Scouting Hampshire girls basketball
Hampshire Whip-Purs
Coach: Ed Haugens (1st year at Hampshire; 150-65 in previous 7 years at Jacobs)
Conference: Big Northern East
2009-10 record: 29-2 (10-0 BN-East)
Top returning players: Alex Dumoulin (Sr., 5-8 G/F). Karla Vietinghoff (Sr., 5-7 G), Jessie Van Dorin (Sr., 5-5 G), Kelsey Anderson (Sr., 5-6 G)
Top newcomers: Grace Jakubowski (Jr., 5-6 G), Michelle Dumoulin (Jr., 5-8 G/F), Tiffany Bentley (Jr., 5-7 G/F), Kendall Walker (Jr., 5-8 F), Jennifer Dumoulin (So., 5-8 G/F)
Season outlook: It’s a new era at Hampshire as Ed Haugens moves over from a highly successful run at District 300 sister school Jacobs to take over the winningest girls basketball program in the Fox Valley. The Whip-Purs are coming off a 29-2 season that ended in the sectional finals and also ended the basketball coaching career of Sue Ellett, who went 151-53 in her seven seasons at the helm. This is also Hampshire’s final year in the Big Northern East and the Whips, who have won 29 straight in the conference, will be looking for a 3-peat. “The girls have been working really hard and the senior leadership has been awesome,” said Haugens. That leadership starts with the four seniors who helped lead the charge last year. Alex Dumoulin, one of the toughest inside players in the area and a two-time all-area player, averaged 12.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season and enters her senior campaign with 898 career points and 570 career rebounds. Vietinghoff averaged 8.2 points last year and hit 39 3-pointers while Van Dorin, who as a sophomore won the Class 3A 3-point contest at state, averaged 8.2 points and nailed 83 of 195 from 3-point range last season (42 percent). Anderson scored just under 3 points per game but runs the offense well and had 71 steals on defense. Jakubowski, Bentley, Jennifer Dumoulin and Walker lead a junior class that had great success on the freshman and sophomore levels and give Haugens some depth to work with. “We don’t have a lot of size but we hope to overcome that with our defense, speed and ball pressure,” Haugens said. “Our goal is to go out and consistently improve. We are going to focus on one game at a time. This group works incredibly hard and has a lot of potential. They are very unselfish. If we take care of the ball, rebound and have good team chemistry we can be very successful.” Haugens has added IBCA Hall of Famer and former Dundee-Crown coach Joe Komaromy, who was an assistant at Crystal Lake South the past two years, as his varsity assistant. “I got very lucky,” Haugens said. “He brings a lot of experience to the program and that’s going to help us a lot.” Haugens admits to not knowing much about the teams Hampshire will be facing for the final time in the BN-East before the Whips move to the Fox Valley Conference next year. “I’m relying on my assistant coaches and they’ve been very helpful,” he said of a staff that includes Andrew Lindley, Joe Watzlawick and Haugens’ wife, Melissa.