Hampshire plays McHenry tough before falling

Hampshire wasn't conceding anything to McHenry.

The Whip-Purs' girls basketball team stayed right with the Warriors, answering every run with one of their own, but they came up a little bit short in the end, falling 53-48 Friday.

Lauren Herrmann scored 18 points and Ally Cermak added 15 for Hampshire in the Fox Valley Conference matchup in Hampshire.

The Whips trailed 53-42 before scoring the game's final 6 points, but they also missed a couple of open 3-pointers that would have made things more interesting. Earlier, they missed the front end of a 1-and-1 on 2 straight possessions.

"It was really just missed opportunities for us," said Hampshire coach Mike Featherly. "Shooting 56 percent from the line. In the first half, we were just so timid. We had good looks, but we were just so timid with the approach and the shot.

"Once we settled down after that second quarter, we just kept fighting, fighting, and chipped away."

McHenry took control early with an 11-0 run that started with the last basket of the first quarter and continued into the second. The Warriors led 28-12 before Herrmann scored 5 straight points to make it 28-17 at halftime.

Hampshire (8-10, 3-4) carried the momentum through halftime, outscoring the visitors 8-2 to start the third period. Cermak sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a Kelby Bannerman basket.

But ultimately, the Warriors (17-1, 6-0), just had too many weapons. Aannah Interrante scored 13 of her 17 points in the first half. Ava Interrante added 14 points. Liz Alsot scored 11 to go with 8 rebounds and Isabel Gscheidle added 9 for McHenry.

Bannerman finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds for Hampshire, but no one else had more than 3.

Aannah Interrante's bucket made it 53-42 with less than 2 minutes to play. Bannerman answered with a 3-pointer, then came up with a steal that led to a basket by Herrmann. But then the Whips had 3 empty possessions in a row. Cermak's free throw, closing the scoring, was too little, too late.