Hampton picked up a pair of nonconference county wins on Thursday night.
The Lady Bulldogs rallied in the second half to take a 43-32 win over Cloudland, while the Bulldogs pulled away to take a 75-32 victory over the ‘Landers in Roan Mountain.
In the girls’ game, the first quarter was a game of runs.
Hannah Smith opened the scoring for HHS and Brea Hicks and Ella Estep added shots to give Hampton a 6-0 lead. Cloudland, however, answered as Makenzie Street, Layken Blair, and Makinna Shell hit straight shots to lift CHS to a 7-6 lead. Savannah McCoury and Shell capped the 11-2 CHS run with baskets before Ally Birchfield hit a shot for Hampton.
Shell hit a bucket in the closing seconds to give Cloudland a 13-12 lead after a quarter of play.
Points in the second quarter were harder to come by as the teams. Hampton took a 15-13 lead midway through the quarter after a Smith jumper before Reagan Turbyfill hit a 3-pointer and Eowyn McCoury added a 3-pointer.
The Lady ‘Landers led 20-17 at the half.
Hampton opened the second half in a big way.
Estep and Shell traded shots to open the quarter before Hampton reeled off a 10-2 run. Hampton took a 31-28 lead into the final quarter. The Lady Bulldogs opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run and held CHS off in the closing minutes.
Piper Helle led the Lady Bulldogs with 10 points, while Hicks and Smith had eight points apiece. Faye Carrico scored seven points.
Shell had a game-high 15 points for Cloudland. E. McCoury had five points.
In the boys’ game, Hampton was able to slowly pull away.
Cloudland opened the scoring with a Bryce Birchfield 3-pointer. Tuff Robinson and Chase Davenport countered for Hampton with back-to-back buckets, but Nick Caraway hit a 3-pointer as CHS took a 7-4 lead nearing the midway of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs reeled off a 12-0 run that propelled them to a 16-10 lead after a quarter of play.
Caden Davis and Davenport opened the second quarter with back-to-back shots for Hampton. Gavyn Shell and Uriah Jarrett scored buckets for the ‘Landers before a 16-4 Bulldog run.
HHS maintained a 43-23 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs scored the first 17 points of the quarter to erase any thoughts of a comeback. Cloudland continued to battle but was unable to trim into the lead.
Davenport led Hampton with 29 points, while Jayden Nave had nine points. Robinson and Kaden Jones had seven and six points, respectively.
The win was Hampton Head Coach Ned Smith’s 499th career victory.
Caraway led Cloudland with 11 points – including his 1,000th career point. Jarrett finished with seven points.
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