Whips expect tougher test from Rockets this time
Back on Dec. 12, the Hampshire girls basketball team scored a relatively easy 48-31 home win over Burlington Central in the Big Northern East opener for both teams.
When the Whip-Purs and Rockets meet in Round 2 Saturday night at BC's Pack the Place night, Hampshire coach Sue Ellett figures on a completely different game.
"It's a huge game for the conference," said Ellett, whose 13-3 team is currently 4-0 in the East while BC comes in 3-1. "You always say you can throw the records out the window for Hampshire-Central games and that's true with Saturday's game. It's their Pack the Place night and there will be a buzz in the place. (Burlington Central coach) Wade (Maisto) is a good coach and I'm sure he'll have his kids ready."
In the first meeting, Hampshire jumped out to a 16-2 lead and outrebounded the Rockets 46-26, something Ellett hopes will be in her team's favor again. But in that first meeting, BC played without now-healthy senior Molly Turk, who is now averaging 9.8 points per game, is second on the team in assists and can be a force on the boards.
"That gives them a whole new dynamic. Anytime you can put another good athlete on the floor, it helps your chances," said Ellett, whose team is ranked No. 11 in the latest AP Class 3A state poll.
Rockets' coach Maisto agrees that Turk's presence makes a difference but he says his Rockets have been playing overall better team basketball since the first meeting with Hampshire.
"We're not the same team we were a month ago," he said. "It's a whole new system for them this year but now they're getting used to it. We feel we know a little better what we're doing now. Molly helps us because she does everything well but we didn't have Molly (last Saturday) and we beat Kaneland by (17). That wouldn't have happened a month ago."
While Turk has played her role well, the Rockets, 10-8 overall and on a six-game winning streak, have been led all season by the inside-outside duo of forward Taylor Colby and guard Jordan Maisto, both juniors. Colby leads the team in scoring at 14.3 ppg with Maisto close behind at 13.8. Maisto also has an area-high 37 3-pointers and leads the team with 47 assists. Hampshire, though, held Maisto to 9 points in the first meeting. Colby, who had games of 31 and 28 points last week, scored 14 for the Rockets. Sophomore Alli Settanni, who had 12 rebounds against Hampshire in the first meeting, is averaging 7.4 points per game and leads the team on the glass.
"We were able to contain Maisto pretty well and we didn't let Colby on the glass like she's been lately," said Ellett. "Our quickness is a factor. We're sneaky quick and we tend to make teams go quicker than they want."
The Whip-Purs' balanced attack has been led by junior Chrissy Heine (12.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and sophomore Alex Dumoulin (11.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg). Junior Cassie Dumoulin averages 9 points per game.
Ellett doesn't expect for one minute that her team will have another easy win over its longtime rival.
"We expect a battle Saturday night and if it's for 32 minutes we'll relish that," she said. "We want good competition every night and I think it's going to be a ballgame Saturday night. If my kids think Central is going to lay down for them they've got another thing coming."
Wade Maisto makes no bones about it, though -Hampshire is the team to beat in the BN-East.
"Hampshire is a very deep team," he said. "When you game plan for Hampshire you can't game plan for one or two players. Defensively you have to play a lot of help against Hampshire. Our defense wasn't that bad the first time; we just turned the ball over too many times and we shot 3-for-20 in the first half. We need to take care of the ball better.
"Every coach in our conference picked Hampshire to win it this year and they've done nothing to sway that. I'm anxious. I want to see how much we've improved since last time. The kids will come out with a lot of energy and there will be a buzz in the gym Saturday night."
Darn weather: Thursday's blast of Arctic air postponed an intriguing matchup scheduled between St. Edward and South Elgin at South Elgin. No makeup date had been set but each coach said Thursday night they definitely want to make the game up, which would give South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast a chance to see St. Edward senior standout Katie Yohn play live for the first time.
"I was really looking forward to the matchup with St. Ed's," said Prendergast. "I've never seen Katie play. I've seen her on tape but I haven't seen her live. It would have been an interesting matchup for us. I was excited about it."
Said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson: We were looking forward to it. Hopefully we can find a date to make it up."
More Storm: South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast is relatively pleased with his team's performance so far this season. The Storm stand at 10-7 overall and 2-3 in the Upstate Eight Conference heading into a Saturday 2:30 p.m. UEC matinee at Elgin. South Elgin's most quality win of the season was a 75-71 upset of Waubonsie Valley. The Storm also played UEC co-leader St. Charles North to a 1-point game.
