The Lady Bulldogs topped the Lady Highlanders 44-32 on Friday night. The win came with an added bonus as Hampton senior Alexis Bowers reached a milestone, scoring her 1,000th point in the victory.

It was an awkward situation for Hampton coach Bud Hazelwood as his girls started to celebrate with 38 seconds left in the contest, despite not having sealed the victory.

“They were  celebrating and I didn’t hear the announcer say it was a 1,000th point or anything and I was jumping all over them, ‘girls, the game ain’t over,’ and I had to come in and eat crow afterwards,” Hazelwood said.

It was also the first win for the Lady Bulldogs over Cloudland since Feb. 11, 2010. But things didn’t seem like the would go the Bulldogs way early, as they didn’t get their first lead of the night until the second quarter.

“They came out and took it to us, to be honest with you, on both ends of the floor for the first quarter and a half and we finally adjusted,” Hazelwood said. “We played good defense in the second half.”

Once Hampton started to knock down some shots, it provided them with the confidence they needed to pull out the victory.

“Once we hit a shot or two, we just weren’t into any kind of flow there early, and give Cloudland credit they played great defense,” Hazelwood said.

Those shots led to a 11-0 run to end the first half.

The Bulldogs continued their patient offense in the third quarter, outscoring the ‘Landers 11-4. Shyanna Tuelle scored four points in the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Lady ‘Landers got the scoring started with six points with  Kendall Mull netting four, and Faith Russell adding the other two. However, the ‘Lady Bulldogs outscored the ‘Landers in the quarter.

Cloudland 32

Russell 13, Mull 12, Taylor 4, P. Johnson 3.

Hampton 44

Grubbs 18, Bowers 10, Tuelle 7, Sweringen 6, Street 3.

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BOYS GAME

The Boys game also went the Bulldogs way as they were able to defeat the Highlanders 60-51.

Hampton was led by senior Stanley Valentine who netted a game-high 27 points, he was followed by fellow senior Coby Jones who contributed 13 points.

It was all Bulldogs from the beginning as they took a 21-10 lead into the second quarter behind nine points from Jones and six points from Valentine.

“I thought our kids played hard,” Hampton coach Ned Smith said. “We came out and made some big shots tonight. Our guys came out ready to play and got up on them.”

Despite the effort of the Bulldogs, there was still a chance for the Highlanders to compete and almost take the lead in the contest.  They were led by Preston Benfield and Dalton Vines who each scored 16 points in the contest.

“We battled and we really thought in the fourth quarter that we had a chance,” Cloudland coach Gary Harrison said. “We cut it to eight points a couple of times to get back in it. Our kids battled on defense and battled on the boards all night. We just had a few turnovers that really hurt us”

Cloudland 51

Vines 16, P. Benfield 16, Wagoner 7, Potter 6, Z. Benfield 4, Corley 2.

Hampton 60

Valentine 27, Jones 13, Camillo 8, Norris 4, McClain 2,, Holtsclaw 2, Wiltshire 2, Hutchinson 2.