Dumoulin, Whips top Marengo; Rockets lose

Hampshire's girls basketball team may be shooting a few free throws in practice this week.

The Whip-Purs' troubles at the free-throw line allowed Marengo back into a game that Hampshire appeared to have locked up Saturday. Still, the Whips made enough charity tosses to hang on for a 44-36 victory in Big Northern East action in Marengo.

Alex Dumoulin had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Hampshire. Chrissy Heine added 10 points and 12 boards, while Mallory Koster finished with 8 points for Hampshire.

After falling behind 5-2, Hampshire scored the game's next 20 points to take the lead for good. The Whips led 34-19 after 3 quarters. In the fourth, the Indians' aggressive defense sent Hampshire to the line 20 times. The Whips made just 8, allowing Marengo to creep back into the game.

Marengo's 12-1 run made it 38-32 with 3 minutes left. But Kelly Plichta scored inside and Koster made 2 free throws. Marengo never got closer than the final 8-point margin.

"We looked pretty impressive for a few minutes at a time," said Hampshire coach Sue Ellett. "But I think Monday we'll shoot some free throws. Had we converted a few more of those, I think we could have stretched out (the lead) a little bigger.

"But our defense was spectacular and like I tell the kids all the time, defense wins."

Hampshire got a boost when Christine Schumacher returned to the lineup. She played the final minute, her first appearance of the season after tearing her ACL in soccer last spring.

Hampshire (9-6, 2-1) made 14 of 32 free throws for the game. But the Whips maintained their lead with second-chance opportunities. Meanwhile, for Marengo, it was usually one-and-done. Hampshire out-rebounded the hosts, 36-23.

Marissa Haskins scored 8 of her 11 points in the second half for Marengo.

The Indians took a 5-2 lead, but then defensive ace Jenna Overlee picked up her second foul.

Heine's steal and driving layup started the rally that saw her and Alex Dumoulin score the last 10 points of the first quarter. Dumoulin scored the first 6 points of the second period, then grabbed a rebound to start a fast break ending in a Koster layup. By the time Marengo coach Joel Danzl-Tauer called timeout, it was 20-5.

Kaneland 44, Burlington Central 36: Because Burlington Central didn't take care of the ball, visiting Kaneland took care of the Rockets, 44-36, on Rocket Hill Saturday night.

Central led Saturday's nonconference game 20-16 at halftime despite having committed 13 first-half turnovers. But the Knights intensified their defensive pressure in the second half, and their success playing a 2-3 zone enabled them to outscore the Rockets 32-16 after the break.

"We had a talk at halftime," Kaneland senior Brittney Hankes said. "We knew we were only down by 4, so we could come back if we turned up our defense.

"And on offense we kept passing and passing the ball, which was one of our goals today. We were rushing our shots in the first half."

Kaneland (6-11) pulled the road upset with third-quarter defense. The Knights forced 7 Central turnovers in the first 4:15 of the period to tip the scoring scale 13-5 in their favor. Central (11-5) turned the ball over 25 times in the game.

"We were ready for their defense, but something got to us and I don't know what it was," Central guard Jordan Maisto said. "In the second half they just came out more fired up than we were and they wanted it more than we did. Not that we didn't want to win, but they just came out with more intensity."

Junior Katie Hatch led the Knights with 17 points and 5 rebounds.

Senior Melanie Laird led Central with 17 points and 9 rebounds, but no other Rockets cracked double digits in scoring.

-- Jerry Fitzpatrick

Fenton 58, Streamwood 42:ŒFenton wasted little time in taking command of Saturday's nonconference game against Streamwood. Fueled by their pressure defense, the Bison surged to a quick early lead in the first quarter and never looked back in Bensenville.

"We wanted to take them out of anything that they wanted to do offensively," said Fenton coach Tim Anderson. "We put a lot of pressure on their guards."

Did they ever. The Bison forced 9 Streamwood turnovers in the first quarter and turned a number of those steals into points. Fenton led 11-0 four minutes into the game and ended the first eight minutes of play leading 19-7.

The play of guards Stephanie Pingel, Samantha Rubright and Tricia Chiamas led the way for the Bison (10-8). Pingel poured in a game-high 15 points, including four 3-pointers. Rubright scored 7 of her 14 points in the opening quarter. She was particularly active on the boards too, especially on the offensive glass and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Chiamas also chipped in 10 points for the game. This trio along with other Fenton defenders did a good job of getting into the passing lanes and hassling the Sabres ballhandlers.

"Defense was huge," Pingel said. "We got a lot of steals and that set the tone for us."

"First-quarter shooting and pressure," said Streamwood coach George Rosner when asked what the keys were for the Bison. "We came out cold and kind of flat. We missed a lot of easy shots."

Fenton extended its lead to 30-13 at halftime and moved ahead by 22 points late in the third quarter. The Sabres (2-15) did rally a bit in the fourth quarter to cut into the Bison lead. Players such as center Melissa Oehlerking and center Emma Schmidt crashed the boards hard. All of Oehlerking's 8 points game in the final quarter. Schmidt had a pair of offensive board putbacks in the final eight minutes and finished with a team-high 10 points.

-- Brian Pitts

Hoffman Estates 52, South Elgin 44: The Storm (7-10) was one quarter away from victory Saturday afternoon, leading by 6 points heading into the fourth quarter, but fell short as Hoffman Estates rallied back to a earn the victory. Alexa Kruel led South Elgin with 18 points.

Glenbard West 42, Bartlett 33: Jacki Gulczynbski had 13 points and Alexa Tovella added 10 but Bartlett (5-13) fell for the fifth straight time with this nonconference loss.