Benoit hits 1,000 mark in Hampshire win

Hampshire junior Emma Benoit needed less than three varsity seasons to reach the 1,000-point milestone for her career, which she did in Wednesday night's 69-52 Fox Valley Conference Fox Division girls basketball win over Woodstock.

But it took about 3 minutes to get 1,000 gumballs out of a basketball-shaped piñata given to her as a memento after the game.

White, purple and black gumballs scattered out onto the Woodstock court after Benoit dropped the piñata during a team photo to the gasps of many, including Whip-Purs' coach Mike Featherly, who was in mid-sentence about what the win did for the Whip-Purs (19-5, 9-1), winners now of eight-straight.

"Oh, that's good," Featherly said. "And there's 1,000 of them. I think that's a lot of gumballs."

" I dropped it so all my teammates could have some," Benoit laughed.

But there was no laughing about Benoit's benchmark. Her 18 points along with her 6 rebounds and 6 blocks made her the ninth Whip-Pur girl to achieve the feat and she has still has time to possibly catch all-time leader Morgan Bahe at 1,875.

Benoit put herself over the mark after she was fouled on a turnaround from the right block with 1:52 left in the fourth quarter. She completed the 3-point play to give the Whips a 63-49 lead but the pressure wasn't ever there for the 6-foot forward, since Featherly kept her point total in the dark throughout the season.

"I didn't actually find out about it until I played the game against Westminster Christian that I was 26 points away. Coach Featherly kind of kept it a secret from me so it wouldn't get in my head," Benoit said. "Being patient is what it took (to reach the mark). My family and my teammates were there supporting me the entire time and it just really helped me."

And patience was indicative of how Hampshire got past a pesky Blue Streaks (15-10, 5-5) team that would never go away. Hampshire's 10-point second quarter lead was cut to 3 at the half. And Woodstock pulled into a tie during a sequence in the third only to see Hampshire take a 6-point lead at end of the quarter on Rachel Dumoulin's jumper. And she'd have a big say in the fourth.

"We made a run, they made a run and then at the end we made a longer run," Featherly said. "I was telling the girls, 'this was fun, this is why we play the game.' It was an intense game and we came out on top which was even better."

Dumoulin, who also finished with 18 points including four 3-pointers, hit back-to-back 3s in the left corner to give Hampshire a 49-39 lead with 7 minutes remaining as the Whips scored 26 points in the final 8 minutes.

"Rachel stepped up huge tonight, knocking down those threes," said Featherly. "She's been doing it all year in bits and pieces but tonight she put it all together. She has the confidence to shoot and she's just a sophomore. She didn't play like it."

Hampshire needed Dumoulin as Woodstock used a 2-3 zone to try to take Benoit away. Whip-Pur shooters were open for a 51.1 percent clip from the field and a 53.8 clip from long distance (7 of 13).

"We knew Dumoulin going in was a good shooter but her opening up with early 3-pointers put a focus on her and a little bit more of the focus off Emma," Blue Streaks' coach Jennifer Nichols-Hogel said.

Nikki Dumoulin and Peyton DeChant finished with 11 points each as Nikki Dumoulin added three 3s and 4 Whip-Purs scored in double figures while Jenifer Crain led Woodstock with 15.

The win sets the stage for Friday's showdown with Prairie Ridge in Hampshire with the FVC Fox title hanging in the balance. PR (9-1 in conference) beat the Whips in Crystal Lake by 15 on January 10.

"We talked about at the end of the season, playing meaningful conference games, that's the goal," Featherly said. "And they've put themselves into position. It's exciting. It put us in a nice place."

"It's a really big game for us," Benoit said of Friday's showdown. "We're working hard for it, we really need to get this win."