Whips play Byron tough
Before the game, Hampshire and coach Sue Ellett honored Byron coach John Nolan, who is retiring at the end of the year. But professional respect only goes so far, and once the game started, Ellett and the Whip-Purs did their best to prevent Nolan from adding to his total of more than 500 career wins.
The Whips nearly pulled it off. They led the Tigers 36-30 late in the third quarter. The Tigers responded by ratcheting up their formidable pressure defense. The resulting turnovers fueled a 19-4 run that carried Byron, ranked No. 8 in Class 2A, to a 55-45 Big Northern crossover victory at the Purple Palace.
With Hampshire still trailing only 42-40, Megan Considine made a steal and a breakaway layup. On Hampshire's next possession, she came up with another steal and fed Danielle Hopkins for the easy layup. The Whips never recovered.
Ellett was pleased with the overall effort by the Whips (10-7 overall), but 26 turnovers were too much to overcome against the Tigers (14-4).
"I thought we came out and played well and showed some good signs for an extended period of time," said Ellett, whose team hosts BN-East leader Burlington Central Saturday. "Hopefully, we scared them a little bit. But the turnover bug beat us and gave them some easy baskets."
Chrissy Heine led the way for Hampshire with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Mallory Koster scored all 10 of her points in the first quarter. Alex Dumoulin added 9 for Hampshire.
Considine finished with 25 points.
Trailing 11-9 in the opening quarter, Hampshire took the lead with a 9-0 spurt that consisted of back-to-back 3-pointers by Koster to close the quarter and another 3 by Heine to start the second.
The Whips led 30-25 at halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Heine.
For Nolan, it was all about the pressure.
"I think we got them playing a little faster than they're used to," he said. "That's what the press does: you get them making mistakes. They made a couple of mistakes and we were able to take advantage of them."
Hampshire indeed did some good things, like out-rebounding Byron 11-0 in the first quarter and 27-13 for the game.
"This is why we keep Byron on the schedule," said Ellett. "They're a nice measuring stick for us, and I'm very happy that we put some notches on that stick."