Whips take title

Hampshire's Kelsey Anderson looks for a teammate during Monday's game against Richmond-Burton. Hampshire won, 64-55. (Travis Haughton – thaughton@nwherald.com)

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RICHMOND – Hampshire’s girls basketball team can blame it on the long bus rides.

The Whip-Purs don’t play their sharpest games at Richmond-Burton, and Hampshire was cognizant of that during Monday night’s Big Northern Conference East Division showdown.

In case the Whips didn’t remember how tough of an environment the Rockets’ gym is, R-B reminded them.

The Rockets stayed close all night, but Hampshire pulled out a 64-55 victory that secured its third consecutive BNC East Division title and its fifth in the past six seasons. R-B was playing for sole possession of second, and the Rockets’ determination presented a difficult test for the Whips (24-1 overall, 9-0 BNC East).

With the loss, R-B will share runner-up honors with Burlington Central.

“Those long bus rides, they really don’t help us when we come up here,” senior forward Chrissy Heine quipped. Heine led all scorers with 20 points and dished seven assists. “I don’t know if it’s the pot holes or what, but this is a tough place for us to play.

“We were just a little off at the beginning. We made some adjustments, and they worked pretty well after halftime, but we came out slow.”

Hampshire led, 9-2, at the start of the game, but R-B quickly fought back to trail, 13-11, at the end of the first quarter.

Hampshire built another lead, 19-11, in the first two minutes of the second quarter. Heine hit a baseline jumper, dished a pass to teammate Cassie Dumoulin (16 points, 10 rebounds) on a backdoor play, and scored a layup to contribute to the eight-point cushion.

R-B (12-13, 7-3) cut the Whips’ lead to one on senior forward Bree Roberts’ (11 points, 10 rebounds) bucket at the 2:20 mark in the second quarter, but Hampshire used an 11-5 run to close out the first half ahead, 36-29.

“We were playing for something tonight,” R-B senior guard Tracy Holian said. “We ... really wanted to have second place to ourselves. We played with that goal as a team, [and] we played for all four quarters tonight.”

R-B came out hotter after halftime than it had during the entire first half, going on an 11-4 run that knotted the score at 40 with 4:48 remaining in the third.

Holian (seven points) hit a three-pointer out of the gate and converted a layup, and sophomore guard Erin Thomas (10 points, four steals) forced three Hampshire turnovers that led to six R-B points.

Hampshire outscored the Rockets, 11-3, to lead , 51-43, at the end of the third, the run capped with a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Whips junior guard Karla Vietinghoff.

R-B continued to chip away in the fourth quarter and cut the Whips’ advantage to 58-53 with 1:09 to play, but the Whips closed out the game with a 6-2 run.

“The last time we played Richmond, we gave up 35 points in the second half,” Hampshire coach Sue Ellett said. “We saw flashes of what they were capable doing, and I warned the kids of that.”

Hampshire’s list of goals each season includes winning at least 20 games and sweeping the division – the latter of which the Whips can accomplish with a win Friday against Marengo.

Heine, who in four seasons on varsity has either won or shared a division title, was pleased to wind down her Hampshire career by hanging another banner in the gym.

“You try to work hard every year for this and obviously we do,” she said. “When you win it, it’s like a reward for all the teamwork and dedication you put into it.”