Sluggish Hampshire avoids upset

Hampshire looked out of sync for most of the first half against Marengo. But after the break, the Whip-Purs came out with renewed focus and energy, rolling to a 56-42 Big Northern East girls basketball victory in Marengo Saturday afternoon.

Alex Dumoulin had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way, while Karla Vietinghoff added 12 points and Jessica Van Dorin 11 for the Whips (15-1, 3-0), who won their 32nd straight BN-East game.

Trailing early in the second half, the Whip-Purs used a 27-6 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to take control.

The keys to the turnaround were pretty basic: better ball control and ratcheting up the defense.

“We needed to just calm down with the ball, make passes, and run our offense,” said Vietinghoff. “We stepped up our defense, which helped the fast break and turnovers.”

Hampshire led early on until a 14-5 run by Marengo put the Indians in the lead just before the break. The Indians' full-court pressure bothered Hampshire.

“We weren't playing basketball, we were just running around,” Vietinghoff said. “I knew we'd be able to step up in the second half and come back.”

With Hampshire trailing 27-24, Vietinghoff fed Alex Dumoulin for a layup and then made 2 free throws, and Van Dorin nailed a 3-pointer to put Hampshire ahead to stay.

“Our ball control and the tempo was exactly where we wanted it to be, especially in the third quarter,” said Dumoulin. “I give credit to all our guards.”

The comeback didn't completely placate coach Ed Haugens.

“In the first half, we started playing too much one-on-one basketball,” he said. “It was just out of control, the spacing was bad, we didn't run anything on offense, and that's a tribute to Marengo. They played extremely hard, they got up on us, and caused some problems.”

Kendall Walker added 6 points off the bench for Hampshire, which outscored Marengo 20-10 in the third quarter.

Shawney Damisch led Marengo (7-9, 1-3) with 12 points.