The #15 (3A) Hampton-Dumont-CAL girls basketball team remained undefeated and earned their first win over the Wildcats since 2022, and the boys team moved 0-2 in the North Central Conference as part of a doubleheader at Humboldt on Tuesday, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ. In the girls game the Bulldogs won 41-33, in the boys game the Wildcats won 89-50.
In the girls game, the Bulldogs got off to a great start from the tip, outscoring #14 (3A) Humboldt 19-9 in the first quarter, including three triples with two by Jordan Valley and one by MacKenzy Valley. In the second quarter both teams struggled to knock down shots, as Humboldt scored only five points. The Bulldogs only had three, but kept a 22-14 lead into the break. To begin the second half, the defenses continued to reign supreme, as the Bulldogs maintained an eight point lead at 31-23 heading to the fourth. The Bulldogs closed it out in the fourth, never allowing the Wildcats to get closer than six points in fourth to earn the ranked win.
Bulldogs Head Coach Miranda Stafford on major road win and reminder that the job is not done.
“It’s a huge conference win. It’s a hard place to play on the road. It’s been a long time since we’ve got this victory. I think this is the first one for this group since they were freshmen. A fun environment and really proud of the way the girls stepped up, handled some adversity and were able to give a dub,” says Stafford. “We just got to stay focused. We got to stay focused on the little things, keep coming to practice every day and get better. I’ve seen huge growth in the things that we’ve asked them to do in these six games. We can’t be satisfied. We can’t think we’re where we want to be. We got to come back tomorrow and get ready, get back to work.”
Lily Hambly led with 12 points followed by Jordan Valley in double figures with 10 points.
In the boys game, H-D-CAL led early 8-2 over Humboldt in the first quarter. From there, the Wildcats went on a 15-7 scoring run to take a 17-15 lead at the end of the first and never trailed again. The Wildcats separated themselves from the Bulldogs in the second quarter with a 34-11 scoring run to take a 51-26 lead into halftime. The Wildcats outscored the Bulldogs 38-24 in the second half to close the game out.
H-D-CAL Head Coach Brian Niesen on the Wildcats hot shooting and the performance of Brady Harr and Tramaine Horton.
“Their depth kind of took it to us there a little bit in the second quarter and they got hot from three. I think they had nine threes in the first half, I think it was like six different kids, they moved it well. Our zone we allowed too easy of passes on the perimeter, we gave up too many rhythm threes. It seems like Humboldt always has a lot of kids who can shoot and you know they shot it with confidence in their home gym so you have to give them credit too. They got it going on offense,” says Niesen. “I thought Brady had a great floor game. I thought he really handled the ball well. I thought he really facilitated. He was a big reason that we got shots off and got the points we did, because he was huge, breaking the press. Tre’s a shot maker. Tre’s a hooper. He wants to make plays, and he’s not scared of anybody.”
Horton had a season high 16 points and Caden Woods added eight points to lead the Bulldogs.
The H-D-CAL girls (6-0, 3-0 NCC) and the boys (1-3, 0-2 NCC) will both return to action at St.Edmond in Fort Dodge on Friday on 104.9 KLMJ.
