It was a swing of momentum in the biggest of way.
Hampton used an 11-0 run to end the first half and take control as they picked up a 44-32 victory over Cloudland on Friday at Hampton. The win was the first for the Lady Bulldogs over Cloudland since Feb. 11, 2010.
After Kim Swearingen opened the scoring with a jumper, Faith Russell scored four of the next five points to spark the Lady ‘Landers on a 8-2 run. Swearingen ended the run with a runner, but a Russell trey pushed Cloudland to an 11-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Lady ‘Landers saw Russell knock down a shot, while Kendall Mull and DonRae Taylor had two points apiece as CHS captured a 17-9 advantage with just over three minutes to play in the first half. Hampton, however, answered with an 11-0 run that was capped off by an Alexis Bowers jumper and a Cheyenne Tuelle 3-pointer.
Faith Russell led Cloudland with a first-half high nine points, and Alexus Grubbs had eight points to pace the Lady Bulldogs.
Hampton turned on the defensive pressure to start the third quarter, while Grubbs and Bowers added baskets to extend the Hampton lead. After Russell and Taylor bookmarked a Swearingen jumper with baskets, the Lady Bulldogs saw Bowers add another basket and Tuelle hit a trey to take a 31-21 advantage into the final stanza.
Cloudland cut the gap to six points to open the final period as Mull scored four points in the first three minutes of the quarter. However, Grubbs stopped the run with four straight points to push the Hampton lead back into double-digits. From there, Hampton iced the game from the foul line, including Bowers’ scoring her 1,000th career point.
Grubbs finished with a game-high 18 points, while Bowers finished with 10 points. Tuelle tallied seven points for the Lady Bulldogs.
Cloudland was paced by Russell as she tossed in 13 points, and Mull ended with 12 points.
Postgame Audio
Hampton Head Coach Bud Hazelwood
Cloudland Head Coach Matt Birchfield
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