Scoring droughts sink Hampshire against Prairie Ridge
Hampshire still had hope of recovering from its first scoring drought of nearly 5½ minutes in Saturday afternoon's Fox Valley Conference Fox Division girls basketball showdown at Prairie Ridge.
When the Whip-Purs' offense deserted them a second time for exactly 10 minutes their hopes of a comeback had all but dried up in a 41-26 loss in Crystal Lake.
"Rough," said Hampshire coach Mike Featherly after his team scored only 11 points in the final 20:12. "We set the game back offensively a couple of years. We couldn't get the ball in the hoop and we got away from our game plan a little bit and that cost us.
"It's too bad because I thought defensively we did some good things."
PR (12-5, 5-0) shot 38.7 percent from the field (12-for-31) and committed 13 turnovers, but Kelly Klendworth was able to get just enough space to hit 6 of her first 7 shots from 3-point range en route to a game-high 20 points. Klendworth and Kirsten Voel-Pel (12 points) also keyed a defensive effort that held Hampshire (11-4, 3-1) junior Emma Benoit to just 2 points and only 2 shots from the field.
"They sagged off our fifth player and doubled down (on Benoit)," Featherly said, "and they did a nice job of taking her away and negating her."
Hampshire shot just 27.8 percent from the field (10-for-36) and 3-for-10 on 3s.
"That's what we wanted - to stop (Benoit) and put ball pressure on the all their guards so they had a hard time finding open people and they executed," said PR coach Rob Baker. "We threw in just enough zones and enough stuff to keep them off-balance and the kids executed.
"Benoit is a great player. We were going to take her out of the game if we could."
Payton DeChant scored 6 of her 8 points and a tough drive across the lane by Nikki Dumoulin (7 points) gave Hampshire a 15-9 lead 4:12 before halftime. But 4 missed free throws and 4 turnovers against the Wolves' scrambling pressure defenses fueled a 15-0 run that carried over into the second half.
"They changed up on us what they were doing and I don't know if the change go us out of rhythm but we panicked," Featherly said. "That's two games in a row (loss to Antioch) that's happened now. I'll take the blame for that and I have to prepare them better."
Dumoulin's 3 got Hampshire within 24-20 with 4:51 left in the third, but it couldn't capitalize on a pair of turnovers and Klendworth hit a pair of 3s in an 11-point run.
"Some of them were contested and she still knocked them down," Featherly said of Klendworth's long-range shooting.
The Whips could get no closer than 35-26 on 3s by Miah Thompson at 2:51 and Rachel Dumoulin at 2:08.