Cary-Grove downs Hampshire to tighten FVC race
The Fox Valley Conference girls basketball championship race will come down to the final week of the regular season.
Cary-Grove saw to that on Saturday when the Trojans marched into Hampshire and denied the Whip-Purs at least a share of the conference title.
The Trojans put on a defensive display Hampshire couldn't crack and beat the Whips 37-28.
Hampshire (15-9, 10-4) now holds a slim one-game lead in the FVC, with Cary-Grove, Dundee-Crown and three-time defending champion Huntley all a game back. The Whip-Purs play at D-C on Monday and close out their regular season at home on Friday against McHenry. In between is a nonconference home game with Sycamore on Tuesday.
"We've got a busy week," said Whips coach Mike Featherly. "Right now all we can think about is Dundee-Crown Monday night."
Cary-Grove (14-11, 9-5) got back into the race by stifling Hampshire both inside and outside. The Whip-Purs shot just 29 percent (9 of 31) for the day and made just 1 field goal in the fourth quarter. Rachel Dumoulin led Hampshire with 9 points, 5 under her average.
"We practice hard to take away their best player and we fulfilled our assignments today," said Trojans coach Rod Saffert, whose team has won 4 of its last 5 conference games. "It's not like we're doing anything different, we're just doing it better. You can't let Dumoulin get going. (Hampshire) tried the same thing but we had other kids step up."
Hampshire did hold Cary-Grove leading scorer Katie Sowa to 9 points but sophomore Becca Kendeigh scored 12 and junior Maddie Görz had 6 points and 2 huge assists in the fourth quarter.
"I just try to be a team player and do my part," Görz said. "We were all really hyped up today and everybody did their part. It was a team win. We knew we had to have this win today."
Cary-Grove led 18-13 at halftime but Hampshire scored the first 5 points of the third quarter to tie the game. C-G moved back ahead by 5 but the Whips closed to within 25-23 at the end of the quarter when junior Lauren Herrmann banked in a 12-footer just before the buzzer.
The Trojans worked the lead back to 31-25 with 3:08 left in the game when Kendeigh scored on the second of Görz's back-to-back assists. Hampshire closed to within 31-28 with 1:13 left on a layup and free throw from senior Maggie Goad but senior Katie Demert went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line within 20 seconds and Sowa made 2 free throws with one second left for the final margin.
"Those four free throws by Katie Demert were huge," said Saffert, whose team hosts McHenry Tuesday and Crystal Lake South Friday. "That's what you gotta have in big games."
Featherly lamented Hampshire's lackluster offensive performance.
"We didn't move the ball well and the execution wasn't there," he said. "We had our opportunities. The gaps were there to attack and we just didn't."