Dundee-Crown tops Hampshire; FVC now in 4-way tie
The Fox Valley Conference might need to order some additional girls basketball championship trophies at the end of this week.
Despite making just 6 of 18 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter Monday night, Dundee-Crown had built enough of a lead and was able to hold off Hampshire, 49-44, in Carpentersville.
The win puts the FVC title race into a four-way tie in the loss column with Hampshire, D-C, Cary-Grove and Huntley all in the hunt heading into Tuesday and Friday games to close out the regular season.
Dundee-Crown hasn't won a FVC title since 2004-05, while Hampshire tied for the FVC Fox Division title in 2014-15.
"We've stayed hungry and we've done the little things we have to do," said D-C coach Sarah Miller, whose team won its seventh straight game, the longest winning streak in her four-year tenure as the Chargers' head coach.
"We just have to use this to build our confidence and now we have to grind it out in practice to get ready for Friday's game (at) Jacobs."
The Chargers (16-11, 10-5) built a lead in the second quarter that Hampshire (15-10, 10-5) could never recover from.
After making just 1 of 18 field goal attempts in the first quarter but still coming away with a 7-6 lead, D-C found its rhythm in the second quarter and built a 20-10 lead after 2 free throws from senior Allison Michalski with 2:11 to play in the first half.
Junior Kennedy White, returning from injury after missing the past five weeks, hit 2 free throws with 41 seconds left to give D-C a 24-13 halftime lead - and the Chargers would need every bit of that cushion down the stretch.
"She's only had one full practice but she stepped up big tonight," said Miller of White, who finished with 9 points and 4 rebounds.
Hampshire tried valiantly the entire second half to get back into the game but each time the Whip-Purs closed the gap and seemed to gain some momentum D-C was able to come back with a score.
Eight times in the second half the Whips cut the lead to 6 points or less - twice they got within 4 - but they could never get closer.
"You can't get in a hole like that," said Hampshire coach Mike Featherly of the first-half deficit. "To our girls' credit they battled back but you just can't get in a hole like that."
With her team trailing 37-28, senior Meagan Heine hit a 3-pointer and then scored in the paint to draw the Whips within 37-33 with 4:52 to play but senior Paige Gieske and Michalski each made a free throw to restore a 7-point lead for D-C with 4:24 left. Another Heine basket 21 seconds later made it 40-35 but Heine fouled out at the 3:47 mark and Gieske made both free throws to give the Chargers a 43-35 lead.
"That hurt," said Featherly of Heine fouling out. "Meagan played well and we needed her out there."
Even with Heine, who scored 9 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter, on the bench the Whip-Purs made one last push as the game turned into a foul fest down the stretch. With D-C struggling from the line, Hampshire junior Lauren Herrmann made 6 of 7 free throws in a 35-second span in the final minute of the game to draw Hampshire to within 48-44 with 25 seconds to play.
But Michalski, who led the Chargers with 14 points, made a free throw with 20 seconds left that turned out to be the final margin as Hampshire couldn't muster anything at the other end to draw any closer.
"We had so many people step up and fill their roles tonight," said Michalski. "We're going uphill from here. We just have to stay consistent this week in practice, work hard, and get the win on Friday."
Senior Maddie Tripp came off the bench to score 10 points for the Chargers while Gieske added 9 points and 5 rebounds. Senior Rachel Dumoulin led Hampshire with a game-high 19 points, including 10 in the third quarter.
"I thought everybody stepped up tonight," Miller said. "Maddie stepped up big when Allison was in foul trouble and Paige was a big leader on the floor.
"But I also want to give credit to Hampshire. They really battled. I'm just super proud of us. We played with a lot of heart tonight."