When a team has as good a finishing kick as Hampton you have to make the most of your opportunities to put them away. For Happy Valley on Friday night at Van Huss / White gym that opportunity came and went very quickly as Hampton rallied late for a 78-62 non conference victory.

Hampton (18-6) opened strong with 24 first quarter points behind six from Coby Jones and Wyatt Lyons as Happy Valley’s shot just five-for-14 in the period and scored just 11. From that point on HV began a slow but steady comeback and cut the deficit to 39-29 at the break.

“We had a good lead there and we have to do a better job of holding the lead,” Bulldogs head coach Ned Smith said. “I thought our kids finished well. Happy Valley has improved and they made some big shots and are very athletic.”

Jones led Hampton with 10 first half points while Chris Young topped HV with eight.

A deuce from Austin Hicks helped the Warriors cut the deficit to 48-40 with 3:00 left in the the third and after a bucket from Adam McClain, Young knocked down a three-ball to make it a 50-43 game. A pair of free throws from Sam Blevins made it a 50-45 contest but Charlie Butler answered for the ‘Dogs.

“I thought Adam McClain had a good game,” Smith said. “Had good shot selection and got the ball where it needed to go.”

McClain finished with a game high 20 points with Jones tacking on 17 and Lyons added 14.

A putback of a missed shot by Hicks cut the Hampton lead to 54-49 going into the final period as HV outscored Hampton 20-15 in the third period.

A trey from Brayden Sams and a deuce from Dillon Barlow helped HV cut the ‘Dogs lead to 58-54, but Hampton put on a 10-2 spurt at that point to take control of the game at 70-56 with 1:53 left in the contest.

“We gave them a couple of plays,” Warriors head coach Chuck Babb said. “We didn’t secure a rebound once and they made a hustle play and the play before that we didn’t get a box out. We made some adjustments and did a much better job defending in the second half. When we ran our offense we were pretty good, but we aren’t as good a shooting team as they are.”

Lyons and Norris had back-to-back buckets before Blevins hit a basket. Lyons then completed a three-point play and Norris got a bucket after Jose Velazquez stole the ball from Hicks to make it a 68-56 game.

Sams led the Warriors with 12 points and Babb said of his efforts, “Brayden is getting better by the day. He had a tough defensive assignment tonight as did Josh Hammonds. I thought Sam Blevins and Dillon Barlow gave us a lift off the bench.”

GIRLS

Happy Valley 73, Hampton 42

Playing on back-to-back night’s can be a tall order and Hampton looked the part of a weary team in the first half of Friday night’s clash with Happy Valley.

Happy Valley (19-7) took an early 17-5 lead with 2:29 left in the first period as senior post Kalee Johnson scored 10 points and guard Sydney Puckett added a trey in the mix. The Lady Warriors ended the quarter with a pair of free throws from Baylee McGee to take a 19-5 lead after one quarter.

“We have come leaps and bounds since the start of the season,” Lady Warriors head coach Larry Abel said. “The kids are playing hard and we are getting good individual performances. But we are also getting good team effort like forcing turnovers that we did tonight. We had a lull in the second quarter but we came out in the second half with good intensity.”

HV took a 32-16 lead at the 2:43 mark of the second period when Johnson completed a three-point play, but Megan Garland answered for Hampton at the other end. Johnson scored 15 first half points to lead the Warriors to a 33-24 halftime lead, while super sophomore Shyanne Tuelle – who scored 28 on Thursday night in Johnson County – had just seven at the break.

The Warriors led 39-26 after buckets from Kenzie Davis, Johnson and free throws from Emily Whitaker with just three minutes gone in the third quarter. After a bucket from Alexus Grubbs the Warriors got a three-ball from Davis and a deuce from Johnson to make it a 44-28 game before Tuelle scored for the Lady Bulldogs.

Garland had a basket in the paint then collected a steal at the other end and Grubbs cashed in the turnover to cut the HV lead to 44-36 with 1:36 remaining. Another bucket from Johnson closed out the third period with Happy Valley leading 50-38.

HV’s Charli Bare outreached Garland for an offensive rebound and basket to open the fourth quarter prompting a Hampton timeout with 7:33 left in regulation. The Warriors opened the final stanza on an 11 point run to open a 61-38 lead before Leanne Guinn hit a pair of free throws for Hampton to stop the bleeding.

Johnson led all scorers with 34 points while Tuelle led the Lady ‘Dogs with 11. Baylee McGee had six points and six steals as HV had a total of 17 steals for the game.

“I can’t say enough about these kids,” Abel said. “People see the newspaper articles and they don’t see the behind the scenes things like making a steal or playing strong defense. It was a good team effort tonight.”

GIRLS

Happy Valley 73-42

Happy Valley (73)

Davis 7, McGee 6, Puckett 5, Green 2, Buck 2, Henegar 5, Whitaker 6, Johnson 34, Bare 6.

Hampton (42)

Tuelle 11, Bridgeman 2, Grubbs 10, Guinn 2, Hill 7, Hoyle 2, Garland 8.

Happy Valley 19 14 17 23 – 73

Hampton     5 19 14 4 – 42

3-point goals : HV 4- 14 (Davis 1-4, McGee 0-3, Puckett 1-3, Roberts 0-1, Henegar 1-2, Whitaker 0-3, Johnson 1-1 ), H 2-9 (Campbell 0-3, Tuelle 1-2, Neumann 0-1, Grubbs 0-1, Hill 1-2 )

BOYS

Hampton 78-62

Happy Valley (62)

Young 11, Hammonds 4, Torbett 11, Hicks 10, Barlow 6, Blevins 8, Sams 12.

Hampton (78)

Holtsclaw 3, McClain 20, Jones 17, Norris 8, Andrews 2, Lyons 14, Butler 11, Crumley 2.

Happy Valley 11 18 20 13 – 62

Hampton 24 15 15 24 – 78

3-point goals : HV 3-13 (Young 1-3, Hammonds 0-2, Torbett 0-3, Blevins 0-1, Sams 2-4), H 5-13 (Holtsclaw 1-2, McClain 2-3, Jones 1-4, Norris 1-2, Butler 0-2)