Lady Warriors take thriller at buzzer over Hampton
Published 4:41 pm Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Madison McClain of Hampton dives after a loose basketball.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hampton senior Skylar Hicks drives the baseline.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Happy Valley's Emma Blevins takes a contested shot against the defense of Madison McClain.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Destini Milhorn of Hampton lines up a shot from beyond the arc. She hit seven three's in Hampton's contest against Happy Valley.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Holly Moore pushes the basketball straight through the paint and to the rim for Happy Valley.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Olivia Absher drives the lane for Happy Valley. Absher hit a layup at the buzzer to win the game for her Lady Warriors.
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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
In what had to have been the most exciting basketball contest of the season to date, the Happy Valley Lady Warriors and Hampton Lady Bulldogs stripped off the gloves and went bare-knuckle in a contest that saw Happy Valley get the finishing punch as time expired to take a heart-racing 49-47 win.
Both teams took turns holding the lead in the early going as Hampton grabbed a 12-4 lead at the end of the first quarter before the Lady Warriors went bonkers in the second period outscoring the visitors 23-9 to take a 27-21 lead at the break.
Senior Olivia Absher took over in the second period scoring 10 of her 12 first-half points in the stanza. Kadie Bailey dropped eight points in the half as well to help Coach Dana Hill’s squad build the advantage.
Madison McClain scored 12 of the Lady ‘Dogs 21 points in the first half.
Things really started to heat up in the third quarter as Hampton once again managed to outscore the home team 12-9 to make the game 36-33 heading into the final period of play.
Destini Milhorn started to heat up for the Lady ‘Dogs as she was making the nets smoke with three treys in the period.
Bailey scored five of the nine points recorded by the Lady Warriors.
With the game hanging in the balance, it was a slugfest between the two teams as they went back and forth eventually knotting the game at 44-44 with just a few ticks on the clock.
After Hampton managed to tie the game, Absher quickly took the inbound pass and raced the length of the court while being guarded closely by the Lady ‘Dog defense and put the ball up and in off the backboard that sent the Lady Warrior crowd into a frenzy with the win.
The win offset a tremendous shooting effort by Milhorn who stroked seven treys in the contest for Hampton.
Absher scored 19 points in leading Happy Valley to the win. Bailey contributed 13 points in the victory.
Gabby Wood chipped in with seven points with Emma Blevins tallying four points.
Milhorn was the game-high scorer pumping in 23 points for Hampton. McClain also had a big game with 17 points in the game. Skylar Hicks added four points.
