NO WORRIES

Even down at halftime, John Hardaway wasn’t worried about his team.

The Cashion Wildcats rewarded their coach’s faith with a dominant third quarter en route to a 59-45 victory Saturday against Rush Springs at Hinton.

The win gave Cashion a 2A district championship and advanced the second-ranked Wildcats to this week’s regional semifinal. They’ll host Hobart at 8 p.m. Thursday.

The remainder of the regional will move to Boone-Apache.

Rush Springs had just five wins entering the district tournament, but upset 13-win Hinton on Friday in an elimination game.

The Redskins carried that momentum into Saturday.

They went back-and-forth with Cashion in the first quarter, then out scored them 14-10 in the second to led 24-23.

Respectfully, Hardaway was confident midnight would strike Cinderella in the second half.

“It happens sometimes,” Hardaway said of the firsthalf lull. “But I honestly was never worried about our guys.”

One reason? Rush Springs hit seven 3-pointers in the first half. Hardaway didn’t expect that kind of heat from beyond the arc to continue.

It didn’t.

Cashion turned up the heat in the third quarter with a 24-7 run.

Rush Springs didn’t have an answer and only made two treys in the second half.

Jacob Woody scored 20 points to lead the way for Cashion, which can lock up its first appearance in area in more than two decades with a win against Hobart.

Woody led four Wildcats in double figures as Jonah Jenkins scored 13, Alex Nabavi 11 and Austin Frazier 10.

Jenkins scored nine of his points in the pivotal third quarter while Woody added seven.

Cashion enters the regional with a 22-2 record.

Cashion girls get offensive in win

Rush Springs ran into an offensive Cashion team last weekend.

Offensive as in good for the Lady Wildcats.

Cashion put up its second-highest point total of the season Saturday in a 69-36 victory over Rush Springs in their 2A district championship at Hinton.

Cashion remains in the winner’s bracket entering this week’s regional tournament.

The Lady Wildcats host Merritt at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in a regional semifinal. The remainder of the regional tournament will be played at Boone-Apache.

Cashion dropped 79 points on Wellston on Jan. 17, but scored in the 60s only twice since then.

That was before Saturday when Cashion took control of Rush Springs early.

The Lady Wildcats were up 12 points after a quarter and led 32-13 at halftime. They kicked into overdrive with 29 third-quarter points.

Neeley Tilley-Bedick led the way with 22 points as Cashion upped its record to 16-8.

Kaitin Taylor added 14 and Cedar Stewart 10 while Issy Reeves and Lauren Lamb combined for 17 points for 14th-ranked Cashion.