Girls Basketball: Hampshire rolls by Rosary

Updated: December 17, 2011 7:41PM

A basketball team has to feel great about its chances if it’s getting countless opportunities for high percentage layups.

Hampshire seemingly ran layup drills against Rosary on Saturday afternoon in the third-place game of the Oswego Holiday Classic.

The Whip-Purs scored 26 of their 28 opening-half points on layups and continued the layup assault along with a few jump shots in the second half as they cruised to a 61-38 victory.

“We talked to the girls about being patient and taking good shots, and tonight was one of the only nights where I was happy with all their shots,” Hampshire coach Ed Haugens said. “We got a lot of great opportunities because the girls were very unselfish on the offensive side tonight.”

Hampshire (5-8) trailed 9-6 more than midway through the first quarter but made six straight lay-ups, including one from Sara Finn with 5:50 left in the second quarter to conclude a 12-0 run that lifted the Whip-Purs to a 18-9 lead.

They put the game out of reach in the third quarter, going on an 8-0 run to turn a modest 31-21 lead into a 38-21 advantage after a three-pointer from Jakubowski.

Michelle Dumoulin and Finn each had 11 points for the winners while Jakubowski led the team with 13 points.

“We were playing a lot more as a team today,” Jakubowski said. “We moved the ball quicker and weren’t playing just as individuals. We worked a lot in practice today and we kept moving the ball and finding each other in open spots.”

Hampshire scored 46 points directly on layups and 48 overall on such plays thanks to a pair of three-point plays. Amazingly, all but 13 of Hampshire’s points were scored on shots from right under or beside the basket.

“It wasn’t like they were bombing from the outside,” Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. “They did the same thing to us last year so we started with the zone, but they also kept scoring with the man-to-man.”

Rosary (5-8) not only struggled on the defensive end but had very little going on offensively. The Royals didn’t get a two-point field goal until Mary Wenworth scored with 1:03 left before halftime, but stayed relatively close by connecting on five three-pointers. Turning the ball over 26 times severely reduced their number of scoring chances.

“We couldn’t take care of the ball and we didn’t play good defense,” Beebe said. “I don’t know if their heads were in it, but we had a nice chance to play for a trophy. They didn’t seem focused, and on offense we had no clue of what we were doing.”

Wentworth led the Royals with 10 points and Madison Richmond contributed 8 points.

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