Hampshire makes it a 3-0 start
It may not have looked as smooth as their coach would have liked, but the Hampshire girls basketball team came away with its third straight win to open the season Saturday afternoon.
Senior Karla Vietinghoff found her 3-point touch in the nick of time and ended up scoring a game-high 21 points as the Whip-Purs held off Freeport 49-37 in the DeKalb Turkey Toss-Up Tournament.
“We missed a lot of open shots and layups today,” said first-year Hampshire coach Ed Haugens. “We forced the ball more than we like to and we had some turnovers but right now it's all fixable stuff.”
Spoken like a coach whose team is 0-3 instead of 3-0? Maybe, but Haugens' expectations as a coach have always been high and the Whip-Purs would appear to be talented enough again this year to be a Class 3A power.
“We're running different offenses and defenses and it's taking some time to get adjusted,” said Vietinghoff. “We're getting there.”
in Saturday's game, the Whips came out colder than a Christmas Eve in Green Bay, hitting just 4 of 18 in the first quarter and falling behind the Pretzels 15-9. But Hampshire went on an 11-4 run to open the second quarter and eased into a 23-21 halftime lead.
But again, the Whips were cold to start the third quarter and Freeport (0-2) got two quick baskets from Michelle Hail-Harris to take a 26-23 lead. It would be the last advantage the Pretzels would have.
First, senior Jessie Van Dorin hit a 3-pointer on a kick-out from Vietinghoff to make tie the game. Sophomore Jenny Dumoulin made a free throw to give the Whip-Purs the lead for good, Alex Dumoulin (15 points, 6 rebounds, 7 steals, 3 assists) scored to make it 29-26 and Vietinghoff, who had missed her three 3-point attempts in the first half, nailed two in a row to finish the 12-0 run and leave the Whips with a 35-26 lead with 2:32 left in the third quarter.
“Coach keeps telling me just to keep shooting, that they'll fall,” Vietinghoff said.
Freeport, which lost to Hampshire in the sectional semifinals at DeKalb at the end of last season, did close the gap to 37-33 to end the third quarter, but Dumoulin scored to open the fourth and Vietinghoff followed that with her third 3-pointer of the second half. Another Dumoulin hoop closed out the 7-0 run and the Whips had a 44-33 lead with 5:33 left to play. Freeport would get no closer than 8 the rest of the way.
“At halftime we talked about being more patient and that was they key,” said Haugens, whose helped Freeport to 28 turnovers with 20 steals. “If the easy basket wasn't there then we had to get into an offense.”
Hampshire did take care of things better in the second half. After going just 10 of 30 in the first half, the Whips showed more patience in the second half and made 10 of 17 from the field. They also won the rebounding battle, 28-22.
With Alex Dumoulin, Vietinghoff and Van Dorin being the only players with significant varsity experience, Haugens was pleased to get strong play Saturday from Michelle Dumoulin, Jenny Dumoulin, Grace Jakubowski and Kendall Walker.
“There's not a lot of varsity experience out there,” Haugens said. “We just have to keep working.”
Hampshire will play its third game of the tournament Tuesday against Batavia at 6:30 p.m.