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Cary-Grove comes from behind to drop Hampshire

The Cary-Grove girls basketball machine operates on more than one engine.

With senior standout Katie Sowa struggling, junior Maddie Jannusch came to the rescue with a career-high 26 points along with 13 rebounds and 3 assists to propel the Trojans to a 46-43 come-from-behind victory over host Hampshire in Fox Valley Conference action in Hampshire Friday night.

"My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball in great position to score," said Jannusch. "I hit a couple of shots early and I gained a lot of confidence. I am just glad to help the team win."

Jannusch, who connected on 12-of-17 shots from the field, scored 14 points in the third quarter.

"Katie is going to get double and tripled teamed and other kids are going to have to step up," said Cary-Grove coach Rod Saffert. "Maddie really stepped up and we encourage her to shoot and take the ball to basket. She kept us in the game in the first half. We stayed calm and had a great comeback win against a very strong Hampshire team."

Hampshire (5-7, 3-3) started fast and dominated early in jumping out to a 12- 4 first quarter lead. Ally Cermak and Morgan Haefling canned 3-pointers as the Whip-Purs (5-7, 3-3) held an 8-point advantage after 8 minutes.

Hampshire scored the first 5 points of the second quarter on a trey by Cermak and a putback by freshman Kelby Bannerman to take a 17-4 lead with 6:38 left in the first half.

With Jannusch scoring 6 points and Bailey Steinkamp tallying a pair of baskets, the Trojans (7-5. 3-3) were able to slice the Hampshire lead to 25-18 at halftime.

Sowa, guarded by Sarah Bowen, was held to 2 points in the first half.

"Sarah really executed our defensive game plan in the first half and really did a nice job to slow down Sowa, who is an outstanding player," said Hampshire coach Mike Featherly. "We did a lot of good things in the first half defensively and offensively."

The Trojans grabbed their first lead of the game at 36-34 with 2:28 left in the third quarter on a putback by Jannusch.

With the score tied at 42, Sowa connected on 2 free throws and Jannusch scored on a driving layup to give Cary-Grove a 46-42 lead with 1:08 left.

Haefling made 1 of 2 free throws to cut the Trojan lead to 46-43 with 26 ticks left.

After a Trojan turnover, Hampshire had a chance to tie the game but Lauren Herrmann's 3-point attempt fell short.

"We had the person take the shot we wanted," said Featherly. "We are making progress as a team. We need to do the little things better."

Sowa, who scored 10 points in the second half, added 12 for the Trojans.

"We need to start games better," said Saffert. "I am happy with the win but we need to change the pattern."

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