BEREA, OHIO --  Sophomore All-American center Carrie Snikkers scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds as the #2-ranked Hope College women's basketball team defeated Baldwin-Wallace College, 69-53, in a second round NCAA Division III National Tournament game tonight (Saturday, March 7, 2009) in the DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Michigan. The Flying Dutch victory marked the second straight year that Hope eliminated B-W in the second round of the NCAA tourney.

 

In addition to Snikkers, sophomore guard Philana Greene scored 15 points and sophomore forward Erika Bruinsma came off the bench to score 13 markers for Hope, now 27-1 overall, including 19 straight wins. The Flying Dutch now advance to the Sectional/ third round next weekend at a site and against an opponent yet to be determined. In addition, Hope now leads the all-time series with B-W, 4-2, including 2-1 in NCAA tournament contests. Hope also is 60-1 all-time at the DeVos Center

 

B-W, which ends its season at 22-8 overall, was led by senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Rachael Quiring (Brunswick/ Parma Heights/ Holy Name) with a career-high 21 points, including an eight-of-eight effort at the foul line. In addition, junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC center Ariel Brough (Powell/ Olentangy-Liberty) had her second straight double-double with 15 points and a career-high-tying 15 rebounds. Despite its loss, B-W had its 12th 20-win season in the last 13 years. The Yellow Jackets also are 11-11 all-time in NCAA tourney play.

 

In the first half, the Flying Dutch jumped out to a 7-0 lead at the 16:34 mark when Snikkers rebounded a missed shot and scored. B-W finally got on the board at the 16:06 mark when sophomore backup guard Courtney Ritzler (Fostoria/ Hopewell-Loudon) made one of two foul shots to make the score 7-1.

 

Hope continued to build its lead to 14-1 at the 13:43 mark with another 7-0 run that was culminated by a three-pointer by sophomore forward Erika Bruisma. B-W then went on its own 9-0 run to close to 14-10 at the 11:07 mark when Brough made a jump shot.  B-W followed with a 7-4 run, capped by a three-pointer by Quiring, to cut the lead to 18-17 with 9:19 left. It also ended a 16-4 Yellow Jacket surge. Undaunted, the Dutch made two straight three-pointers to regain a seven-point lead at 24-17 with 7:12 left.

 

After the teams traded baskets for a 26-19 score, B-W went on a 5-0 run to close to 26-24 with 3:08 left when sophomore backup guard Carrie Ritzler (Fostoria/ Hopewell-Loudon) made one of two free throws. Hope then went on a 7-0 run to build its lead back to nine points at 33-24 with 1:07 left when Greene made a basket, was fouled and made the foul shot. B-W countered with a 4-0 run, all on foul shots by Quiring to get within 33-28 with 13 seconds left, but a pair of foul shots by Hope made the score 35-28 at halftime.

 

In the second half, B-W closed to within six points on two separate occassions with the last being at 39-33 with 17:47 left when Quiring made two more free throws. Hope then went on a 10-0 run to take control of the game and build a double-digit lead of 16 points at 49-33 with 14:07 left when Greene made one of two foul shots.  Hope then went on to increase its lead to 21 points on two separate occassions and coasted to the win.