Something had to give on Monday night in the Region 1-A semifinals between a pair of county foes.
Cloudland outlasted Hampton to take a 59-52 victory in a win-or-go-home game at Daniel Boone.
With the win, Cloudland advances to take on North Greene in the Region 1-A Championship game on Wednesday. The loss ends Hampton’s outstanding season.
Saharra McKinney and Breanna Davis opened the scoring for their respective squads. Hampton took their first lead of the night when Linsey Jenkins and Madi McClain hit a pair of 3-pointers, but Izabella Christman hit back-to-back shots for Cloudland to even things up at 8-8 after a quarter of play.
Karah Fields pushed Cloudland back in front in the opening seconds of the second quarter with a trey, but Taylor Berry countered on the other end.
Christman and Jenkins traded shots before Ella Benfield hit a bucket to start a 9-1 Cloudland run to end the quarter.
That allowed the Lady ‘Landers to take a 22-14 advantage at the half.
After Hampton’s McClain hit a 3-pointer, McKinney scored four points, while Benfield converted a 3-point play to give Cloudland a 12-point lead at the midpoint of the quarter.
Macy Henry snapped the Cloudland run, and Piper Helle hit four free throws as the Lady Bulldogs closed the gap to 32-24 after three complete quarters.
The fourth quarter saw the offenses come alive.
Jenkins and McClain helped Hampton quickly close within two points to open the quarter before McKinney converted an and-one to snap the HHS run.
Kendall Birchfield hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead back out to eight points. Hampton continued to stay within striking distance closing back within four points with just over a minute and a half to play, but Cloudland was able to take care of business at the free-throw line to secure the win.
McKinney tallied 19 points to lead Cloudland, while Benfield had 15 points. Ryan Turbyfill and Christman had eight points apiece.
McClain led the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points. Jenkins and Helle added 10 points apiece.
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