Hampshire falls to Hononegah

A 23-point loss usually can be looked at as a negative, but that’s not how Hampshire girls basketball coach Ed Haugens sees Friday’s night 74-51 loss to Hononegah in a Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving Tournament game played at South Elgin.

“We did take some positive steps forward even though the points might not have shown it,” Haugens said. “Once we slowed down, I thought we did a nice job offensively for where we’re at right now. We did very well on the boards. We did a better job taking care of the ball than the last game.”

The Whip-Purs (0-2) never led, trailed by 14 after the first quarter and by 20 at halftime. Hononegah (2-0) shot 50 percent (28-of-56) in the first three quarters and led by 33, 68-35, heading into the fourth quarter.

“They make you play fast. They make you play hard. If you don’t give into that, you’re going to get some nice looks,” Haugens said. “The hardest point with them is even though you’re going to get the points, they’ve got five people that can hit threes and three more ready to come off the bench and hit more threes.

“We’re not going to see a team that plays this well on offense again this year.”

The Indians had six different players hit 3-pointers and connected on 11 in the game, including 4 from Becca Skurski off the bench. Hononegah had five players score in double figures, led by Tiana Thomas’ 13 points. Karley Kolberg had 11 points and 8 rebounds.

Lizzy Panzica grabbed 10 rebounds for the Whip-Purs, who outrebounded Hononegah 43-34. Emma Benoit led Hampshire with 20 points, 8 coming in the fourth quarter, and added 8 rebounds. Jen Dumoulin had 14 points. Sara Finn added 8 points.