Hampshire 52, Oregon 48

Once Hampshire's regional semifinal game finally got started, it was over pretty quickly. The Whip-Purs came out raring to go and raced out to a 23-0 lead. They then cruised to a 59-25 win over Rockford Christian in the Class 2A Hampshire regional Thursday.

The Whips (19-7) play their final game ever in the Purple Palace against Oregon in tonight's 7:30 p.m. regional final. Hampshire beat Oregon 52-48 on Jan. 24.

Alex Dumoulin led a balanced Hampshire attack with 12 points and 8 rebounds in Thursday's win.

The game was postponed twice by the winter storm that socked the Chicago area at midweek. But rather than being rusty, the Whips came out ready to play.

"We were hungry after not playing since last Friday with the snow days and stuff," said Hampshire coach Sue Ellett, who won her 98th game at Hampshire. "I was extremely pleased with our focus and our ability to just come out and take care of business. I thought every kid had that look in their eyes tonight."

"We're really excited to finally get to tournament time," said the Whips' Kelsey Watson. "We have great team chemistry and its a lot of fun. We're ready to keep going."

A 3-pointer by Mallory Koster and a pair by Christine Schumacher -- one of which turned into a 4-point play -- sparked the Whips' big run. Defense got it started: the Whips made 6 steals in the first quarter, most leading to fast-break opportunities.

Rockford Christian didn't score until Anna Tudor made a free throw with 9 seconds left in the first quarter.

Still, 11th seed Rockford Christian (13-13) bounced back to make a game of it as 6-foot-3 Lauren Kraemer began to assert herself. The Royal Lions had cut the lead to 32-19 by the middle of the third quarter, but caught a bad break when Kraemer went out with an ankle injury.

With the middle once again open, the Whips scored the final 10 points of the period and never looked back.

Cassie Dumoulin, Koster, and Schumacher scored 7 points apiece for Hampshire, which won for the 13th time in its last 14 games. Gina Estocado, Chrissy Heine and Watson added 6 points each.

Watson also grabbed 8 rebounds. The Whip-Purs out-rebounded the Royals 40-29 despite 11 boards by Kraemer.

Tudor led Rockford Christian with 8 points.

All 12 players saw action for Hampshire and 10 scored.