 1-2 1, Bryce Barnett 1 1-2 3, Masen Miller 2 0-0 6, Jacob Sueppel 0 0-0 0, Jocoa Kerschen 3 0-0 9, Brady Wallace 1 0-0 3, Jacob Phillips 4 2-2 14, Even Brauns 5 2-6 12, Luke Stein 0 0-0 0, Blake Berns 0 2-2 2, Jacob Clark 0 0-0 0, Totals 16 8-14 50.

CASCADE (69):

Gannon O'Brien 1 0-0 2, John Supple 9 3-3 24, Brock Simon 4 2-2 10, Haris Hoffman 8 0-0 17, Derek Koppes 0 0-0 0, Logan Otting 1 0-0 2, Reid Rausch 4 0-0 11, Tom Knepper 1 1-1 3, Wil Roling 0 0-0 0, Luke Bertling 0 0-0 0, Carter Simon 0 0-0 0, Totals 28 6-6 69.

I.C. Regina 14 16 7 13—50

Cascade 13 18 23 15—69

Halftime — Cascade, 31-30. Three-point goals — Regina 10 (Phillips 4, Kerschen 3, Miller 2, Wallace 1), Cascade 7 (Supple 3, Rausch 3, Hoffman 1). Rebounds — Regina 21 (Phillips 4), Cascade 17 (Hoffman 5). Assists — Regina 9 (Brauns 3), Cascade 14 (Hoffman 5). Total fouls — Regina 11, Cascade 15. Fouled out —

None.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com