On Friday night, the ball didn’t bounce the right way for the Lady Bulldogs.
No. 3 Hampton was upset in the District 1-A Quarterfinals in a 35-34 loss to No. 6 University High after the Lady Bucs’ Elsie Howard hit a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining.
The loss ends Hampton’s season, while UH advances to take on No. 2 North Greene on Saturday in addition to a Region 1-A berth.
The Lady Bulldogs held the upper hand early. Alexus Grubbs drained a 3-pointer to open the scoring, and Shyanne Tuelle gave HHS a 5-3 lead with just over a minute to play in the first. Grubbs ended the quarter on a personal 6-0 run to give Hampton a 12-3 advantage heading to the second quarter.
After Lexi Cruthers opened the quarter with an UH basket, Megan Garland added points for the Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Bucs closed the gap to four points before Garland hit back-to-back buckets to give HHS an 18-10 lead at the half.
Hampton extended the lead to 14 points to open the second half with quick points from Garland and Tuelle. UH, however, went on a 13-1 run that was capped by a Cruthers 3-pointer to close the HHS lead to 25-24 heading to the final quarter.
The teams traded points in the final quarter with a Hope Bridgeman with a Grubbs jumper giving Hampton a 32-25 advantage. However, the Lady Bucs would score the last four points of the game in the final minute – including Howard’s 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining.
Grubbs led Hampton with 17 points, while Garland finished with 10 points.
Cruthers led UH with 16 points.
Postgame Audio
Hampton Head Coach Bud Hazelwood (two parts)
University High Head Coach Randy Winstead
Photo Gallery
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