Hampshire's rally falls short vs. Prairie Ridge
Hampshire simply ran out of time.
Outscoring Prairie Ridge 18-7 in the final 4:08, the Whip-Purs' valiant rally fell short as the host Wolves escaped with a 38-31 win in Fox Valley Conference Fox Division girls basketball action in Crystal Lake Friday night.
"You can't play 4 minutes of good basketball against a quality team like Prairie Ridge and expect to win," said Hampshire coach Mike Featherly, "I like the way we fought and didn't give up. We had some very good looks but couldn't knock down enough shots. Give PR credit - they play very hard physical defense."
The Whip-Purs (13-5, 4-2,), who made only 2-of-26 shots through 3 quarters for an ice cold 8 percent, trailed the Wolves 31-13 midway through the final 8 minutes.
Propelled by 3-pointers from Emma Benoit and Maggie Goad along with baskets by Nikki Dumoulin and Rachel Dumoulin, the Whip-Purs went on a 11-1 run to cut the deficit to 8, 32-24, with 1:44 left.
The closest Hampshire got was 6, 34-28, after a 3 by Rachel Dumoulin with a minute left.
PR's Aly Clark, who scored a game-high 18 points - 16 in the second half - connected on 8-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final 2 minutes to preserve the win for the Wolves (12-6, 6-1).
"We certainly wanted the ball in Aly's hands at the end of the game," said Prairie Ridge coach Rob Baker. "She is a senior and a great free throw shooter. Our first half defense was outstanding. We extremely contested every shot Hampshire took. It was a great team defensive effort. We knew Hampshire wouldn't quit and would keep coming. Our kids kept their poise and we got a big win."
Hampshire, which went 21 minutes and 33 seconds without a field goal during periods of the first, second and third quarters, broke the drought when Rachel Dumoulin canned a 15-footer to beat the buzzer to end the third quarter to cut the deficit to 26-11 after 24 minutes.
The Whip Purs, who made 7-of-11 shots in the fourth quarter for 64 percent, ended the game making 9-of-37 from the floor for 24 percent.
Rachel Dumoulin, with 7 points in the fourth quarter, paced the Whip-Purs with 10 while Benoit ended with 8 points and 9 rebounds.
Sammi Lockwood backed up Clark for PR with 7 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.