UW-Whitewater, ranked sixteenth in the D3hoops.com poll and coming off a record book performance Friday against Kalamazoo College, walked into a windmill blade Saturday.  The seventh-ranked Hope College Flying Dutch, 8-0, held UW-W, 8-3, to nine points in the first half, on 17% shooting, on the way to a 30-9 halftime lead and a 63-52 win for Hope at its Post-Exam Jam in the  DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Michigan.

With the game tied 2-2 Hope went on a (ginormous, to use Sportscenter lingo) tear.;  Hope led 14-2 with 13:05 left in the opening period, with seven of those points coming from sophomore forward Hannah Doell.  Then neither team could score, no points being registered until 10:46, when Hope extended its run to fourteen straight, to make it 16-2 while Whitewater was shooting 1-12 from the floor. 

Senior guard Sam Quandt (Hayward/Hayward) ended Whitewater's six plus minute drought with a jumper at 10:07.  After Hope made it 18-4 a cold front settled in and both teams went without scoring for more than four minutes.  Junior guard Mary Merg (Greendale/Greendale) hit a three with 4:02 on the clock to pull Whitewater to within nine, 18-9, but that would be the Warhawks last points of the half as the Flying Dutch closed with a Hans Brinker rush, 12-0.

In that 17% shooting in the first twenty minutes UW-W went 1-5 from three point range and 0-2 at the line.  Hope shot 35%, including 4-11 beyond the arc and 4-4 free throws.  Whitewater had 15 turnovers, Hope four.

Despite out-scoring the Flying Dutch 43-33 in the second half, UW-W couldn't plug all the holes in the dike in the final twenty minutes.  A three pointer by junior guard Kaitlyn Thill (Belgium/Ozaukee), followed by a Thill layup, a steal by senior forward Megan Theune(Whitewater/Whitewater) and Theune's layup, and then senior center Cortney Kumerow (Bartlett, IL/South Elgin)'s put back basket to cap the 9-0 run -- pulled Whitewater within ten, 54-44 with 4:41 in the game. Kumerow got the lead under double digits, 56-48, with a bucket in the paint with 2:12 remaining, but UW-W was forced foul to stop the clock and Hope made seven of eight free throw attempts down the stretch.

Whitewater ended up shooting 36% for the game, Hope 33%, showing the marked difference between the two halves.  Whitewater also took care of the ball better in the second twenty minutes, with seven turnovers while forcing Hope to commit eleven in the half.  UW-W shot well from the line, 10-12 for the game, but HC connected on 23-26 attempts. 

Merg led UW-W with 17 points and a game high five assists.  Theune added ten points and team high three steals, and Kumerow led both teams with ten rebounds.  Senior guards Courtney Kust and Liz Ellis shared the scoring lead with 18 apiece for Hope, with Ellis also contributing four steals.  Doell chipped in with 15 points.

Whitewater will play in another tournament later this month, facing Millikin University December 29 in the Big Easy Challenge in New Orleans, and Millsaps College December 30.  The next home game for the Warhawks is January 9 at 7:00, with UW-Platteville visiting Kachel Gym in Williams Center.