The Lady Bulldogs secured their spot in the Region 1-A title game as well as in Monday’s sectional action with a 55-40 victory over North Greene on Friday night in the Region 1-A semifinals at Chuckey-Doak High School.
“We kept them in the game,” Hampton Head Coach Bud Hazelwood said. “They are a good team and well-coached. James does a tremendous job. I haven’t slept much the past two or three days knowing we were going up against them. We shot the ball well, and played some pretty good defense tonight. We are lucky we scored enough points to hang out.”
Hampton will now square off against South Greene for the title on Saturday evening.
Kim Swearingen opened the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs, and helped cap an 8-2 run to open the game along with an Alexus Grubbs jumper. After Grubbs added a trey, North Greene added four free throws to cut the Hampton lead to 11-8 at the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Huskies trimmed the lead to one to open the second quarter. However Grubbs answered with an inside shot and Alexis Bowers and Swearingen added points to help Hampton pull back out to a 19-14 lead at the half.
Tatum Street kicked off the third quarter with back-to-back buckets as Hampton took a 10-point lead two and a half minutes in the quarter with a 7-2 run. North Greene answered with four straight points, but Bowers and Shyanne Tuelle responded with points for the Lady Bulldogs. The teams traded points for the rest of the quarter to give Hampton a 33-27 lead heading into the final period.
Madi Weir and Bowers opened the final period with baskets and a Grubbs 3-pointer pushed the lead back to double-digits. Swearingen kicked off 7-3 run before North Greene slowly cut into the lead to pull within eight points. However, Hampton ended the game on an 8-1 run to secure the win.
Grubbs powered the way with 18 points. Swearingen and Tuelle had 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Katelyn Weems led North Greene with 13 points.
The Lady Bulldogs will now turn their attention to South Greene with a home substate game on the line.
“South Greene is tough, but if we weren’t doing it again we would be going home,” Hazelwood said. “I am tickled to be playing them again.”
