High school girls basketball: Burlington Central jumps out to early lead, beats Hampshire

BURLINGTON – Burlington Central did not take long to find its offensive groove against Hampshire on Wednesday.

Lily Moretti nailed a 3-pointer in the first 30 seconds, and the Rockets scored the first 13 points, holding the Whip-Purs scoreless until a layup with 22 seconds left in the first quarter.

Burlington knocked down 5 of 12 shots in the first 8 minutes and stayed hot from there, shooting 50% through the first three quarters en route to a 61-47 win over Hampshire in their Fox Valley Conference game.

“We’ve had some first quarters where we struggle to get going the first three or four minutes,” Rockets coach Collin Kalamatas said. “Once we see that ball drop in once or twice, the girls get a lot of confidence. We got some opportunities to push and score early, which is what we like to do.”

The win kept Burlington (24-4, 13-2 FVC) a game behind Dundee-Crown for first place in the FVC with three games remaining. D-C earned comeback win against Crystal Lake South, 55-48, Wednesday after trailing at halftime.

As the shots were falling for Burlington, Hampshire (14-13, 9-6) misfired on its first 13 attempts, including a pair of layups. Kelby Bannerman broke the drought in the final seconds of the first quarter.

“I told (Kalamatas) after the game, it should have been their senior night,” Whips coach Eric Samuelson said. “Holy cow. They made everything. I was OK with our defense in the first half. Their two best players went off in the second half and, unfortunately, we were already playing from behind at that point.”

Hampshire held Burlington’s top scorers, Elana Wells and Kat Schmidt, to just nine points combined in the first half.

Wells got going in the second half, scoring 11 points in the third. She finished with 15 points, six assists and four steals as Burlington took a 49-27 lead into the fourth quarter, shooting 18 of 36 from the field.

"I know I had a couple of calls (in the first half) that could have gone either way and that put me on the bench for a bit," Wells said. "I just wanted to put the game away and not give them a chance."

Schmidt led all players with 19 points and sank three of the Rockets' nine 3s. Rylie Duval had nine points on three 3s, Moretti had six points on two 3s, and Alex Lichner added the team’s ninth.

Burlington led, 52-27, with 7:24 left in the fourth. Hampshire scored 20 of its 47 in the last 6:35. Junior guard Jessie Dumoulin had 11 points and three 3s in the fourth, and Bannerman tossed in seven.

Bannerman finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Dumoulin had 13 points, Katie Del Re added eight points and two 3s, and Jacey Lambert tossed in six points.

Reili Gardner drew the defensive matchup against Bannerman, who has multiple NCAA Division I offers. Kalamatas praised Gardner for holding her to just six points in the first half.

"She's a good player, she's really physical in there," Gardner said of Bannerman. "I just tried to stop her from getting to the basket, and give her contested shots. I know she's going to get to the basket some times."

STAR OF THE GAME

Kelby Bannerman, Hampshire, jr., F

Bannerman recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

THE NUMBER

16: Total numbers of 3-pointers between Burlington Central (9) and Hampshire (7).

AND ANOTHER THING …

Burlington stayed a game behind Dundee-Crown, which beat Crystal Lake South on Wednesday, for first place in the Fox Valley Conference with three games remaining.

Burlington Central 61, Hampshire 47

HAMPSHIRE (47)

Bannerman 5 6-8 17, Dumoulin 5 0-0 13, Del Re 2 2-2 8, Lambert 3 0-0 6, Cork 1 0-0 3. Totals: 16 8-10 47.

BURLINGTON CENTRAL (61)

Hampshire 2 11 14 20 – 47

Burlington Central 13 14 22 12 – 61

Schmidt 6 4-4 19, Wells 5 5-7 15, DuVal 3 0-0 9, Moretti 2 0-0 6, Menke 1 2-4 4, Kollhoff 1 1-2 3, Lichner 1 0-2 3, Carani 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 12-19 61.

3-point goals: Hampshire 7 (Dumoulin 3, Bannerman, Del Re, Cork), Burlington Central 9 (Schmidt 3, DuVal 3, Moretti 2, Lichner). Total fouls: Hampshire 15, Burlington Central 14.