"Going into the season my expectations were to be more competitive and be better in the conference," said the Storm's second-year coach, whose squad was 5-5 in the UEC last year. "We've been more competitive and I feel we're making strides. I feel like our best basketball is still to be played and we'd like to get on a nice run going into the state tournament."
The Storm continues to be led by freshman Becca Smith (14.7 ppg, 4.5 apg) and seniors Cortney Kumerow (10.9 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and Genevieve Johnson (10.2 ppg).
After playing Elgin (3-13, 1-3) Saturday, South Elgin takes on East Aurora Jan. 23 before embarking on another interesting nonconference matchup at Hampshire next Saturday. The Storm also has nonconference tilts remaining with Glenbard East, Marian Central and Glenbard West.
More Green Wave: St. Edward senior phenom Katie Yohn eclipsed the 1,500 career point mark last week in the Green Wave's 58-51 win over Rosary when she scored 29 points. She came back with a 17-point effort against Aurora Central in a game Green Wave coach Michelle Dawson said she could have scored much more in.
"She's just so unselfish," said Dawson of the Bradley-bound Yohn. "She has so many chances to score and she just dishes the ball off. In that ACC game she had 8 assists. She gets Kristi (Knott), Maddie (Kerr) and Val (Gotheridge) so involved in the offense."
Yohn's unselfishness could cost her a shot at the all-time scoring record at St. Edward, held by Beth (Hasenmiller) Sauser at 1,772 points. Yohn, who stands in second place on the St. Edward career list right now, has now scored 1,526 career points and would have to average close to 25 points per game the rest of the season to break the record, depending on how far the Green Wave go in the postseason.
Yohn and Kerr, a freshman, are pulling duty at point guard right now as sophomore Enza Ranallo recovers from a finger injury that Dawson said will have her sidelined another 10 days or so.
"Maddie Kerr took over the point last week and of course Katie too," Dawson said. "And Callie Johnson has really stepped up her ball-handling also."
The Wave, 13-6 overall and 5-2 in the Suburban Catholic Conference, learned Thursday night its scheduled Suburban Catholic Conference home game against Marian Central tonight has been postponed due to the bad weather. The Wave will hit the road for their next three league games, at Immaculate Conception, St. Francis and Driscoll. St. Edward's home game against St. Francis, which was snowed out on Dec. 19, will be played Feb. 6.
Seeding time: Class 1A and 2A seeding will be held next week and for the first time the IHSA is using an online seeding process instead of actual seeding meetings. Coaches first have to submit an online form of information on their teams and then, the next day, seed their respective regionals or sectionals. Pairings are due to be announced by the IHSA on Jan. 23, with Class 3-4A the following week.
Sabres on nice roll: Two-game winning streaks might not mean much to some teams, but at Streamwood it's a sign of a team that is playing better basketball. With their 20-point win over Fenton Monday night, the Sabres won their fifth game of the season, surpassing last year's victory total.
"We're definitely playing better and we have been for a while," said Streamwood coach George Rosner of his team. "We had a weird game at Neuqua Valley where the ball just wouldn't go in the basket but then we came back and beat a very much improved East Aurora team and then Fenton, a team that pounded on us last year. We've been playing much better team ball and much better defense."
Rosner has been especially impressed with the play of sophomore Emma Schmidt, who had 17 points and 10 rebounds against East Aurora and 20 points and 10 boards against Fenton.
"Emma's been playing well and scoring," said Rosner, whose team is 5-12 heading into Saturday's nonconference game at Fremd (tonight's Upstate Eight game at Lake Park has been postponed due to weather). "She's worked so hard. Her free throw and field goal percentages are both up. And, all the other kids are contributing. This is a fun group and they work hard every day. The girls have felt good about themselves the last couple of games so hopefully we can build on that."
The Sabres will play two rescheduled games next week -at Elgin on Tuesday and at Burlington Central on Wednesday.
Youth be served: Cary-Grove has fashioned a 14-4 start to the season with Tori Sandstrom the lone senior in the starting lineup.
"We're young but these girls have a tremendous amount of trust in each other," said Trojans coach Rod Saffert after his squad beat Jacobs 64-49 Tuesday night in Algonquin. "We had a great game against Buffalo Grove (70-65 win) and then we didn't play so well against Crystal Lake Central (44-34 win) so I just let them figure out some things on their own and they did."
The Trojans have been led this season by sophomore center Claire Jakubicek (14.1 ppg, 9.6 rpg), sophomore Meg Straumann (10.0 ppg) and Sandstrom (9.9 ppg).
jradtke@dailyherald.com