Hampshire notches regional championship
After a four-year absence the Hampshire girls basketball program is back in familiar territory.
The Whip-Purs won the 12th regional title in program history, their first since 2005, with a balanced team effort that resulted in a 48-34 victory over Burlington Central in the Class 3A Kaneland regional final on Thursday.
Hampshire sophomore Alex Dumoulin scored 14 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, senior guard Christine Schumacher sank three 3-pointers en route to 12 points and junior forward Cassie Dumoulin contributed 10 points and 7 rebounds to lead the Whip-Purs to their third win over rival Central this season.
Hampshire (24-4) will face the winner of today's Sterling regional final between Freeport and Sterling in a Marengo sectional semifinal on Monday at 6 p.m.
"It feels pretty nice, let me tell you," Alex Dumoulin said. "It's about time we got one. Hopefully, we'll go to the sectionals and keep going. This was all teamwork. No one is selfish out here. Everyone passes the ball and gives it to whoever is hot. We met our goals with teamwork."
Hampshire's team defense, which switched between zone and man looks, effectively controlled the Rockets' top two offensive threats, senior Molly Turk and junior Jordan Maisto.
After scoring 28 points in the regional semifinal against Sycamore, Turk had to work for her team-high 12 points. Hampshire switched off screens and stayed tight on Turk all night, resulting in a 4-for-17 shooting night for the Central forward.
Maisto sank a pair of 3-pointers but was otherwise limited to 10 points on 2 of 12 shooting. The Rockets shot 10 of 46 as a team.
"Shooting-wise, myself included, we were definitely not on tonight," Turk said. "Sometimes they fall, sometimes they don't. Their defense was also really aggressive, a lot different from Sycamore's pace. They're a lot faster, a lot stronger. We were a little caught off guard."
Schumacher gave the Whip-Purs an 11-5 lead with back-to-back 3-pointers in the first quarter. A Kelly Plichta fast-break basket and a putback by Schumacher extended Hampshire's lead to 15-5 at the end of one period.
Then the Whips led 22-14 at the half and bulged the lead further with a 7-0 run to open the third quarter. Chrissy Heine (6 points) scored from the baseline, Schumacher sank another 3-pointer and Cassie Dumoulin grabbed a long rebound and raced for a layup to put Hampshire ahead 29-14 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.
Central (16-13) pulled within 37-27 on a Maisto 3-pointer with 5:46 to play, but the Rockets could draw no closer and Hampshire would go on to celebrate.
"These kids wanted to do it so bad," Hampshire coach Sue Ellett said. "We never quite had all the pieces to the puzzle until this year. I thought we had the pieces to get it done.
"I'm most proud that as a coaching staff we were able to get a group of kids to be role players, and they all did their roles almost to perfection. That's what I'm most proud of. That's this team's identity. I don't worry if so-and-so has an off night because we have 14 good players, including our bench."