Thanks to its suffocating defense, Cascade is still perfect in first-round state tournament games.

Second-ranked Cascade shut down Manson-Northwest Webster from the start and carved out a 43-21 victory in the opening game of the Class 2A tourney.

It was a typical performance for the unbeaten Cougars, who came in giving up only 31.2 points a game and didn't even allow that. Cascade jumped to a 19-1 lead and was never threatened in holding 15th-ranked Manson-Northwest Webster to seven field goals for the game.

Only four teams have scored as many as 40 points against Cascade all season.

Abbey Meyer led the Cascade offense with 14 points, while Carolyn Trumm scored 11 and grabbed eight rebounds. The Cougars did most of their damage close to the basket, finishing with 30 points in the paint.

Manson-Northwest Webster made it to state for the eighth time despite losing star Ellie Herzberg to an elbow injury after eight games. Herzberg, who has signed with Northern Iowa, had been averaging 25.6 points a game.

Faith Troshynski led Manson-Northwest Webster in Monday night's game with eight points.

Cascade improved to 4-0 in first-round games at state and is 26-0 for the season. The Cougars move on to a semifinal game at 11:45 a.m. Thursday.

Manson-Northwest Webster finishes 20-5.