Hampshire pulls away from Huntley
Though Huntley has a losing record, Hampshire coach Mike Featherly realized the Red Raiders on Senior Night would give the Whip-Purs all they could handle Wednesday night.
Hampshire, who will host Dundee-Crown for the Fox Valley Conference championship Friday night, outscored Huntley 27-17 in the second half and was able to post a 46-35 FVC win over the pesky Red Raiders.
"I didn't sense that we took Huntley lightly," said Featherly. "Steve (Raethz) is such a good coach and his teams play hard and always play good defense. We knew we had to play 4 quarters to win. I thought our defense was much better in the second half. We did a good job of sticking to our defensive principles."
The Whip-Purs (25-5, 14-1), propelled by 11 points from Kelby Bannerman, held a slim 19-18 advantage at halftime.
Huntley (11-18, 7-9) sophomore center Kamsi Nwogu almost matched Bannerman with 10 points on 3-of-4 from the floor and Nwogu was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
With the score tied at 26, Hampshire scored the final 5 points of the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Katelyn Del Re and a layup by Ally Cermak off an assist by Bannerman and led 31-26 after 3 quarters.
Hampshire's biggest lead was 40-26 after a 3-pointer from Morgan Haefling with 2:18 left.
"Hampshire is an outstanding team which is well coached," said Raethz. "I was really happy with the effort tonight. We played hard and didn't quit. We have played much better the last month and have some momentum going into the regionals."
Bannerman led the Whip-Purs with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
"It was a very physical game and it was a tough game for 4 quarters," said Bannerman. "Huntley always plays hard and plays us tough. Coach has been on us to close out games better. We have been playing better in the fourth quarter and finishing games. We are not taking any possessions off. We will have a good practice tomorrow and get ready to play Dundee-Crown for the conference championship Friday."
Featherly was impressed with Bannerman's patience.
"Huntley put a lot of defensive pressure on Kelby but I think she handled it well," said The Hampshire coach. "Her passing tonight was outstanding. She did a great job of finding the open person."
Hampshire, 4-of-10 from 3-point range for 40 percent, received 1 trey each from Del Re, Haefling, Alyssa Cork and Jessica Dumoulin.
The Red Raiders were led by Nwogu with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
It was the last home game for seniors Melissa Moffett, Carina Bowman and Bridget Bigden.