Adrienne Green did the most damage for the Lady Canes, as she dropped in 16 points in an evening of toiling down in the paint.
Cass countered with Carla Clemmons, who also scored her points -- 15 -- in the paint, and Octavia Pendleton, who dropped in 14 points from all over the court, including four 3-pointers.
Cass took the initiative early in the evening after Clemmons sank the first bucket and was answered by Green to make the score 2-all with 49 seconds gone in the contest.
Amber Bowen swished the nets with a 3-pointer with 6:16 showing, to kick off an 8-0 run that put Cass up 10-2. Cartersville came back with a 9-8 run and closed Cass' lead to 16-11 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Colonels' final score of the period came on a trey by Pendleton.
Cass stretched the lead to 19-13 early in the second. Then the Lady Purple Hurricanes kicked their offense into high gear -- benefiting from eight turnovers against five -- and Cartersville was up 23-19 at half time.
Cass responded with a 5-0 run after the break, for a 24-23 lead. It outscored Cartersville 14-8 in the period for a 33-31 lead at the end of three periods.
The Lady Hurricanes came back in the final period to outscore their host 14-6 and earn the victory.
"It's always a battle when we play Cass," Lady Cane head coach Donna Enis said. "All the games tend to be close. Cass played very well tonight."
She said Green, Carlee Bragg and Katie O'Connor were keys to their win as they kept Cass' defense busy on the inside and forced their shooters to think about getting off their shots.
"They got several blocks, some steals and a few tips at crucial times," she said. "We were glad to escape with a win here."
Cass coach Jamie Horton said Cass has shown a lot of improvement this season but it now must learn how to close.
"We have to learn how to finish games but we just haven't been there enough yet," he said. "We hope to learn from this and grow a little bit. Maybe next year when we see them we'll have a little something for them."
The loss drops Cass to 4-16 on the season. It is 2-10 in Region 7-AAAA.
The Lady Colonels next play Monday, when they entertain Rome in a region game.
The win lifted Cartersville to 13-10 overall on the season. It is 6-3 in Region 7B-AAA.
Cartersville hosts Pickens on Tuesday.