Top-seeded Hampshire rolls in regional opener
Fast starts have been one of the many strengths the Hampshire girls basketball team has used this season on its way to a 22-4 record entering the postseason.
So it's no wonder the Whip-Purs would have a quick start to their first foray into the Class 3A state tournament.
Top-seeded Hampshire opened up a 31-18 halftime lead on No. 4 seed Kaneland Tuesday night and cruised to a 60-45 win in one semifinal of the Kaneland regional.
The Whips (23-4) will be seeking the 12th regional championship in program history and first since 2005 Thursday at 7:30 p.m. when they face third-seeded Burlington Central (16-12) for the third time this season. The Rockets knocked off second seed Sycamore 57-39 in Tuesday's second semifinal behind a career-high 28 points from senior Molly Turk.
Four Hampshire players scored in double figures with senior Christine Schumacher and sophomore Alex Dumoulin leading the way with 15 points each. Juniors Christina Heine and Cassies Dumoulin added 14 each.
"I don't stay up at night worrying about teams putting a box-and-one on us or anything like that," deadpanned Hampshire coach Sue Ellett. "Our kids do a real good job of finding each other. They've been playing with each other for three years now. The bottom line to them is they just want to win, baby."
The Whip-Purs jumped ahead 9-0 and 17-4, leaving Kaneland (7-19) chasing the lead all night. Hampshire's biggest lead was 26, 52-26, at the end of the third quarter.
"We got off to a good start again," said Ellett, whose team shot 27 of 52 for the night, 23 of 40 through three quarters. "Sometimes we look like we're in hyperspeed and then we find our comfortable tempo and we're able to click."
The Whips also got their usual steady floor game from senior point guard Kelly Plichta, who dished out 6 assists. As a team, Hampshire had 16 assists on its 27 field goals.
Junior Mallory Carlson led the Knights with 10 points. Senior Katie Hatch added 8.
"We knew it would be a tough game," said Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe. "Outside of Geneva, they're the best team we've played. They're just very athletic and they have shooters all over the court. They got us into a lot of bad matchups.
"We played hard the whole night. I can't fault the girls for their effort."