In a battle of the top two teams in the Watauga Valley Conference, Hampton reigned supreme and kept their unblemished record intact with an 89-61 win over North Greene on Tuesday night.
“We just don’t do enough things right to win. Turnovers and early defensive breakdowns. This is a team you can’t get behind 10 or 12 points to, especially here,” Huskies Head Coach Sam Tarlton said. “They just did more things right than us.”
Caden Buckles was his usual self on his home floor racking up 26 points and leading his team to another conference victory.
Hayden Campbell started things off with a turnaround in the post to put Hampton on the board first. Luca May put the ball through the net in the same fashion on the opposite end of the court.
Jason Britton worked his way off a screen to splash his first three-point bucket of the contest.
Michael Anspaugh stripped the ball away on defense and finished at the cup for a layup.
Lance Carrico kept the back-and-forth action going with a three-pointer to tie the game at 8-8.
Another turnover committed by the Huskies ended in a layup by Dylan Trivett. Anspaugh delivered a bounce pass to Hayden Campbell in the paint for another layup.
Dennis Malone launched a three-pointer from way downtown to cut the lead to one possession at the end of the first.
The Bulldogs led 14-11 after one.
Levi Lyons buried a three-point bucket to begin the second quarter of action. Dennis Malone returned fire with his second triple of the night. Luca May got trapped just after crossing half court but found Sam English near the bucket for a quick two points.
Caden Buckles started to find his rhythm in the second frame with a mid-range bucket and a contested layup to push Hampton in front 25-18.
Brody Hicks missed a shot but followed it for an offensive rebound that led to a second chance bucket by Geno Carrico.
Luca May euro-stepped through the lane for a short bank shot. A few moments later on an inbounds set, Dennis Malone put another two points off the glass for a layup.
Tuff Robinson and Caden Buckles closed the half with a layup each.
The Bulldog lead grew to 37-25 entering halftime.
The Huskies came out of the locker room and looked sharp to start the second half with a four-point run. Jason Britton was responsible for all four points with a steal followed by a layup to start. A cross-court pass to Bennett McLain ended with a layup to add an assist to his stats.
Dylan Trivett negated that run with a four-point stretch of his own on two layups.
May and Britton each added a layup and Dennis Malone bucketed another three-point basket for the Huskies.
A technical foul was given to Coach Tarlton on the bench midway through the third quarter.
Hampton made four free throws, two of them for a shooting foul, and a three-point basket for a rare seven-point stretch in one offensive possession.
Caden Buckles got a layup to fall to make it a 20-point margin.
Hampton’s lead grew to 62-40 at the end of the third quarter.
They didn’t slow down any in the fourth quarter either putting up their highest-scoring frame of the night with 26 points in the last eight minutes.
The Bulldogs ran away with an 89-61 win over North Greene to keep boost their conference record to 7-0.
“We just got to continue to get better and I don’t think we did that tonight, but you can put that on me,” Tarlton expressed.
Caden Buckles piled in a game-high 26 points. Hayden Campbell scored 14 points and Brody Hicks scored 11 points.
Jason Britton led North Greene with 18 points while Dennis Malone produced 15 points.
GIRLS
Hampton 61, North Greene 52
The Hampton girls remain alone at the top of the Watauga Valley Conference after gutting out a 61-52 win over North Greene, but not without a tough fight from the Lady Huskies.
“I was pleased with the effort. I think we’re at the point now where we can’t be satisfied with moral victories,” North Greene Head Coach James Buchanan said. “We can say we’re proud we were only down two in a one-possession game with less than a minute to go. But at some point, that’s got to not be good enough.”
North Greene managed to cut the game down to one possession with less than a minute left and had the ball in their hands with a chance to tie. Hampton managed to catch a break on defense and put the game away with free throws to come out on top and survive.
In a losing effort, Sonya Wagner still poured in 23 points to lead all scorers. Macy Henry’s 20 points fueled Hampton to a win alongside Taylor Berry and Madison McClain’s 14-point efforts.
