By Michael Lindsay
Cade Capps Scores 3,000th-Career Point As Panthers Secure District 7-3A #2 Seed Via 87-66 Victory at Cumberland County
The state of Tennessee has its newest 3,000-point scorer as Stone Memorial senior Cade Capps eclipsed the milestone late in the fourth quarter of his team’s 87-66 win at Cumberland County Tuesday night.
“It means a lot,” said Capps. “It’s been a lot of hard work for both me and my teammates. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, so it’s all credit to them.”
Capps’ milestone came at the school both of his parents (Neil and Jessica) played high school basketball at. His mother, Jessica, scored 1,549 career points for the Lady Jets before playing college basketball at Middle Tennessee State University.
“It’s special,” said Cade. “My mom and dad played here, so it’s special to do it here.”
In the process of scoring his 3,000th-career point, Capps also passed former Cumberland County Lady Jet Gracee Dishman as the county’s all-time leading scorer. Dishman scored 2,990 career points for the Lady Jets and graduated in 2019 and was a Miss Basketball winner.
“Gracee was a really good player,” said Stone Memorial head coach Neil Capps. “She did it the right way for a long time; Gracee and her family are a basketball family as well. Cumberland County is a really good little community for basketball over the years and has had some really quality players. It was a good night for the whole county in general.
“Cade is one of 25 guys in the history of Tennessee basketball to score 3,000,” said added coach Capps. “Cade didn’t score a single point without his teammates. It’s obviously an individual accolade, but it’s a team deal. He’s got a lot of really good teammates.”
The Panthers improved to 20-8 and 6-3 in District 7-3A with the victory while Cumberland County falls to 8-20 and 2-7 in league play.
“Coach Christian Goodwin has done a heck of a job in his first year (at Cumberland County),” said coach Capps. “His kids are playing really hard. To come across town and get a big win is always nice. There’s a lot of emotion that goes into it; these kids have played against each other their whole lives.”
With the win, Stone Memorial secured the #2 seed for next week’s District 7-3A tournament. The Panthers are scheduled to close out the regular season at DeKalb County (9-18, 1-8) on Friday.
Lady Jets Overcome 17-5 Deficit To Defeat Stone Memorial, 47-38
The Cumberland County Lady Jets (15-11, 6-3) overcame a 12-point first-half deficit to complete the season sweep of Stone Memorial (7-20, 1-8) Tuesday evening as they defeated the Lady Panthers by a 47-38 margin.
Cumberland County was without two starters for the first quarter, but returned to their normal lineup from the second quarter on.
“The change in our lineup early in the game really put us behind the 8-ball,” said Cumberland County head coach Randy Herring. “I thought Stone came out with a lot more energy than we did and took it to us. We survived that first quarter and got back to our normal lineup, and from there, our defense was the difference in the game.”
Sydney Wilhite led the Lady Jets with 16 points in 3 quarters along with 9 by Carlee Killeen and 7 from Lexi Carroll.
“Carlee Killeen had one of her best halves of the year last night,” said Herring. “Sydney played really well in the second and fourth quarters and Aliyah Hawkins was steady all game. Lexi Carroll hit some big shots for us.”
Stone Memorial raced out to an 11-0 lead to start and led 17-5 entering the second quarter. The Lady Jets settled in and cut their deficit to 5 points (27-22) via a Carroll buzzer-beater to end the first half.
Wilhite had 10 of her team’s 17 points in the second quarter.
“Sydney’s game is evolving, and when you have a player that can run you 8 or 10 points at any moment, that’s a luxury,” said Herring.
The Lady Panthers held their lead throughout the third quarter as Cumberland County closed the gap to a single point entering the fourth quarter trailing 30-29.
Killeen opened the fourth quarter with a basket to give Cumberland County a 31-30 lead. After trading baskets over the ensuing 2:30, another Killeen basket gave Cumberland County a 39-35 lead with 5:15 remaining.
Cumberland County held Stone Memorial to only three points over the final 5:30 as they went on to win by a 47-38 final score.
“We stuck to what we’ve been doing defensively all year,” said Herring. “Offensively, we don’t see a lot of the zone that coach Buck plays, so it was a matter of settling in and feeling a little more comfortable, and we finally knocked down a few shots.”
With Tuesday’s win, the Lady Jets can finish no worse than third in the District 7-3A standings. Cumberland County travels to Upperman (22-6, 6-3) on Friday, where a win over the Lady Bees would secure second overall.
“I’m hoping we go to Upperman on Friday with no pressure and are able to be more competitive,” said Herring. “We need to play loose and see if we can compete with one of the best teams in the state.”
