A valiant comeback came up heartbreakingly short for the Hope College women's basketball team Friday night at DeVos Fieldhouse.
The fifth-ranked Flying Dutch missed a go-ahead shot as time expired and suffered a 73-72 loss to 25th-ranked Carnegie Mellon, Pennsylvania in the first round of the NCAA Division IIIChampionship.
Hope finished the 2015-16 season with a 26-2 overall record and as Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament and regular-season champions.
Head coach Brian Morehouse was proud of his team, which rallied after trailing by double digits for much of the game to hold a 70-68 lead with 1:03 remaining following a 3-pointer from MandyTraversa of Winfield, Illinois (Wheaton North HS).
The Flying Dutch were ahead 72-70 with 21 seconds following a layup from junior guardAngelique Gaddy of Caledonia, Michigan (Grand Rapids South Christian HS).
Carnegie Mellon (20-6) took the lead back on Lisa Murphy's three-point play with 5.5 seconds remaining. Murphy collected a game-high 25 points and 14 rebounds.
The Tartans held on after a layup from senior forward Maura McAfee of Midland, Michigan (Midland HS) in the closing seconds did not fall.
"We did something that was very difficult; we lost on a very public stage," Morehouse told the Holland Sentinel. "That's why this game is very difficult. People know what our failures and our successes are. They read about them, they watch them; they're not private at all… today, we unfortunately came up one point short of passing this exam."
Carnegie Mellon advanced to play Ohio Northern in Saturday's 7 p.m. second-round game atDeVos Fieldhouse.
The loss was the Flying Dutch's sixth in just 172 games at DeVos Fieldhouse since the facility opened 11 years ago.
Hope had won its previous 19 games at DeVos Fieldhouse dating back to the 2015-15 season. Carnegie Mellon joins Albion, Calvin, Wheaton, Illinois and Washington-St. Louis as the only teams to beat the Flying Dutch at DeVos Fieldhouse.
Gaddy led Hope with 20 points.
McAfee finished with 19 points. She concluded her career with 1,409 points and a school-record 1,047 rebounds.
McAfee trails in career scoring at Hope only Amanda Kerkstra (1,568 points in 107 games from 1999-2003) and Carrie Snikkers (1,430 points in 111 games from 2007-2011).
McAfee's 447 points are a career-best and tied for third in Flying Dutch history with Bria Ebels (2005-06).
McAfee's 297 rebounds are the second most in team history. She owns three of the top five totals: 312 in 2014-15 and 280 in 2013-14.
"I just feel incredibly lucky to have gotten to play with (my teammates)," McAfee told The Holland Sentinel. "All the individual stuff is kind of whatever. Just the people I got to meet at Hope are definitely what I'm going to take with me when I leave. I just love all these people to death. That's definitely the hardest part right now."
Freshman forward Francesca Buchanan of Grant, Michigan (Sparta HS) chipped in 14 points off the bench. Traversa totaled 11 points.
The game also marked the end of the career for senior guard Autumn Anderson of Dorr, Michigan (Wayland HS), the 2015-16 MIAA Defensive Player of the Year.
