Hampshire overcomes Johnsburg

Hampshire’s girls basketball team initially had some trouble making layups, but a 25-footer helped the Whip-Purs find their shooting touch.

Jennifer Dumoulin’s buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter started an 11-0 run that erased an early deficit and helped carry the Whips to a 59-36 win against Johnsburg in a Fox Valley Conference Fox Division game in Hampshire Friday night.

Jennifer Dumoulin finished with 20 points and Michelle Dumoulin added 16 for Hampshire (6-9, 2-2).

The Whips trailed most of the first quarter despite getting good shots. They missed layup after layup while the Skyhawks took advantage of their relatively few chances. But Dumoulin’s bomb seemed to get the lid off the basket at Hampshire’s end. The Whips quickly scored the first 8 points of the second quarter to lead 20-11. After a Johnsburg timeout, the Skyhawks scored 5 straight to get within 4, but Hampshire scored another 11 in a row and never looked back.

“When we come out with a lot of intensity, we run more efficiently,” said Michelle Dumoulin. “And it helped that we were rebounding and taking care of the ball, and when we do that kind of stuff, things run well.”

Indeed, the Whip-Purs owned a 37-21 advantage on the boards. Elizabeth Panzica grabbed 9, while Jennifer Dumoulin grabbed 8.

“Even in the first quarter, we were down and everything, but it wasn’t upsetting because we got tons of layups,” said Hampshire coach Ed Haugens. “As a coach, you can’t get upset about that, because we’re getting shots that we want to take in that first quarter. Then we started hitting from the outside and that started opening things up a little bit.”

Sara Finn had 8 points off the bench, and Grace Jakubowski added 7 for Hampshire. Morgan Berge scored 11 points to lead Johnsburg.