A pair of county clashes were split on Friday night.
Hampton took a 62-41 victory over the ‘Landers in the boys’ contest, while the Cloudland girls stormed to a 65-19 win over the Lady Bulldogs.
In the boys’ game, the opening quarter was a back-and-forth battle.
Cloudland’s Caleb Sluder opened the scoring with a jumper, but Connor Burleson answered on the other end along with points from Parker Henry and Michael Harrison as HHS took a 7-2 lead.
Cloudland, however, quickly cut into the lead as Bentley Gilbert converted an and-one.
After the teams swapped buckets, Elijah Blair and Dylan Shell scored points in a quick 5-0 Cloudland run to regain the lead. After a Burleson jumper regained the lead for Hampton, Victor Hicks hit a runner in the closing seconds to send Cloudland into the second quarter with a 17-16 lead.
Hampton, however, took control in the second quarter.
Morgan Lyons scored the first six points of the second quarter, while Harrison added five straight points as the Bulldogs ran to a 27-17 lead midway through the quarter.
Sluder put Cloudland on the board, but Hampton ended the half on a 6-2 run to take a 33-22 lead into the locker room at the half.
Lyons and Burleson combined to push the Hampton lead early in the third quarter.
However, Cloudland slowly cut into the lead with a quick 7-0 run capitalized by a Shell 3-pointer to trim the gap back to 12 points before a Hampton basket gave the Bulldogs a 48-34 lead after three complete quarters.
Gilbert opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a tough jumper as CHS pulled back within 12 points. Hampton, however, went on a 13-2 run to regain control for good.
Lyons led the way for Hampton with 14 points, while Harrison had 13 points. Burleson ended the night with 12 points.
Gilbert led Cloudland with 12 points. Sluder ended the night with 11 points, while Shell and Hicks had seven and six points respectively.
In the girls’ game, Cloudland took control early.
Kaylen Fields and Gracie Freeman knocked down shots in the opening minute as CHS jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Hampton’s Madi McClain knocked down a jumper.
Cloudland answered with buckets from Jasmine Birchfield and Freeman to take a 10-2 lead with just over five minutes left in the quarter. Linsey Jenkins added a free throw for Hampton to trim the CHS lead.
The Lady ‘Landers, however, hit the gas pedal.
Cloudland scored the next 31 points stretching to the second quarter to hold a 41-3 advantage.
Hampton, however, saw Jenkins and McClain score points to stop the run before the half.
Cloudland led 42-9 at the break.
The Lady Bulldogs continued to battle in the second half, but Cloudland remained in control.
Freeman tallied 14 points to lead the Lady ‘Landers. Mandy Benfield and Birchfield had 12 points apiece, while Heaven Caraway had eight points.
Jenkins and McClain had six points apiece to lead Hampton.
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