Hampshire rebounds with win

Hampshire girls basketball coach Sue Ellett has harped on her team about rebounding at different points during the season.

But it wasn't until Saturday's 75-67 loss at South Elgin - the team's first of the season - that the Whips really understood what she was saying.

After some intense rebounding drills at Monday's practice, Hampshire rebounded both literally and figuratively with a 61-48 Big Northern East victory over Richmond-Burton in Hampshire Tuesday night.

"Whenever you play good defense, nothing hurts like them getting a second look," said Hampshire guard Cassie Dumoulin, who finished with a game-high 16 points in the victory. "You can get some key possessions off of rebounds. We made a conscious effort to box out our girl."

The senior proved that when she nabbed a rebound off of a Chrissy Heine missed free-throw and turned it into a basket with 30 seconds left in the third quarter. Cassie Dumoulin (4 steals) then intercepted a Richmond-Burton pass and ran the length of the floor and put Hampshire (19-1, 6-0) ahead 51-33 with 23 seconds left in the half.

The play came as Richmond-Burton had clawed its way back from a 34-11 halftime deficit with a 22-point third period.

"Cassie had a good offensive night," Ellett said. "We did move the ball well. Michelle Dumoulin was a huge spark off the bench."

Michelle Dumoulin scored 6 of her 8 points in a second quarter, which saw Hampshire outscore the Rockets 20-5. Alex Dumoulin finished with 12 points, Heine (5 assists) added 11 and Karla Vietinghoff chipped in 9.

Hampshire held a 14-10 rebounding advantage in the first half, which allowed for a 34-11 lead at the break. Hampshire allowed Richmond-Burton (9-12, 5-2) just 4 first-half field goals. The Whips finished the game with a 25-21 rebounding advantage.

"We did emphasize rebounding, because that's what cost us the game at South Elgin," Ellett said.

Although the Whips grabbed just 4 offensive boards in the first half, it was because they just weren't missing.

Hampshire shot 57.6 percent (15 of 26) from the floor in building its 23-point first-half lead. Hampshire also forced 11 Rockets turnovers, with Cassie Dumoulin scoring 6 points in the first period. Richmond-Burton outscored Hampshire 37-27 in the second half, but could never cut the lead closer than 53-42 in the second half.

A big part of Richmond-Burton's second half success came from reserve guard Lauren Smith. After not scoring in the first half, the junior guard put up 10 points and 4 rebounds in the second half. Junior Aimee Mercurio led the Rockets with 12 points.