Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw cut an 18-point deficit to seven, but Hope pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 70-55 win in the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship. The Tigers finished the season at 22-8, while the Flying Dutch improved to 26-3 and advance to the NCAA Sectional Round where they'll take on Wisconsin-Whitewater.
The first quarter was a game of streaks as Hope took an 8-1 lead with eight straight points before DePauw came back to even the score at 9-9. The Flying Dutch followed with a 10-2 stretch and led at the quarter break, 19-13.
Hope outscored DePauw, 9-2, over the opening 2:03 of the second and the Flying Dutch kept the lead in double digits the rest of the half.
Ava Hassel's 3-pointer with 5:12 remaining in the half closed the gap to 30-20, but those were the Tigers' final points of the half as Hope scored the final six for a 36-20 halftime lead.
The Flying Dutch stretched the lead to 44-26 early in the third, but the Tigers scored 10 consecutive points capped by Hassel's three with 5:52 left in the third to trim the margin to single digits.
Hope stretched the lead back to 12 before
Olivia Hart converted a three-point play and then assisted
Lyla Barr on a layup to cut the Flying Dutch lead to 50-43. After a Hope turnover, the Tigers were unable to convert two chances before Keegan Kaiser drained a three in the last minute of the third to push the lead back to 10.
Hart's layup to start the third trimmed the Flying Dutch lead to eight, but Hope countered with an Olivia Bellows' three and two free throws from Sydney Vis. Bellows and Vis then followed with buckets in the paint to make it 62-45 with 7:58 remaining. The Tigers got no closer than 13 the rest of the way.
Hassel led DePauw with 13 points, while Mont added 10. Hart grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds and Mont dished out four assists.
Vis scored a game-high 22 followed by Bellows with 14. Raven Jemison hauled down eight rebounds and Jada Garner handed out four assists.
DePauw shot 37.7 percent from the field to Hope's 47.4 percent with the Flying Dutch connecting on 10-of-15 from the free throw line to DePauw's 2 of a season-low three attempts. Hope held a 35-32 rebounding edge and committed 13 turnovers to DePauw's 16. Hope outscored the Tigers in the paint, 40-20.
