Whips’ comeback blocked

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

DeKALB – Hampshire’s girls basketball team gladly would take a do-over in the first half of Thursday’s IHSA Class 3A De- Kalb Sectional against Oswego.

The Whip-Purs managed only nine points on 4 of 17 shooting in the first two quarters, their second-half surge fell three points short, and Hampshire lost, 41-38, to the Panthers.

A three-point attempt by senior forward Cassie Dumoulin (nine points, seven rebounds) was blocked by Oswego’s Samiya Wright as time expired, ending Hampshire’s season one game short of a super-sectional berth.

Oswego advanced to face Johnsburg at the Elgin Supersectional at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

“I know if we would have played the way we did in the second half and erase that first half, we could have beaten them,” Dumoulin said. “We came out ready to play in the second half after we were timid and scared [in the first half].

“In the second half, we had our backs to the walls, but we put up a good fight and it was down to the last shot.”

Hampshire (29-2) outscored Oswego, 29-18, in the second half, and had cut the Panthers’ lead to four points with 59.5 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter the Whips made one of four crucial turnovers in the final two minutes.

After a turnover by Oswego (28-2), forward Alex Dumoulin appeared to have an easy layup, but she lost her balance and was called for traveling.

In addition to a slow first half of offense for Hampshire, the Whip-Purs shot 3 of 13 (23 percent) from the free-throw line on the night.

“Free throws hurt us really bad,” Hampshire coach Sue Ellett said. “ ... That’s been our bugaboo all year. I was just hoping it wouldn’t show its ugly face, but it did tonight. You’ve got to make your layups and you’ve got to make your free throws and that partially was the difference in the game tonight.”

Senior Christina Heine led Hampshire with 10 points and eight rebounds and Alex Dumoulin and Karla Vietinghoff each added eight.

“We were rushing everything and we just didn’t slow ourselves down in the first half,” Heine said. “We should have taken our time and made the extra pass or something.

“We were just looking for the first shot instead of moving the ball around. We finally started to slow down in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.”

Samiya Wright led Oswego with 15 points and Paige Harmon added 14 for the Panthers.