Elgin routs DuPage
After a rough weekend and its first two losses of the season at the Highland tournament, the Elgin Community College women’s basketball team got back on track Thursday night at the ECC Events Center.
Hampshire graduate Cassie Dumoulin scored 21 points and had 7 rebounds, and South Elgin product Dijon Smith added 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Spartans (4-2) rolled over College of DuPage 60-35.
“At Highland we just didn’t have the intensity we needed,” said Dumoulin. “We like to run and control the tempo and we didn’t play Spartan basketball. Losing two in a row was tough and we knew coming out today that we didn’t want to be .500, we wanted to come out of here 4-2. We learned from our mistakes.”
The Spartans established control in the first 10 minutes of the game, taking a 7-6 lead to 15-6 with an 8-0 run started by back-to-back steals and coast-to-coast layups by Dumoulin that gave Elgin a 15-6 lead with 12:11 left in the first half.
DuPage never got closer than 8 points the rest of the way. The Chapparals suffered through a 13 of 58 shooting night while Elgin was 22 of 55. The Spartans also won the glass battle 55-27.
“As far as team chemistry goes, we all get along with each other and the greatest thing about this team is we just play basketball,” Dumoulin said. “There’s no star. And when we’re firing on all cylinders we’re pretty good.”
The Spartans, who welcomed sophomore guard Kim Hotovy back from injury, had to battle through Smith’s first-half foul trouble and the absence of South Elgin grad Kaleigh Irwin, who is out with a knee injury until at least next week. Smith scored 13 of her points in the second half.
“Dijon hadn’t been in foul trouble yet so that was interesting,” said Elgin coach Jerry McLaughlin.
The Spartans led 26-15 at halftime and led by as many as 29 at 57-28 late in the game. Sophomore guard Genevieve Johnson, also a South Elgin grad, added 8 points and dished out 10 assists while Hotovy, a Streamwood alum, had 7 points. The Spartans shot 22-for-55 from the field.
“We’re beat up and we’re young,” McLaughlin said. “We didn’t have a lot in the tank on Saturday but we came back nice tonight. We’re a pretty balanced team.”
McLaughlin was especially pleased with the play of Bridget Dumoulin, Cassie’s cousin, who had 10 rebounds and 4 steals.
“Bridget did real well tonight,” McLaughlin said. “She’s really stepped up and has had a couple of nice games.
Glenbard West graduate Alexandria Caples, Wheaton Warrenville South alum Destiny Neal and Nakeisha Smith led DuPage with 8 points each.