Hope Women's Basketball Gets Boost From Hot Shot Kate Majerus, Advances To Sectional Play
-- Story provided by Hope College Athletics --
The Hope College women's basketball team rode hot shooting from the perimeter to advance to the sectional round of the NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament Saturday night at DeVos Fieldhouse.
No. 2-ranked Hope sank 12 3-point baskets in rolling to an 85-66 win over Marietta [Ohio] College in front of 1,987 fans at DeVos in a second-round NCAA tournament game.
Hope, now 28-1, will face the Big Blue of Millikin University (Illinois) in the sectional round this Friday at a site to be announced. Millikin advanced to the round of 16 on Saturday with a 59-56 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
The hottest hand of all was senior forward Kate Majerus of Sycamore, Illinois (Sycamore HS), pictured, who hit 6-of-10 from 3-point range on her way to a career-high 20-point performance.
Majerus' six 3-pointers are the most by any Hope player this season and the most by a member of the Flying Dutch since Brittany Berry's five during a 2015 second-round victory vs. Wisconsin Lutheran in Wheaton, Illinois.
"I think the opportunity to finally get on the court, to prove what we can bring to this tournament is super exciting," Majerus said. "It's definitely something that we have been waiting for over the past couple of years, and it's always definitely been in the back of our minds every time we're in the gym."
The Flying Dutch struggled to find their rhythm offensively against the Pioneers in the early going, trailing 10-5 seven minutes into the game. But then Hope started to exert its will, running off 11 unanswered points over a five-minute span, capped off by a driving layup by junior guard Ella McKinney of Haslett, Michigan (Haslett) for a 16-10 Hope lead.
Then Majerus got going, nailing 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions as the Flying Dutch lead grew to 28-16. Hope led 34-22 at the half.
Majerus, who led the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 3-point accuracy for the second year in a row, scored 11 points during a 30-point Flying Dutch third quarter, capped off by her fifth 3-pointer, as Hope led 64-48 heading into the final 10 minutes.
"We had a nice little chat in shootaround today. I just kind of checked in on her," head coach Brian Morehouse said of Majerus. "She should have great confidence. She knows she has it from her coach. I think the part that everybody overlooks is that she has become a really good defender. She guarded their best player tonight and nobody's talking about that. I think that was a big, big key for tonight, holding that young lady [Erin Hahn] to four points … Her calm and veteran leadership as a captain is remarkable."
The Flying Dutch led by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter in advancing to the sectional round of the NCAA tournament for the 12th time during Coach Morehouse's tenure at Hope.
Four players scored in double figures for the Flying Dutch, led by Majerus' career night. McKinney added 17 points off the bench, including three 3-pointers.
"I'm just really excited for these two ladies because they work so doggone hard. They just epitomize our program with the time they spend in the gym with their coaches and doing skill development," Morehouse said.
Senior center Olivia Voskuil of Holland, Michigan (Holland Christian) added 11 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Kenedy Schoonveld of Zeeland, Michigan [Holland Christian HS] scored 10 points to move past Maura McAfee, who played for Hope from 2013-16, into fourth place on Hope's career scoring list with 1,414 points. Schoonveld also dished out four assists and had three steals.
Junior forward Claire Baguley of Ada, Michigan (Forest Hills Central) distributed five assists, while senior guard Sydney Muller of Grand Rapids, Michigan [Grand Rapids Christian HS] and senior forward Hannah Smith of Midland, Michigan [Midland HS] each grabbed six rebounds.
Senior guard Devin Hefner led Marietta, which finished at 22-6, with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists. Junior guard Olivia Gribble added 12 points.
Strong Start Fuels Thunder Win over John Carroll in NCAA Second Round
-- Story provided by Trine University Athletics --
ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's basketball team had advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Tournament with a 63-42 win over John Carroll University in the Second Round.
The Thunder (26-3) will play Springfield College in the next round at a location to be determined. The season for the Blue Streaks (23-5) comes to an end and the departure of two of the best players in school history, Olivia Nagy and Nicole Heffington.
Trine forced John Carroll to shoot just 1-of-13 (7.7%) from beyond the arc in the game and won the turnover battle, 17-13. The Thunder scored 18 points off of Blue Streak miscues.
"I'm really proud of the way our team played today, especially defensively," head coach Andy Rang noted in his press conference. "We set the tone early and got into them to make them uncomfortable."
The team has now gotten back to the place they were two years ago when the call came in that the event was being cancelled due to COVID-19. Senior forward Kelsy Taylor recalled, "When we got that call the morning of practice the day before, it broke our hearts. Last year we couldn't be in it with no tournament. We worked our butts off all year to get here and we're finally here! From here, it's one game at a time and worry about the team in front of us."
Opposed to their slow start in their First Round game, Trine dominated the opening minutes of this one and scored the first 15 points of the game to take a firm advantage and lead wire-to-wire. Katie Sloneker [Monroe, Ohio / Monroe] recorded a pair of makes inside and Tara Bieniewicz [Chesterfield, Mich. / Dakota] knocked down her 200th career three to highlight the run.
The first make for John Carroll came at the 3:08-mark and scores on their next four out of five offensive possessions kept the Blue Streaks in striking distance, but two field goals by Rachel Stewart [Pekin, Ind. / Eastern] made it 21-9 at the quarter break. Stewart commented postgame about the shift in headspace coming into today's game after yesterday's sluggish start. "We learned how to pick ourselves up energy wise and defensivley to get going. We needed to pick our teammates up and keep our heads high because shots will start falling."
Taylor displayed grit inside and notched two makes early in the third, but those would be the only Trine points through the first six minutes of clock time in the second quarter. John Carroll methodically worked their way back into the game and cut the lead all the way down to 25-20. Makayla Ardis [Lake City, Mich. / Lake City] was the one to break the dry spell with a three-point field goal.
After the Blue Streaks worked so hard to get within two scores, the lead ballooned back up to 16 with a 10-0 run to wrap up the half. Sam Underhill [Grand Rapids, Mich. / Northview], Kaylee Argyle [Freeland, Mich. / Freeland] and Kayla Wildman [Rockford, Mich. / Rockford] were contributors at the end of the 38-22 first half.
The Thunder forced 11 first half turnovers and held the Blue Streaks to just over 30% from the field. Trine outscored their opponents 10-0 on the fast break, a statistic that John Carroll is usually on the other side of.
Ardis tallied six of the first eight points to give her 11 on the night, a number that would end up being tied for the team-high with Stewart. In a 16-10 quarter win for Trine, the bench unit had eight in the final three minutes and change.
The teams went even through the fourth quarter as the Thunder utilized the full length of the shot clock to secure the victory. The defense kept the Blue Streaks to five points over the first six and a half minutes of action in the period. A three-minute dry spell by the Trine offense was broken by a Stewart three with four minutes remaining to go up 61-37.
The Thunder bled the clock over the final two minutes of the game en route to the 63-42 victory. Stewart and Ardis were the only Trine scorers in double figures with 11 apiece and Bieniewicz was the team's leading rebounder with eight. As a team, the Thunder won the rebounding battle 45-34 and made it nine consecutive games with double figures offensive rebounds after they pulled down 14 tonight.
Trine awaits to see where and when they will play Springfield College out of Massachusetts on Friday, March 11.
