Hampshire claims share of BN-East
The Hampshire girls basketball team knew Marengo wouldn't be the pushover it was a week earlier.
And the Whip-Purs were up for the challenge.
Despite shooting as poorly as they have in their own gym all year, the Whips turned up the defense Tuesday night and held off pesky Marengo 41-37 to claim at least a share of their second straight Big Northern East championship.
Hampshire (19-4, 8-0), which had beaten Marengo 47-23 last week in Marengo, can now claim the title outright when it hosts North Boone for Senior Night on Friday. The Whips will also be after their first 20-win season since 2004-05.
"Marengo came out tough and we knew that was going to happen," said Hampshire junior Cassie Dumoulin, who led the Whips with 12 points. "This was doe or die for them. In the end, it was our defense and a couple clutch free throws by Chrissy Heine and we pulled it out."
There may have been no bigger clutch shot in the game than the 3-pointer Hampshire senior Gianina Estocado nailed with 4:01 left in the third quarter. With both teams struggling to score, Estocado spotted up at the top of the circle, took a kick out pass from Kelly Plichta, and drained a 3 that gave her team a 22-20 lead it never relinquished.
"We can never start games the right way," said Estocado. "This was a nightmare. (Marengo's) backs were against the wall. Conference was on the line. When your backs are against the wall you play harder and they played well. We started picking it up in the second quarter because that's when we know it's business time."
The Whips trailed 13-9 after one quarter but then held Marengo (14-10, 6-2) to a 1-for-8 shooting performance in the second quarter as they eased ahead 19-16 at halftime, despite shooting just 8-for-23 in the first half themselves.
The Hampshire defense caused 15 Marengo turnovers in the first half.
"Our offense comes from what our defense does," Dumoulin said.
The Indians came out and grabbed a 20-19 lead when senior Hallisey Kunde (12 points) scored the first two baskets of the second half, but those were the last points Marengo would scored in the quarter. Estocado's 3-pointer sparked an 11-0 run that gave Hampshire a 30-20 lead entering the final period.
"Marengo attacked tonight and they did what they do well," said Hampshire coach Sue Ellett. "They went to the glass and they rebounded tonight.
Down 40-29 after 2 free throws by Heine (10 points, 7 rebounds) with 58 seconds to play, Marengo closed the gap by scoring 8 of the game's final 9 points. A Heine free throw with 14 seconds to play, though, kept it a two-possession game and the Indians ran out of time.
Alex Dumoulin added 8 points and 13 rebounds for Hampshire and Christine Schumacher contributed 7 points.