Hampshire shoves aside Lutheran to stay undefeated
Hampshire's spacious two-year old gym may not have been dubbed the Purple Palace just yet, as the school's quaint old gymnasium was, but the Whip-Purs sure were queens of the court Thursday night.
Smooth on offense and smothering on defense, the Whips blew out Rockford Lutheran 66-34 in a nonconference girls basketball game that was billed as being a "test" for unbeaten Hampshire.
Some test. But then, Hampshire didn't cram for this 16-2 team any harder than it does for any other opponent.
"There was nothing different in the pregame talk and the offense and defense were the same," said Hampshire coach Sue Ellett, whose Class 3A eighth-ranked team is now off to the best start in the storied history of the program, bettering the 14-0 start to the 2000-01 season.
"We just came out and played," Ellett said. "There was no special plan because they were a 16-2 team. We play pretty well in this gym and we did again tonight."
Ellett believed Lutheran would give her team a battle. But the Crusaders weren't up to the task against a Hampshire team that has a legitimate shot to enter the postseason undefeated and go far in the state tournament.
"I'm optimisticly leaning toward believing we're a little better than people gave us credit for being to start the year," she said. "Rockford Lutheran is very good, as their record indicates. This was a great team win and a great team effort."
That it was. Junior Alex Dumoulin led the way for the Whips, scoring 17 points to go along with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. But the consistency Hampshire has had all season was there again. Junior Jessica Van Dorin was 5-for-9 from the 3-point line for 15 points and now has 55 3-pointers (55-for-107) for the season. Seniors Cassie Dumoulin and Chrissy Heine added 12 and 10 points respectively with Heine pulling down 9 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists. Junior Kelsey Anderson also played a steady game with 8 points and 3 assists.
"We have a lot of versatility at what we can do at both ends of the floor," Ellett said. "We're able to defend at all positions."
The Whips defended well again Thursday. They forced Lutheran into 19 turnovers and held the Crusaders to just 9 of 48 shooting. In fact, Lutheran made more free throws than it did field goals. Hampshire also crashed the boards against a Lutheran team that appeared intimidated and timid, winning the glass battle 42-30.
After spotting Lutheran a 4-2 lead early, Hampshire outscored the visitors 17-4 the rest of the first quarter and never looked back. By halftime they were up 36-15 and they led by as many as 33 at 61-28 after a Van Dorin 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter.
"There's still a lot more to accomplish," said Alex Dumoulin, sporting a scratch on the face administered by her sister Cassie while battling for a rebound. "We knew (Lutheran) would come out hard and we wanted to show them we were ready to play."
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