Cass teams fall in close region games

The Cass basketball teams both lost closely contested region games Friday night at home to visiting River Ridge.

The Lady Colonels led early, taking a 9-7 lead after one quarter and a 25-17 advantage at halftime. River Ridge rallied in the second half, however, for a come-from-behind win. The Lady Knights made some adjustments to narrow the Cass lead to five points after three periods and then scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to overtake the Lady Colonels, 57-53.

Esmeralda Thomas and Jana Morning led the Cass scoring with 16 points each. Lexie Walraven and Hayley Gildersleeve both added 4 points. Leonor Nickell scored 17 points to lead River Ridge. Camden Pruitt scored 16 for the Lady Knights.

River Ridge improved to 7-10 overall and 3-3 in Region 7AAAA with the road victory. Cass slipped to 8-7 on the year and 2-5 in the region.

The Cass boys held their own against River Ridge for most of the contest, but a sloppy third quarter proved to be too much for the Colonels to overcome in a 48-45 loss. Cass trailed 40-31 after three quarters, but scraped and clawed their way back into the game. The Colonels had a chance with a potential game tying shot to send the game to overtime, but missed on the opportunity.

C.J. Bennett finished with 15 points to lead the Colonels. Mike Sims scored 14, followed by Ashton Burley with eight and Edvonte Curtis with seven.

The Knights were led by Marcus Spears’ 16 points. Destin Exinor scored 13 and Stefon Bright added 11 for River Ridge.

With the win, River Ridge is now 7-10 overall and 2-4 in Region 7AAAA. Cass falls to 5-9 on the season and 1-6 in region play.

The Lady Colonels and Colonels host Cartersville Saturday night with the girls’ game scheduled to tip at 6pm. The boys’ game will follow at 7:30pm.

Cass plays at Cedartown next Tuesday and will host Woodland and Adairsville the following weekend.