CLEVELAND, Tenn. — After two seasons at Samford University, Mallory Hampton was basically ready to hang her basketball shoes up.
In one of her many conversations with family back in Dayton, Tennessee, the former Rhea County High School standout had all but decided she was heading home. Meanwhile, word had reached Lee University coach Marty Rowe that Hampton was leaning toward transferring from the Division I program in Birmingham, Alabama — the Bulldogs compete in the Southern Conference alongside the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga — and had presented an offer for Hampton to join the Lady Flames.
Hampton was skeptical, though, and was leaning towards just stepping away from basketball altogether. Then came a conversation with her father Matt.
“You come home,” he said, “you’ll get a job.”
Suddenly, continuing her college basketball career didn’t sound so bad.