Hampshire quiets Jacobs
Hampshire's Sarah Bowen scored 8 points with 6 rebounds Tuesday against Jacobs, but her biggest responsibility was on the defensive end.
She was mainly responsible for guarding Jacobs leading scorer Liz Schwartz. Bowen, with some help from her Hampshire teammates, held Schwartz without a point as the Whip-Purs moved to 7-2 overall and 3-0 in the Fox Valley Conference with a 48-25 win over the Golden Eagles Tuesday night in Hampshire.
"We know she (Schwartz) can score a lot of points and Sarah did a great job on her," said Hampshire coach Mike Featherly. "She contested every shot and didn't allow her any good looks. We played strictly man-to-man on her with a little help. Sarah's defense was outstanding."
Bowen took her responsibility seriously.
"We knew she (Schwartz) could score a lot of points and coach wanted me to stay with her no matter where she went," said Bowen. "Overall, we played very good team defense the whole night."
Schwartz was 0-of-8 from the field and 0-for-3 from 3-point range.
"Liz takes on a lot of the offensive responsibility," said Jacobs coach Jon Reibel. "They did a good job on Liz and she missed some shots early. We as coaches have to do a better job of getting her better shots off the dribble. "
Hampshire, off 3 big wins last week against McHenry, Crystal Lake South and Carmel Catholic, seized control of the game in the first quarter.
Making 7-of-10 shots during the first 8 minutes, the host Whip-Purs (7-3, 3-0) led 15-2 after 1 quarter. Morgan Haefling scored 5 points including a trey and Kelby Bannerman scored 4 points. Courtney Durben scored on a layup for the Golden Eagles' (0-7, 0-3) only points of the quarter.
"We had 3 big wins last week but we didn't have a letdown and came out and played a great first 8 minutes," said Featherly. "I really like our team defensive effort. We are getting contributions from everyone."
Bannerman, playing less than 3 quarters, scored 13 points with 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocked shots.
"Kelby set the tone early offensively and defensively," said Featherly. "Her passing was outstanding when she got double teamed. She found the open man. She had a very good overall game."
Katie Del Re and Ally Cermak added 6 apiece for the winners.
Durben and Courtney Pahl paced the Eagles with 7 apiece.
"Hampshire is a very good team and Bannerman is a very tough matchup," said Reibel. "We took some positive steps tonight. We got better shots and limited the turnovers (15). We just need to stay positive and the wins will come."