The first quarter was dominated by both Taylor Berry and Sonya Wagner. Each girl scored each of her team’s first seven points to put the game at a 7-7 tie halfway through the first quarter.
Grace Buchanan drained a triple to put North Greene ahead 10-9. Berry hit a layup in the paint to propel Hampton back into the lead.
The Lady Bulldogs led 11-10 after the first quarter.
While Berry might’ve been Hampton’s main scoring threat in the first quarter, Madison McClain was their main source of offense in the second quarter. The senior guard put up nine points in the quarter to keep them rolling into the half.
North Greene managed to keep it tight at the beginning of the frame with five-straight points from Hannah Miller. Mercy Buchanan fed the ball to Miller under the basket for a quick layup on an inbounds play. She stepped outside the three-point line next for a trey to put the Lady Huskies back ahead 15-13, but McClain came right back to steal the lead with a three-point jumper of her own.
Ten minutes had passed by before North Greene finally got their way with the officials and a foul was placed on Hampton. Things didn’t get any better as Macy Henry’s four-point run midway through extended the lead to 22-15.
Grace Buchanan fired away from behind the arc to knock down another three-pointer. Sonya Wagner was smacked on the arm during a running floater that went through the net and gave her a chance at a three-point play. The foul shot hit the bottom of the net and the game was back within one possession just like that.
Taylor Berry made her presence felt again with a layup in the post. Linsey Jenkins lined up for a three-point field goal before the half ended.
Hampton’s lead grew to a double-digit margin with a 33-23 lead at the break.
When the Lady Huskies needed a big bucket on Tuesday night, Grace Buchanan was there to put it in. Her third three-pointer of the night landed through the hoop only a minute into the third quarter.
“She handled the ball well and made some shots for us tonight. I was very pleased with that,” Coach Buchanan mentioned.
It seemed like Hampton found a different player to carry the load on offense throughout each quarter. After Berry dominated the first and McClain scored a large amount in the second, Macy Henry took over the third quarter with eight points.
A layup, three-pointer, and short jump shot in the paint increased the Lady Bulldog lead to fifteen points.
Haley Bailey helped stop the bleeding with a layup. An and-one play followed that helped cut into the lead a bit.
Taylor Berry sprinted along the baseline and found a hole in the defense for an easy two off the glass.
Hampton pulled ahead 49-35 heading into the fourth quarter.
Down fourteen points with only eight minutes left to play, North Greene decided to make things interesting with a huge run to start the final frame.
Grace Buchanan landed her fourth three pointer from downtown to start things off.
Sonya Wagner lost the ball in mid-air but somehow gathered it and got a layup to fall on an impressive play at the rim. Wagner came off a screen to nail a three-point bucket to cut the deficit to seven points.
“She put us on her back and carried us offensively,” Buchanan stated.
After a technical foul was assessed to Hampton, Wagner knocked down two free throws to lower the margin to five.
Two free throws from Hannah Miller put North Greene within a possession of the lead. Wagner’s running floater capped off a 16-4 as the scoreboard read 53-51 with under two minutes left.
The Lady Huskies had the ball in their hands with a chance to tie it or take the lead, but a costly turnover allowed Macy Henry to steal the ball and run coast-to-coast for a layup.
Haley Bailey was fouled and got sent to the free throw line with a chance to cut it back down to one possession. She made one-of-two and the score was 55-52 with a minute left to play.
North Greene had a crucial offensive possession not go their way within the final thirty seconds that came up empty and didn’t produce any points.
Hampton was able to run away with the win on six-straight free throws to end the game and put it away.
The Lady Bulldogs outlasted the Lady Huskies 61-52 to hold on to their top spot in the District 1-A standings.
“We’ll have to regroup. Maybe we’ll get a chance to play them again. We’ll see how it all shakes out,” Buchanan expressed.
Macy Henry scored a team-high 20 points. Taylor Berry and Madison McClain each added 14 points in the winning effort.
Sonya Wagner did all she could pouring in 23 points with 11 points in the fourth. Grace Buchanan produced 12 points on four three-pointers and Hannah Miller contributed with 11 points.
