Senior guard Elise Howard’s three point bomb at the buzzer gave the Lady Buccaneers (1-10) their first conference win of the season and sent them to the regional.

When asked if it was the thrill of her career she responded, “You have no idea. All I saw was the basketball coming at me and I just shot it. When it went in I just blacked out. This game tells everything about how hard we have played this year and practiced for this tournament. We have definitely improved.”

Junior guard Alexus Grubbs had a 10 point first quarter as Hampton raced to a 12-3 first period lead over University High. Senior guard Lexi Crouthers dropped in a three-ball for University High to tie the game at 3-3 after Grubbs opened the contest with a trey.

Grubbs had two long range shots in the first quarter as well as a pair of driving two point buckets, though Hampton was out rebounded 12-6 by the Lady Buccaneers in the early going, UH couldn’t get second chance shots to drop.

Crouthers found the range on a bank shot three after knocking down a two pointer as UH closed to within 14-8 with 2:57 left in the half. Senior Ari Ramsarin then banked in a shot in the paint to make it 14-10 shortly thereafter forcing a Hampton timeout.

Megan Garland scored a pair of buckets in the paint as the ‘Dogs built an 18-10 halftime advantage.

The Lady Bucs shot just four-for-22 in the first half, but held a 14-9 rebounding edge over Hampton. The ‘Dogs shot eight-for-17 in the first half.

Garland and Shyanne Tuelle opened the third period with two pointers to extend the ‘Dogs to a 22-10 lead with 6:54 on the clock. After a free throw from Elise Howard, Garland dropped in another lay in bucket before Howard hit a trey to make it a 24-14 contest.

Ramsarin and Crouthers each hit deuces for UH as the Bucs closed to 24-18 with 1:46 in the period, but Hope Bridgeman answered for Hampton with a free throw. Crouthers closed the third period with a bank shot three-ball to make it a 25-24 contest going into the fourth period.

“We missed a lot of layup opportunities but we rebounded much better,” said Lady Bucs head coach Terry Winstead. “I tell you, that’s a huge win for this program. Probably the first time something like it has happened in 20 years. These girls believe in themselves and that is something we didn’t have early in the season. We would get behind and not respond, but we did tonight.”

Grubbs opened the fourth period with a trey and Bridgeman hit a deuce for a 30-24 Hampton lead. Annika Oiler’s deuce narrowed the gap once again to four points for UH, and another Crouthers bomb made it 30-29.

Grubbs hit a basket and Howard and Kacey Henley each hit free throws to make it a one point game for Hampton at 32-31 with 1:09 left in regulation.

“My hat is off to them, they wanted it more than we did,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Bud Hazelwood said. “They played their hearts out and we didn’t come to play. I am sure my kids are disappointed and I am disappointed for them, but we didn’t come to play.”

UH will face North Greene today at 7 pm.

District 1-A tournament

Game Three

University High 35-34

University High (35)

Oiler 2, Crouthers 16, Howard 8, Ramsarin 4, Dison 3, Henley 2.

Hampton (34)

Tuelle 4, Bridgeman 3, Grubbs 17, Garland 10.

University High 3 7 14 11 – 35

Hampton 12 6 7 9 – 34

3-point goals : UH 7-27 (Oiler 0-3, Crouthers 4-10, Howard 2-8, Dison 1-5, Henley 0-1), H 3-10 (Grubbs 3-6, Hill 0-4).