MAITLAND, FLORIDA -- Junior forward Nancy Coulter (Washington Court House/ Miami Trace) had a double-double with team-highs of 14 points and 10 rebounds, but the No. 17-ranked Hope (Mich.) College women's basketball team defeated Baldwin-Wallace College, 62-45, today (Thursday, December 29, 2011) in the Championship Game of the RDV Classic in the RDV Sportsplex.  The Yellow Jackets (7-5) advanced to the final with a 54-50 victory against Olivet (Mich.) College on Wednesday.

The double-double by Coulter was her second this season after missing most of last season with an injury. The Yellow Jackets return to Ohio Athletic Conference action on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 when they host OAC and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center at 7:30 p.m.  B-W also hosts OAC-rival Capital University in Berea on Jan. 7 at 3:00 p.m.  Hope, 12-1 overall with 12 straight wins, was led by junior forward Courtney Kust with 19 points. In addition, freshman forward Rebekah Llorens had 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

The Flying Dutch opened the scoring at the 19:50 mark when Kust made a jump shot for a 2-0 lead. The lead grew to 5-0 when senior guard Maddie Burnett made a three-pointer at 19:06 before B-W cut the lead to 5-1 via a foul shot by sophomore center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/ Parma Normandy).

Following a pair of Hope baskets gave the Dutch a 9-1 lead, Coulter grabbed an offensive rebound and scored at 16:28 to trail 9-3. Following a 5-0 Hope run that made the score 14-3, B-W junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) made one of two foul shots at 10:55 to cut the lead to 14-4. After a Dutch foul shot made it 15-4, Coulter countered wth a pair of charity tosses at 9:55 and then a jumper at 8:49 to make it 15-8. But Hope came right back with a triple from Kust to regain a 10-point lead at 18-8 at 8:28.

After Carpenter canned a jumper at 7:55 to make it 18-10, Hope gained a point on a foul shot by Llorens at 6:49 to up the lead to 19-10.  B-W then got within seven points at 19-12 at 6:17 when freshman guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) made a jump shot. But a 5-0 run by Hope increased the lead to 12 points at 24-12 before a jumper by Yellow Jacket freshman forward Jenna Andreas (Pickerington/ North) cut the lead to 24-14 with 2:50 left before the intermission.

Another 4-0 Hope run made it 28-14 with 1:42 left before Coulter grabbed a rebound and scored at 1:09 and Smolik added a jumper with 32 seconds left to cut the lead to 10 points again at 28-18.  Hope got the final basketball of the half when Llorens made a jumper with 13 seconds left for a 30-18 advantage.

In the second half, B-W scored first to make the score 30-20 when sophomore guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville/ Senior) made a jumper at 19:35.  After the teams split 12 points, Yellow Jacket junior point guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) made one of two foul shos at 16:12 to make it 36-27. That was as close as the Jackets would get for the rest of the contest as a pair of subsequent Hope runs ended matters.

A 9-4 run by Hope pushed its lead to a game-high of 14 points at 45-31 with 11:12 left before a Lairson jumper at 10:27 ended the run and pulled B-W to within 45-33. The Flying Dutch then scored nine straight point to push the lead to 21 points at 54-33 with 5:13 left when Llorens made one of two foul shots. The closest B-W would get after that point was 17 points at 62-45 when Smolik canned a three-pointer with 14 seconds left.

For her efforts in the tourney, Lairson was named to the all-tournament team.

Media and fans are reminded that the B-W will televise two men's and women's basketball doubleheaders on regional cable network SportsTime Ohio. The games are the January 28 doubleheader versus Wilmington and the February 18 twinbill versus Ohio Northern University. B-W has broadcast more of its athletics events on regional cable TV than any other Division III school.

FOR MORE B-W Sports Information, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.