Hampshire tops Sycamore for 4th straight win

The turnover difference between Hampshire and Sycamore wasn't that great at the end of the first quarter.

The difference was the Whip-Purs used the 8 turnovers they forced to score 10 points. Sycamore got 6 Hampshire turnovers, but failed to convert one into a basket. Hampshire continued to use its defense to produce offense and easily won a nonconference girls basketball matinee at Sycamore 57-28 Saturday.

"We had a lot of pressure," said Hampshire guard Michelle Dumoulin, who had 12 points, an assist and a steal. "We were able to see what one person was going to do and then react off that. It was a good team win, especially with our defense."

Hampshire (12-10) has now won 4 in a row by applying pressure on defense and being unselfish on offense. Of the 6 field goals Hampshire hit in the first quarter, 5 came off an assist. The Whips nailed 25 total baskets in the game, and finished with 19 assists.

It was the unselfish play that led to all five Hampshire starters scoring at least 6 points. Jennifer Dumoulin led all players with 12 points and Tiffany Bentley added 10.

"The girls are very unselfish, they don't care who scores," Hampshire coach Ed Haugens said. "We moved the ball well. The girls were patient. They don't care who scores."

The diversity in scoring was evident as a different player took on the point-scoring role in each quarter. Jennifer Dumoulin opened the first quarter with 8 points, connecting twice on 3-pointers as the Whips led 15-4. She finished the game 6 of 10 from the floor, with 7 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal. Hampshire stole the ball 11 times from Sycamore

"The defense that we run, you have to have fast girls," Jennifer Dumoulin said. "The defense will work against any team. (After the first quarter) we wanted to keep it up and put the game away."

Michelle Dumoulin picked up the pace in the second period putting up 5 points, with Sara Finn (8 points) adding 4. Bentley scored 5 points in the third period as Hampshire went up 44-21 going into the fourth quarter. Bentley also had 4 steals and 4 assists.

Elisa Wood helped Hampshire close the game out with 4 points in the final period as the Whips outscored the Spartans 13-7. Samantha Okubo added 2 assists in the period.

Sycamore was led by Lake Kwaza, who finished with 11 points, 4 steals, 3 blocks and 2 assists. But after scoring 6 of Sycamore's 10 first-half points, Kwaza was shut down by the Whips' defense in the second half, limited to just 3 points on a 1 for 4 shooting effort.