Hampshire rolls over Burlington Central
It could have been one of those nights for Hampshire's girls basketball team.
Turns out it was one of those nights for Burlington Central instead.
The Whip-Purs struggled through a 4-for-16 shooting performance in the first quarter but then righted the ship and cruised to a 58-30 win over the Rockets in a Big Northern East game played before a large crowd on BC's Pack the Place Night.
“When the ball didn't go in early on I was thinking this could be one of those nights,” said Hampshire assistant coach Joe Komaromy, the retired former Dundee-Crown coach and IBCA Hall of Famer who filled in for Whips' head coach Ed Haugens, who was serving a one-game IHSA suspension for being ejected at Rockford Lutheran on Thursday.
“The kids played well, it's just too bad Ed wasn't here. It's his team and he does a good job. It's too bad he wasn't here to enjoy this.”
The win was the Whip-Purs' 35th straight in BN-East play and put their season record at 16-2. They lead the East at 6-0.
The Rockets (9-11, 3-2) played the Whips tough through the first 9 minutes, forging into an 8-8 tie on Michelle Tuma's basket with 7:17 left in the second quarter. But then senior standout Alex Dumoulin scored at the other end to send the Whips on a 16-0 run that ended when Grace Jakubowski hit a 3-pointer to put Hampshire ahead 24-8 with 1:53 left in the half. The closest the Rockets would come the rest of the way was 14.
“Our ball movement was fantastic tonight,” said Dumoulin, who finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds, leading Hampshire to a 37-32 advantage on the boards.
“Our guards did a wonderful job of rotating the ball and on the boards everyone boxed out and did a good job.”
Hampshire junior sharpshooter Jessie Van Dorin opened the floor up by hitting four 3-pointers to account for all 12 of her points.
“Jessie can shoot,” smiled Komaromy. “And we hit the boards tonight. Ed really focused in on that in practice this week.
“It was a nice team win.”
Alli Settanni had 13 points and 7 rebounds for Burlington Central before fouling out, and Brenda Thasavong added 10 points and 9 rebounds.
“Alli got two fouls in the first quarter and that throws things off for us,” said BC coach Stephanie Smith. whose team was 4-for-16 shooting in the fateful second quarter. “You can't have two minutes of bad shooting, or four minutes, or a whole quarter.
“We didn't play good defense either. We got caught up in screens and we weren't talking. Alex Dumoulin did a great job for them. She tore it up in the middle and (Van Dorin) hit those 3s she loves. But the kids never gave up and all the things we didn't do are fixable.”