Chloe Van Horn has been in some big games throughout the years for Hampshire.
It was no surprise then that the senior guard was in the middle of Wednesday’s winning sequence.
“We did a great job executing our plan for the last 30 seconds,” Van Horn said. “I think one thing we worked on all season is that sometimes we let pressure defense speed us up a lot.
“I think a big thing for us through the whole half was just reminding everybody to stay together and stay calm. We all know how to play basketball. That’s what we did on the last possession.”
Van Horn got the steal to set up that final possession against Jacobs in a tie game and found Mikala Amegasse, who worked the ball over to Autumn Kriegel in the corner with four seconds left.
Kriegel hit the winning shot as the Whip-Purs held on for a 39-37 Fox Valley Conference victory.
Both Kriegel and Van Horn had 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead Hampshire (13-13, 9-5). Olivia Schuster tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds for Jacobs (8-18, 4-10). Zara Lewis added 11 points.
Coming into the season, the Whip-Purs didn’t have a lot of varsity experience outside of Amegasse and Van Horn.
“We had a lot of girls coming in and looking to find their roles on the team,” Van Horn said. “I think everyone has done a great job this year figuring out what their strengths are.
“It’s everybody finding their roles. Me, Mikala and Autumn are the three captains, and we make a lot of decisions and encourage the young players and give them confidence.”
The 5-foot-9 Van Horn was in that position at one time. Carving out her niche, she surpassed 500 career rebounds and committed to Wisconsin-Platteville to play both basketball and softball.
“Everybody celebrates 1,000 points,” Hampshire coach Eric Samuelson said. “If you think about that, the average basket is two points. That’s 500 baskets in theory, so why wouldn’t we celebrate 500 rebounds?
“She’s been on some really good teams and played with some really good players, so she’s been able to find her role. That’s allowed her to get here.”
Hampshire led by as much as 28-17 with 2:10 left in the second quarter. The Whip-Purs went ice cold in the third quarter, however, shooting 3 of 13 to help Jacobs get even at 34-34.
Scoring was hard to come by for both teams in the fourth, but Jacobs did hold a brief 36-35 lead and forced a 37-37 tie with 1:47 left. The Golden Eagles didn’t score again, though.
“Just having a chance to win, crawling back, it’s something we still need to work on,” Jacobs coach Jonny Reibel said. “I’m proud of them that they stayed in the game.
“From that standpoint, we’re getting much better and seeing progress.”
Van Horn made her college choice in December, and the coaches at Wisconsin-Platteville are giving her the rare opportunity to play two sports at the next level.
“Throughout my whole recruiting process, I was really focused on basketball,” Van Horn said. “I actually played soccer my freshman year. Sophomore year, I switched to softball.
“We had a good softball season last year. I had a good, individual season. It kind of made me realize that I didn’t want to give it up yet.”
She’ll be bringing a wealth of experience with her to Platteville, and that experience came to the forefront in the final seconds of Wednesday’s win.
“We knew we were going to wait for the last shot,” Van Horn said. “Once the clock got to about 15 I started saying, ‘OK, let’s start looking for something.’
“Autumn had a great night and was red hot from the corner, so it was only fair that she hit the big shot at the end.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
