It was almost if the Lady Bulldogs listened to Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” tune before heading to the Murphey Center. 

Megan Garland posted a double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds) while Alexus Grubbs dropped 10 points as Hampton came away with a 37-29 win over Huntingdon in the quarterfinals of the TSSAA BlueCross Basketball Championships held at the Middle Tennessee State University campus Thursday afternoon. 

With the win, the Lady Bulldogs (23-13) will face Clarkrange this evening in the Class A semifinals at 4:30 p.m. (CST), 5:30 p.m. (EST).

In a low-scoring affair, Hampton head coach Bud Hazelwood credited the efforts of the girls for executing the gameplan against a team with a sizeable post presence. 

“Anything can happen when you’re down here,” Hazelwood said. “Not many people gave us a chance in this first game. We knew we had to pack it in the paint and cut off their post players … and we needed to rebound. “I’d bet (the team) would tell you they’ve heard me say ‘rebound’ about a million times now” he added with laugh.

It was a message that the ladies took to heart as Shyanne Tuelle joined Garland with a busy night on the boards with nine rebounds.

Hampton was able to set the tone early by maintaining possession and causing a handful of turnovers to take a 9-4 lead at end of the first.

“We wanted to pressure them to throw it away,” Garland said. “We wanted to trap them to force that pressure in for the turnovers.”

Never trailing in the game, Hampton did receive some resistance late in the third as the Phillies tied things up 25-25 with a little over two minutes to go in the quarter. 

“They were able to get some momentum when they started making their shots,” Garland said. “Our coach called a timeout right after and said we needed to get the momentum back. We were able to come back and reestablish that to get things done.”

Garland was behind the mini-rally, helping her team boast a 29-25 lead into the fourth. 

Grubbs, who hauled in four points in the final frame, joined Garland by saying the team is ready for what’s ahead. 

“It’s exciting,” Grubbs said about qualifying for the second round of the tournament.” 

Hazelwood added the team’s recent surge, winning eight of the last 10 games, comes following a 71-37 loss to South Greene in February. 

“I think what started this is we played against South Greene and we were down five with four minutes to go and we got beat by 35,” Hazelwood said. “I think it was a little bit of embarrassment because the girls knew they could play better. Since then, we’ve been able to handle it.”

Tuelle finished with seven points for Hampton while Kinzey Hill and Bree Hoyle added two apiece. Jessica Keith led Huntingdon with 14 points.