The Chuckey-Doak Lady Black Knights welcomed the Hampton Lady Bulldogs to Lower Afton on Friday night with first place in Region 1-2A on the line. After a back-and-forth first half, the Lady Bulldogs were able to pull away from Chuckey-Doak enough to thwart a late run by the Lady Black Knights and hold on for a 64-57 victory.
“We came out in the first half and started a little slow and it was almost like two prize fighters feeling each other out. The same thing happened in the second half, but once we got going I thought we played really well,” said Chuckey-Doak Head Coach Kyle Donahue.
It was a slow start, indeed, for the Black Knights as they fell behind the Lady Bulldogs 20-11 after the first quarter when they couldn’t find any rhythm offensively. But a better defensive effort in the second quarter limited scoring opportunities for Hampton and gave Chuckey-Doak the chance to make the deficit manageable going into halftime.
Coach Donahue praised his team’s effort down the stretch to keep the game within striking distance late in the second quarter, saying, “I thought we played incredibly tough, and that’s one of our calling cards – we want to be tough both mentally and physically and I thought we did that really well throughout the game.”
Hampton started the scoring to begin the second half, but after a made three-point basket from Kennedy Brown and a layup from Traylyn Southerland, Chuckey-Doak had cut the Bulldogs’ lead to five points.
But Hampton fired back, scoring seven unanswered points to extend their lead to 12 points midway through the third quarter.
Brown stopped the scoring drought with a deep jumper and Saniah Atchison kept the momentum swinging the way of the Lady Black Knights when she drew a charge.
A renewed sense of urgency on defense allowed Chuckey-Doak to close the gap to seven points with less than two minutes remaining in third quarter. Hampton was able to push the lead back to nine points before the fourth quarter began.
Heading to the final quarter of play, Chuckey-Doak needed to capitalize on Hampton mistakes on offense to regain the lead.
Midway through the fourth quarter the Lady Black Knights cut the lead to seven on a pair of free throws from Traylyn Southerland, but a timely three-point basket pushed Hampton’s lead back to 10 points with 4:32 left in the game.
The Lady Bulldogs continued to extend to their lead down the stretch with Chuckey-Doak unable to go on a run of their own until less than two minutes to play. The run fell just short as the Lady Knights were able to close the gap to only three points, but time expired before they could get any closer. Hampton closed the game out from the free throw line to inflate the final margin of victory to 64-57.
With the win Hampton forces a three-way tie for first place in District 1-2A with West Greene and Hampton. They all sit at 4-2, but Hampton does now own the season sweep over Chuckey-Doak.
Eastep led the Lady Bulldogs’ offense with 18 points.
Saniah Atchison led Chuckey-Doak with 19 points with Kennedy Brown adding 16 for the Lady Black Knights.
BOYS
HAMPTON 59, CHUCKEY-DOAK 51
The Chuckey-Doak Black Knights are a young team, and most everyone around the program realizes this season has been one of major growth. On Friday night the Black Knights welcomed the conference frontrunner, and undefeated in conference play, Hampton Bulldogs.
On paper it was a game that Hampton should have cruised to victory, but the young Knights showed signs of growth by taking the Bulldogs down to the wire before dropping a tough one, 59-51.
Gavin Crum got the scoring started for the Black Knights early in the first quarter when he drained a deep three point bucket, but Hampton went on a 9-0 run to jump out to an 11-4 lead midway through the quarter.
The Bulldogs could not miss from mid-range in the first quarter, which fueled a barrage of buckets down the stretch. Chuckey-Doak struggled to find any rhythm offensively, but the three-point baskets were generous to the Black Knights. Ryland Grindstaff nailed a three from near mid court to beat the first quarter buzzer and the bucket closed the Hampton lead to 15-11.
Crum cut the lead to two at the start of the second quarter, but a quick three pointer and layup pushed Hampton back in front by seven points early in the second. But the Black Knights would not go away.
Grindstaff used a flash of momentum to go on a 4-0 run by himself to pull Chuckey-Doak within one point with 4:23 remaining in the first half. The Bulldogs remained in control of the game to close the half with Chuckey-Doak unable to capitalize on scoring opportunities late in the second quarter. Hampton closed strong on offense to give the Bulldogs a 29-22 lead before Dom Atchison hit a three-point basket at the buzzer to make the halftime score 29-25, Hampton.
The Bulldogs used an 12-2 run to start the third quarter to pull away from the Black Knights. Hampton did much of their damage inside the paint during the run, utilizing great ball movement to isolate and find the open man inside.
Chuckey-Doak cut the lead to 10 points to end the third quarter to keep themselves within striking distance to begin the final period.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Black Knights used a 5-0 run to close the gap to only six points with Hampton trying to run time off the clock. But that is as close as they would get, as the Bulldogs used stout defense to convert turnovers into points late in the fourth.
The Black Knights put together a total team effort on the night but came up just short, falling to the league-leading Bulldogs, 59-51.
Gavin Crum led the Black Knights in scoring with 20 points, while Ryland Grindstaff tossed in 17 of his own.
Bryce Fagan and Chase Davenport had 21 and 20 points, respectively, for the Bulldogs.
