HAMPTON – North Greene’s return to Hampton was a successful one as the Lady Huskies took down the Lady Bulldogs, 61-39, on Thursday night.
The last time North Greene visited Hampton was February 7, 2023. The former rivals renewed their rivalry on Thursday night inside of Vanhuss-White Gymnasium. The Lady Huskies pulled away in the third quarter and used a 13-2 run to take full control and run away with the win.
The matchup was only the third game back inside of Vanhuss-White Gym after Hurricane Helene’s floods impacted the Hampton community and the high school. Hampton had been playing at Hampton Elementary School in the meantime. North Greene Head Coach James Buchanan spoke about Hampton’s hardships and resilience through such a difficult time period.
“It feels good. It’s been a while and things have changed a lot. Bless their hearts they had to deal with all that flood stuff. This is their third game back in their new gym so it is good to be back. It’s even better that we were able to come up and get a win.”
North Greene’s win gives them a 3-1 record against District 1-1A opponents. The Lady Huskies are tied with Unaka and Cloudland with all three teams sitting at one loss. Their total record improved to 18-4.
“It’s anybody’s league, but I told my kids in a three-team race you’ve got to win some tough road games and sweep somebody,” Coach Buchanan mentioned before interrupted by a prideful Hampton band.
Tralyn Southerland led North Greene with 18 points and Ella Head came off the bench to follow behind her with 17 points. Hannah Baird led Hampton with 16 points.
Southerland led North Greene in scoring and got the game started with a layup on the opening possession. Natalie Foshie continued with a three and made the score 5-2. Hampton gained a 7-5 lead with an and-one from Hannah Baird. The Lady Bulldogs reached a 4-point lead after Hannah Smith’s floater and three-pointer, but four was the most they ever led by. Addi Dean sank a pair of free throws and a mid-range jumper for four-straight points and helped tie the game at the end of the first. Both teams were knotted 12-12 after one quarter.
Hampton’s Baird started the second with a triple and Daisy Parks sank another bump the margin back up to four. North Greene senior Ella Head wasn’t sure if she would be able to play and sat during the first quarter. Head stepped off the bench in the second quarter and made an immediate impact with a running bank shot and a three-point bomb to regain the lead, 19-18.
“Poor Ella. It was her foot. As soon as her foot starts feeling better, she’s sick and very limited. I didn’t know she was going to play. She warmed up a little bit and said ‘I don’t think I can go’ but she had taken some medicine and went to the doctor. I think the medicine finally started to make her feel a lot better so she said she wanted to give it a try,” Buchanan explained.
North Greene never trailed again. They turned up the heat and went on a 12-2 run. Eva Leonard poked the ball away at halfcourt and laid the ball off the glass for a quick two. Southerland scored five-straight and helped North Greene build a 6-point lead. Leonard and Dean both made three pointers to close out North Greene’s scoring in the first half. The Lady Huskies led 34-28 at the break.
North Greene really turned up the heat in the third quarter. The Lady Huskies forced Hampton to go empty on their first six possessions and forced a dozen in the whole quarter. Tralyn Southerland began with back-to-back layups and Josie Graham’s backside layup created a 40-28 lead. Hannah Baird briefly ended Hampton’s cold streak before Ella Head scored a layup and three-pointer immediately after.
“We bowed our back on defense and really made life hard on them to score,” Buchanan stated.
North Greene opened up the fourth quarter leading 47-32. Baird began the quarter with a three, but could never get back within reach of the lead. Head scored five-straight again by scoring a three-pointer and layup. The lead grew to 55-35 and by that point the game was already over with. The starters exited up 59-39 with 1:53 left.
The Lady Huskies picked up a pivotal District 1-1A win and left Hampton with a 61-39 win.
North Greene anticipates traveling to Washburn on Tuesday night for their next matchup.
BOYS
HAMPTON 78, NORTH GREENE 44
The North Greene Huskies did not fare as well in their return back to Hampton and suffered a 78-44 loss on Thursday night.
“We knew it was going to be a tough matchup for us. They are a great basketball team. They are ranked top ten in the state for a reason,” Huskies Head Coach Matt Weems stated.
Hampton is a very talented and very well-coached team and it showed on Thursday. The Bulldogs were playing their third game back inside of Vanhuss-White Gymnasium on Ned Smith Court after vacating for two years due to flood damage from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
The last time these old rivals squared off in Carter County was on February 7th, 2023. Things looked a little different back then. The seniors were freshmen, Sam Tarlton was North Greene’s Head Coach, and the bitterness of the rivalry was more evident.
As time passed, the rivalry between North Greene and Hampton seemed to calm down a bit with less excitement and less drama. But one thing remained the same. The Bulldogs are still tough to compete with on their home court.
“I can’t fault our effort. I thought it was there tonight. In order to beat a good team, we have to have very few errors and tonight we had too many to overcome,” Weems said.
Hampton never let North Greene feel like they had a chance and controlled the battle from the opening tip. The deficit increased by the end of each quarter and North Greene never looked comfortable on the floor.
The win sets North Greene back to 2-2 in District 1-1A play and 8-14 overall.
Isaac Gaby was North Greene’s highest scorer with 12 points and Thomas Darnell scored 11. Colby Clark and Chase Davenport were the game’s leading scorers with 19 points each.
Hampton’s Tuff Robinson began with a layup and got the game flowing. North Greene scored five-straight from Jaiden Bailey’s three and Thomas Darnell’s two, but seven-straight from the Bulldogs put them back ahead. Havoc Fair ended the run with a three, but it didn’t slow them down as Hampton finished the quarter on a 9-2 run and held an 18-11 lead after one.
Isaac Gaby started the second with a tough and-one play at the rim and cut it to 18-14 before the game-defining run began. Hampton scored 12-straight and took a commanding 16-point lead. Chase Davenport was the main contributor in that run. Gaby ended the run with a three-point bucket. Hampton ended the half scoring four-straight and led 36-21 at the break.
“It just felt like an avalanche. They started and it just kept going. We had a hard time keeping them from getting good looks,” Coach Weems mentioned.
Halftime didn’t favor the Huskies either as Hampton started the third right where they left off and scored four more to make it an 8-0 run bridging between both halves. Tuff Robinson and Chase Davenport scored layups. Havoc Fair scored North Greene’s first bucket of the third quarter at the five-minute mark. Tyler Britton followed that up with a three before Hampton erased the five-point swing with a five-point swing of their own. North Greene fell behind even further and trailed 53-31 after three.
Colby Clark started the fourth with an emphatic dunk to keep Hampton’s momentum going. Both teams traded buckets and played competitive basketball through the first three minutes of the fourth, but the damage had already been done and the deficit was too insurmountable. Clark rose up for one more two-handed dunk and ended the night for both groups of starters. North Greene emptied the bench with four minutes left.
North Greene suffered a 78-44 defeat to Hampton on Thursday night. The loss marks five-straight losses for North Greene at Hampton.
“This is probably the hardest place in Carter County to play in my opinion. They take basketball very seriously up here. My boys got them a dose of what Hampton basketball is like,” Weems stated.
North Greene anticipates traveling to Washburn on Tuesday night for their next matchup.
