As Hampshire struggled to find the basket in the second quarter, the Whip-Purs’ defense, too, failed to keep up with South Elgin.

Junior Liv Miller, a 5-foot-11 forward, tossed in all nine of her points in the first half as the Storm held the Whips to 2-of-15 shooting in the second quarter and trimmed Hampshire’s lead to five points at the break.

After halftime, the Whips’ defense came alive – and so did their offense.

Hampshire opened the second half on a 10-0 run and beat South Elgin 54-38 on Monday for its first victory at the 42nd Komaromy Classic at Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville.

“I think defensively, we had to shift our mindset,” said senior Mikala Amegasse, who led the Whips with 13 points, adding nine rebounds, six assists and three steals. “During halftime, we talked about it a lot. They were getting a lot of action in the post. We had to figure out a way to shut that down and be more disciplined because defense is the one thing we can control every time.”

Hampshire (7-8, 1-2 tournament), which opened with losses to Naperville Central and Buffalo Grove, will try to finish .500 at the tournament when they meet Maine West at 11 a.m. Tuesday for 13th place.

South Elgin (7-9, 0-3) will face Dundee-Crown for 15th place at 9:30 a.m.

Amegasse had a hand in all four of Hampshire’s baskets after halftime during the team’s 10-0 run, going coast to coast for a layup after a steal, finding sophomore point guard Jiselle Lopez cross-court for a 3, scoring on a layup while being fouled, and finally, finding junior Peyton McCarthy for a 3.

That turned a 26-21 lead into 36-21, and the Storm never recovered.

“It’s something that we keep preaching about, trying to come out strong in the third quarter. But, for whatever reason, we’re just not doing it yet,” South Elgin coach Emily Driessen said. “Once the game gets going, we find ways of fighting, but it’s kind of too far down at that point.”

South Elgin already came into Monday’s game with injuries to multiple starters, and the situation was made worse when Miller took a hard fall while defending in the lane, forcing her out of the game with 10 seconds left in the third quarter.

“She brings such a big presence in the middle there, and she’s a key defender for us,” said Driessen, who speculated Miller suffered an ankle injury. “She can be an offensive threat as well, and she’s our top rebounder. I think the girls feel a safety with her behind them.”

Hampshire coach Eric Samuelson felt Hampshire’s defense was what turned the game around. The Whips outscored the Storm 15-6 in the third, taking a 41-27 lead into the fourth.

South Elgin got a scoring boost from sophomore Kylie Germano Finn (three steals), who finished with 10 points and three 3-pointers, including two in the second half.

“Second quarter, we gave up way too many looks in the paint,” Samuelson said. “Fourth quarter, it just comes down to taking care of the basketball.”

Several Whips stepped up defensively.

“She’s not always going to show up in the scoring column, but (junior forward) Jesslyn Mack, she does a great job of moving her feet and not allowing their bigs to be active. Once we took that away, their guards were stuck because my guards are so fast.

“Jiselle, Peyton (McCarthy) and (Amegasse) all do such a great job of just pressuring people up top. And then Roni (Dumoulin) stepped up and took a lot of big shots for us. You know with Roni, you’re always going to get maximum effort.”

Amegasse, McCarthy (12 points, four assists, two steals) and Dumoulin (10 points, four steals) each finished in double figures in scoring for Hampshire. Lopez chipped in nine points, three assists and three steals. South Elgin’s Taleah Banner had eight points, eight rebounds and three assists. Zoey Isley posted three steals.

Hampshire, which has endured a challenging schedule to begin the season, would be plenty happy to finish 2-2 at D-C.

“It’s always hard coming out with two losses (in a tournament), but this win feels really good,” McCarthy said. “It helps us go into our next game confident and just feeling strong. We just need to fight really hard.”