On the road and weathering a thunder-filled storm, the Hope College women’s basketball team emerged as outright champions of the MIAA.
The nationally-ranked Flying Dutch clinched the outright MIAA regular-season title with a 73-58 victory at Trine University on Saturday.
Hope (22-1,14-0 MIAA) holds a four-game lead in the MIAA standings with two regular-season games remaining.
The Flying Dutch (No. 4 WBCA/No. 6 D3hoops) will be the top seed and host the semifinals and finals of the MIAA Tournament on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 23-24 at DeVos Fieldhouse.
Hope secured its 14th outright MIAA championship and 20th overall. The Flying Dutch shared MIAA titles with Trine the past two seasons.
The last outright MIAA title for Hope came during the 2019-20 season.
Sophomore Sydney Vis, Hope’s leading scorer over Trine, assisted in the second-half charge that led the Flying Dutch to outscore Trine (16-7, 10-4 MIAA) by a 40-24 margin in the second half.
The Byron Center, Michigan native, and South Christian High School graduate scored 13 of her game-high 20 points during the second half.
Trine rallied to take a 34-33 halftime lead by outscoring Hope by a 23-11 margin during the second quarter.
The Flying Dutch outscored Trine 15-11 during the third quarter and 25-13 during the fourth quarter.
Hope took back the lead just two minutes into the third quarter on a Keegan Kaiser layup. The Flying Dutch did not relinquish that lead for the remainder of the game.
Junior guard Jada Garner (Midland, Michigan / H.H. Dow) netted 11 of her 13 points during the fourth quarter. Garner went 4-of-6 from the field, burying two 3-pointers.
Freshman Terin Maynard (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Jenison) was part of the balanced offense for Hope, pouring in 11 points.
Junior Courtney Lee (Fishers, Indiana / Heritage Christian) and Kaiser (New Albany, Indiana / Floyd Central) each netted 10 points in the win.
Lee nabbed a game-high 13 rebounds against Trine. Hope out rebounded the Thunder, 48-30.
Trine’s Erin Sherwood and Sidney Wagner each tallied 12 points.
The Flying Dutch return to DeVos Fieldhouse for their next game on Wednesday, Feb. 14, at 6 p.m. against Adrian College. It is Senior Night.
Comments