by Bryce Phillips

Star Staff

bryce.phillips@elizabethton.com

It was loud. It was intense.  The Lady Bulldogs fought, but came up short, after an explosive third quarter by South Greene, who took the Region 1-A title 44-41.

“We back down a little bit I thought,” Hampton coach Bud Hazelwood said. “. . . South Greene is bigger and stronger than us, and they just out physical us.”

The Lady Rebels came out of halftime down 24-14, before opening up the third frame with a 15-2 run that was closed out by back-to-back threes and a bucket from South Greene’s Lindsey Cutshaw to put the Lady Rebels up 27-26. Hampton answered with back-to-back buckets from Tatum Street and Shyanne Tuelle  to climb back on top 30-29. Late in the third, Hampton’s Kim Swearingen sunk a bucket and one to put the Lady Dogs up 33-31 going into the fourth.

In the final frame, Cutshaw sunk another three to put South back up 36-34, before Hampton’s Alexis Bowers answered with a three of her own, giving the Lady Bulldogs their last edge of the game. South Greene would put up five unanswered points to jump ahead 41-37, before holding on to clinch a hosting role during next week’s sub-state games.

The Lady Rebels were led in scoring by Cutshaw, who had 14.

However, the Lady Dogs would claim the game-high scorer as Alexus Grubbs put 14 points for the game. She was followed up by Tuelle, who had 11.

In the first frame, Hampton came out on fire as they put up a quick five points. Later in the quarter, Grubbs and Tuelle popped back-to-back threes to give Hampton a 13-7 edge going in to the second frame.

The second period saw the Lady Dogs conduct an 11-4 run, before closing out the second up 10.

“We defensed the sock off of them in the first half,” Hazelwood said. “They adjusted in the second half and we didn’t adjust.”

This was the second time that the Lady Rebels were able to snatch a title win from Hampton after winning the District 1-A tournament.

Monday, the Lady Bulldogs will travel to Oliver Springs to compete in sub-state at 7 p.m.

“The good thing about basketball is you have a chance to bounce back,” Hazelwood said. “We’ve got to go to Ollver Springs, and if we play as hard as we did tonight, I think we will be in the game with a chance to win it.”

Hampton  41

Grubbs 15, Tuelle 11, Street 6, Swearingen 3, Bowers 3

South Greene 44

Cutshaw 14, Wykle 11, Lamb 11, Schmaltz 3, Crum 2

Hampton 13 11 7 8 — 41

South Greene 7 7 27 17 — 44

three-point goals— Hampton 4 (Grubbs 2, Bowers 1, Tuelle 1) S. Greene 4 (Cutshaw 3, A. Wykle 1)