Hampshire gets past Streamwood for first victory
Through the first three games of the season, Hampshire girls basketball coach Ed Haugens had been lamenting how his team needed to be more ready to play at the start of games, and that it needed to learn to finish.
The Whip-Purs did both Monday night, and with it came away with their first win of the season.
Hampshire bolted out to a 17-6 lead after one quarter and even though Streamwood fought back in the middle quarters to close the gap, the Whips finished with a 20-10 fourth quarter in their favor as they downed the Sabres 53-43 in a Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving tournament game played at South Elgin.
"We came out ready to play tonight," said Hampshire junior Jen Dumoulin, who had a game-high 23 points along with 7 rebounds and 4 steals. "Our first three games we were playing slow and tonight our defense anticipated everything. The girls got me open and they did an awesome job."
The Whips had 19 steals in the game, accounting for more than half of Streamwood's 31 turnovers.
"It was a great job by Hampshire. They really played well," said Sabres coach George Rosner. "But we had way too many turnovers and way too many bad passes."
Hampshire led 15-1 after a Grace Jakubowski 3-pointer with 3:33 left in the third quarter and it looked like a rout was in the making. But the Sabres (2-2) battled back and by halftime had taken a 27-26 lead as Jessica Cerda (12 points) hit two 3-pointers and 6-foot sophomore Hannah McGlone (15 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks, 5 steals) scored 7 points in the second quarter.
But McGlone was held to 4 points and Streamwood to 16 total in the second half.
"We had a big height advantage tonight and we didn't use it like we should have," said Rosner, whose team was outrebounded 30-29. "It was not a good game for us. It was good we came back the way we did but it was not a good overall game for us."
Tied at 33 going into the fourth quarter, the Whips went on an 8-0 run to start the final period, and took a 41-33 lead after the second of consecutive putbacks by junior Elizabeth Panzica (8 points). Streamwood got to within 2 at 41-39 with 3:52 to play when senior point guard Amanda Patterson (11 points) hit back-to-back 3-pointers but Hampshire closed out the game with a 12-4 run that included going 5 of 6 from the free-throw line.
"We had two goals for this game to start strong and to finish," said Haugens. "That's what had been killing us. The girls showed maturity tonight and they really worked hard. It's a learning process."
Haugens was glad to see Jen Dumouling step up as he knows his team will need someone to have a big scoring game each night.
"She gave us a big boost tonight and did a great job of attacking the basket," said Haugens, whose team made 21 of 52 from the field and turned the ball over just 16 times, down from the 26 miscues it had Saturday against McHenry. "I'm happy with our first win and we can build on things from here."