Hope women beat St. Mary's, back to 'competitive excellence'

HOLLAND - After struggling in a game where nothing seemed to go in the basket, the Hope College women's basketball team came out firing.

Kate Majerus hit her first three 3-point attempts and shots were falling from all over the floor as Hope bounced back from a stunning loss at Albion on Saturday to roll past St. Mary's 121-51 on Wednesday at DeVos Fieldhouse.

No. 9 Hope (15-2, 6-2 MIAA) shot less than 25% from the field against Albion but shot 75% in the first quarter against the Belles and didn't dip too far the rest of the game, finishing at 65%.

"Being a rhythmic shooter like I am, that first one is huge," Majerus said. "I felt good in warmups and I was excited for the opportunity to shoot the ball, and it is great to see them go through the hoop."

Meg Morehouse provided an instant spark for Hope, diving for a loose ball and slamming into the floor and scorer's table on the first play of the game.

"We played with really good pace and shot the ball amazingly well," Hope coach Brian Morehouse said. "The tone setter was coming out to compete and Meg diving and bouncing around on the floor set the tone for the whole game - and we were already revved up. It was a great example of competing at a different level."

More:No. 4 Hope women stunned at Albion, drop to third in MIAA

Her teammates immediately responded.

"It was everything," Majerus said. "Those energy plays are what gets us going. It just leads us to the rest of the game."

Clinging to a 10-8 lead in the first quarter, Majerus hit her second 3-pointer of the game, then her third. In between, fastbreak baskets by Claire Baguley, Savannah Feenstra and Jada Garner pushed the Hope lead to 28-10. Majerus scored under the basket after a nice inbounds pass and Hope led 33-12 after the first quarter.

The Flying Dutch kept the offense going in the second quarter and led 56-18 at halftime and rolled to the MIAA victory.

Hope struggled offensively and lost to Albion 69-53 on Saturday, the first time the Flying Dutch have been held to fewer than 60 points this season. It led to the team's first loss to a team other than Trine in three years.

"The loss to Albion stung for sure. Being a fifth-year senior. That was my only other loss to an MIAA school other than Trine. That definitely stung," Majerus said. "But we had this game. After the Trine loss, we didn't have a game for a few weeks because of winter break. But we could come right back this week and show everyone we are ready to compete."

Majerus was 4-for-5 shooting with three 3s and scored 11 points. Baguley was 5-for-7 with 11 points, while Feenstra was 5-for-7 with 13 points.

"The difference was the leadup to this game. Our past two practices were probably the best we have had all season," Majerus said. "Competitive excellence is something coach is striving for. We have been amping it up to a different level in practice. The goal is to get paint touches and have them collapse on us so we can kick out to shooters. And it is about shooting with confidence."

Olivia Bellows scored 19 points off the bench. Sydney Vis had 13 points, while Kendall Sietsema and Karsen Karlblom each added 11. Jada Garner dished out six of Hope's 26 assists. Lina Rea had four assists and Hannah Kurncz, Meg Morehouse and Ella McKinney each added three. Karlblom had seven rebounds.

"We are trying a few things offensively, and they are working. We are playing with better ball movement, and when you play harder on defense, you play better on offense. I truly believe that," Morehouse said. "You are focused at a different level. Our competition level was more consistent than it has been the past six games."

Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hope College women beat St. Mary's, back to 'competitive excellence'