In the words of Hope College women's basketball head coach Brian Morehouse, his team needed a "grinder" on Saturday afternoon - a hard-fought game against a nationally-ranked opponent.

The Flying Dutch met the challenge, as the defending NCAA Division III national champions pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 89-77, at DeVos Fieldhouse to win the Hope Tournament championship.

Hope, ranked No. 1 in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, improved to 4-0 on the season while dealing the Blugolds, ranked 13th in the preseason poll, their first loss in five games.

"That was a really big win," Morehouse said. "I think that this particular senior class needed a top-10 win. They needed a signature win. That's two weekends in a row where they've played teams that are going to be in the top 15, top 10. I believe that Eau Claire is one of the better teams in the United States."

Hope's senior class came up big in the fourth quarter with the game on the line. The Blugolds had taken a 63-62 lead early in the quarter on a 3-point basket by Kyla Overskei.

But 11 seconds after Overskei's basket, senior forward Claire Baguley of Ada, Michigan (Forest Hills Central) responded with a three-point play. Eau Claire came back with a basket to tie the score, but Baguley scored on a driving layup moments later to put the Flying Dutch ahead to stay at 67-65 with 8:54 remaining.

Then senior guard Ella McKinney of Haslett, Michigan, (Haslett) went to work. She scored 11 of her career-high and DeVos Fieldhouse-record 31 points in the game's final 6-1/2 minutes, including a 3-point dagger that put Hope ahead 84-71 with 3:10 remaining.

McKinney, whose previous career high was 21 points in the national championship win over Wisconsin-Whitewater last March, made 11-of-19 shots from the field for the game, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range. She also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and played solid defense the entire game.

"What can you say about Ella? Ella was magnificent all day long," Morehouse said. "I think the cool thing about Ella is, she's got 30 today and a double-double, but she's efficient, She's 11-for-19. It's not like she's taking 25-30 shots. That's the quietest 19 shots ever."

McKinney, who was named the tournament most valuable player, became the first Hope women's player to score at least 30 points in a game since Carrie Snikkers scored 31 points against Saint Mary's College on January 3, 2009. It was just the eighth such performance in school history. The school record is 42 points by Kari Nysse against Albion College on January 9, 1996.

Hope opened the game with seven consecutive points, but Eau Claire came back to take a 17-15 lead late in the first quarter. It would be a battle of the teams exchanging runs all night, as the lead changed hands 10 times and was tied six times. The Flying Dutch led 22-21 after the first quarter and 36-34 at the half. The teams were tied at 60-all heading into the final 10 minutes.

Hope continued its red-hot shooting, hitting 53 percent of its field goal attempts (33 of 62), including nine 3-pointers. After struggling at the free throw line early, Hope made 11 of 13 from the line in the second half to finish 14 of 21 (67 percent) for the contest.

Hope placed four players in double figures, led by McKinney's career day. Senior center Savannah Feenstra of Osceola, Indiana (NorthWood) scored a season-high 17 points. 

Baguley added 13 and senior guard Meg Morehouse of Zeeland, Michigan (Zeeland East) chipped in 11. Sophomore guard Jada Garner of Midland, Michigan (Midland Dow) came off the bench to dish out six assists. 

Feenstra was named to the all-tournament team.

"Sav trusts Ella. Ella trusts Sav. Ella trusts Claire," Brian Morehouse said. "They all trust each other. They trust Meg. First half, Meg's keeping us in it. Our identity was once again, we want to keep constant pressure with our speed. I think we stole 8-10 points in this game on kick-aheads and racking the ball, getting layups in transition. Even on makes (by Eau Claire), we were working on getting the ball up and down the court."

Preseason All-American Jessie Ruden led the Blugolds with 22 points, but shot just 9-of-24 from the field as she was pressured by Meg Morehouse, McKinney and Garner throughout the game.

"They're an incredibly difficult team to turn over," Brian Morehouse said. "They're one of the most difficult teams I've ever coached against to turn over. We weren't going to turn them over, so we had to outrebound them and hopefully limit our turnovers. I also thought we shot the ball well from three. We made free throws going down the stretch. We got the ball to the right people."

Hope returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 22., as the Flying Dutch host Wisconsin Lutheran College. Tipoff is 7 p.m. Eastern time.