Jr. Bulldogs 44, Jr. Highlanders 39

Monday night, the crowd inside the Hampton Elementary School gym got quite the show as the Jr. Bulldogs and the Jr. Highlanders fought to the very last second.

“It is always a heated rivalry,” Hampton head coach Dewayne Humphrey, whose Jr. Bulldogs sneaked past Cloudland 44-39, said after Monday’s game. “The crowd is really loud, and the players always play extra aggressive.”

In the early stages of the first quarter, things were lopsided as the Jr. Bulldogs conducted a 9-1 drive to jump out to an early lead. The edge, however, did not last long as the Jr. Highlanders rallied back, with Hunter Shell putting up an unanswered seven points to get his team within one point of the Jr. ’Dogs.

Heading into the second quarter, Hampton led 9-8.

Hampton’s Matt Hughes opened up the second period with a quick basket to put Hampton up 11-8. Seconds later, Tristian posted two off a rebound to close the gap back to one. With 1:27 left in the half, Hampton’s Rocky Croy nailed a three to push his team ahead 22-15. The Jr. Highlanders orchestrated a 6-3 drive to get them in close range of Hampton at the end of the second quarter. The teams went to the locker rooms with Hampton leading 25-21.

In the early seconds of the third, Cloudland’s Logan Barnett swished a three to get his team within one point of Hampton, before Croy hit a deep jumper to push the Jr. Bulldogs back out to a 3-point lead. Back-to-back buckets from Jr. Highlanders’ gave Cloudland a 30-29 lead with 30-29, but the Jr. Bulldogs pushed back with 7-point run to climb out to 36-30 lead. Cloudland grabbed four points with less than a minute left in the third quarter to head into the fourth trailing Hampton 34-36.

The Jr. Highlanders started the final quarter out with a bang as Malachi Copas hit three cut Hampton’s lead to push Cloudland ahead 37-36. However, the Jr. Highlanders only scored two more points in the fourth as Hampton picked up six to maintain its lead.

The Jr. Bulldogs were led in scoring by Parker Hughes and Jordan Bentley, who both recorded 10 points, while Croy had nine, hitting three 3-pointers.

Copas, who had 13 points, led the Jr. Highlanders. Hunter Shell, who had 11, followed him up.

Jr. Lady Highlanders 41, Jr. Lady Bulldogs 13

The Jr. Lady Highlanders were able to run past Hampton 41-13 Monday.

Leading the way for the Jr. Lady ’Landers was Jasmine Birchfield, who had 10 points on the night. Mandy Benfield followed her up with eight.

The Jr. Lady Highlanders, who are 8-1 on the season, padded their 21-5 first-half lead with a 12-5 run in the third quarter to give themselves a 33-10 lead heading into the fourth.

Benfield opened the fourth with six unanswered points, pushing the Jr. Lady Highlanders out to 39-10, before posting the last bucket of the game to give her team their final score.