Hampshire overcomes slow start, tops Jacobs
The fact that Wednesday's Fox Valley Conference matchup between Hampshire and Jacobs stood tied 3-3 after one quarter, 12-9 at halftime and 18-18 after three didn't come as much of a surprise to Whip-Purs coach Mike Featherly.
"It was pretty ugly," Featherly said. "Our teams are pretty similar. We both play really good defense. We both have been struggling to score all year, so I guess it is kind of expected when we play each other."
The lid finally came off the basket late in the third quarter and then in the fourth for Hampshire, who scored more points in the fourth - 19 - than it did in the first three for a 37-33 victory.
"We stayed positive even though we had a rough first half," Hampshire senior Meagan Heine said.
Heine opened the final quarter with a 3-pointer from the left corner that put Hampshire ahead to stay, 21-18. It came in the middle of a 14-0 run that turned Jacobs' 18-11 lead midway through the third quarter into a 25-18 deficit with five minutes left in the game.
Jacobs (7-10, 5-4) made just 1 of 10 shots from the field in the first quarter while Hampshire (12-8, 7-3) was 1 of 7. Elizabeth Schwartz scored late in second quarter to help Jacobs grab a 12-9 halftime lead.
Kyra Cabusao, Maggie Grady and Grace O'Malley hit shots early in the third as Jacobs opened its biggest lead, 18-11.
"At that point a 7-point lead in the third quarter when we have only given up 11 points, we felt pretty good with where we're at," Jacobs coach Joe Benoit said.
The Whip-Purs rallied behind Sarah Bowen, who drove for a basket, Rachel Dumoulin scored inside, and Lauren Herrmann drained a long 3 just before the third-quarter buzzer to tie the game at 18.
"I think it really helped us bring more energy and pumped us up," Herrmann said of her buzzer-beater. "We played good help defense."
Herrmann also made all 6 of her free throws and Dumoulin was 9 of 10 as the Whip-Purs sealed the win at the foul line.
Without a 3-point basket for the first 30 minutes, Jacobs made three in the final two minutes - by Nicole Durben, Carly Sidor and Kerri Healy - but it wasn't enough.
"The kids worked as hard as they could tonight," Benoit said. "The difference being the orange ball went through the hoop a couple more times for them. We had some good looks."
Herrmann and Dumoulin scored 11 points each for Hampshire who stayed on Huntley's heels in the FVC. Grady's 9 points and 8 rebounds led Jacobs.
"We just didn't get into our offense much in the first half," Featherly said. "Once we started reversing the ball in the second half things opened up for us."