-- Story provided by Hope College Athletics --
A young and once-unheralded Hope College women's basketball team made its mark during the 2023-24 season.
Despite graduating all five starters after last season, the nationally-ranked Flying Dutch made its 13th Sweet Sixteen appearance before losing at the nationally-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 72-61, on Friday.
Whitewater (25-4) advanced to host 2023 national champion Transylvania University (Ky.) in the NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday, March 9. Transylvania defeated the University of Wisconsin-Stout, 63-58, in Friday's first game; it was the Pioneers' 63rd consecutive victory.
Hope, which finished with a 26-4 overall record, rallied late but could not overcome a 41-23 halftime deficit.
Head coach Brian Morehouse was proud of all that the Flying Dutch accomplished, including winning two NCAA Tournament road games and claiming an MIAA regular-season championship.
"I thought last summer they were a pretty connected group. Honestly, I thought they played with a chip on their shoulder all season long. A lot of people didn't think they were going to be very good after graduating everybody that played the past two seasons," Morehouse said. "They worked hard. They felt it was their time. I thought they did a great job of going out there and showing what they could do given the opportunities.
"I thought they did a great job this year."
Watch post-game interview with Brian Morehouse, Raven Jemison and Jada Garner
Senior center Raven Jemison (Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Kentwood HS) topped Hope in scoring with a career-high 14 points on 87.5% field-goal shooting (7-8). Jemison also grabbed a team-best six rebounds.
Sophomore forward Sydney Vis (Byron Center, Michigan / South Christian) chipped in 13 points.
Junior guard Jada Garner (Midland, Michigan / H.H. Dow) also reached double figures with 11 points.
Whitewater received 25 points and nine rebounds from forward Alicia Grundahl and 19 points and four assists from guard Kari Carollo. Grundahl shot 60% from the field (12-20).
Guard Lunden Alexander added 13 points off the bench.
Whitewater finished 50% shooting from the field (29-58) and outrebounded Hope 41-27. It was the first time in 158 games an opponent outrebounded the Flying Dutch by double digits.
The Warhawks buried seven of their eight 3-pointers during the opening 20 minutes as they opened a 41-23 halftime lead.
Whitewater pulled ahead by 22 points during the first 49 seconds of the third quarter before Hope rallied to pull as close as 11 points three minutes into the fourth quarter.
"I thought it was a competitive game. The second quarter got away from us. I thought that was the ballgame," Morehouse said. "We gave up plus-11 in that quarter and they shot a very high percentage. Credit to them, a really good team. I think it's tough for a young team to go on the road two weekends in a row, in two really tough places to play. I thought we fought to the end, and had a great fourth quarter. We just couldn't put it into single digits and put that extra pressure on them."
