Dumoulin, Hampshire remain unbeaten

Cassie Dumoulin was given the near impossible task of trying to stop Peoria Woodruff's Candice Wright.

Dumoulin, with some help from her Hampshire teammates, limited not just Wright, but the entire Woodruff team to just 9 first-half points. Despite a late comeback from Woodruff, Hampshire (3-0) was able to remain unbeaten Wednesday with a 44-38 victory at the 7th Annual Turkey Toss-up Thanksgiving Tournament in DeKalb.

"She's definitely a very good player," said Dumoulin, who played the entire game. "She gave me all I could handle. We played very good defense in the first half. Everyone was helping me with (Wright)."

Hampshire was able to take a 25-9 halftime lead by holding the Warriors (2-1) scoreless in the second quarter. Woodruff shot 0 for 10 from the floor and Hampshire forced the Warriors into 10 total first-half turnovers.

In contrast, the Whips came out firing going 7 of 16 from the floor in the opening period to take a 17-9 lead going into the second period. Christina Heine scored 10 points in the opening period and finished with 14 of her team-high 17 points in the first half and shooting 6 of 7 from the floor. The Whips also held a 16-11 rebounding advantage with Alex Dumoulin (10 points) grabbing 6 of her 11 rebounds in the first half.

"We wanted to go out right away and put up points," Heine said. "We knew they were a fast team. We wanted to come out fast."

Woodruff picked up speed in the second half. Wright scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the second half and cut the Whips' lead down to 41-33 with 3:03 left to play. A Hampshire turnover led to a foul on Jemia Carpenter (5 points, 5 steals, 3 blocks). She split the pair and cut the Whips' lead to 41-34.

Despite offensive struggles in the second half, including 16 turnovers, Kelsey Anderson (6 points) was able to pry through the Woodruff defense and get an easy layup with 2:18 left to play to extend Hampshire's lead to 43-34 and all but take the Warriors out of the game.

"Kelsey Anderson made a big bucket," Hampshire coach Sue Ellett said. "When the kids do the things they do well, we're a tough team to stop."

Even though Wright scored 22 points, Ellett also credited Cassie Dumoulin (5 points, 3 assists) with her defensive effort.

"That had to take some energy out of her on the (defensive) end of the floor," Ellett said.