Hope coach Brian Morehouse high-fives guard Tyra Smith after the Flying Dutch's victory over Calvin. Photo by Robert Kurtycz, Hope College

Hope College's women's basketball team has high expectations every season.

Rightfully so – the Flying Dutch are a perennial MIAA title contender and regular participant in the NCAA tournament.

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This season is no exception. Hope is tied atop the MIAA standings and hopes to reach the national tourney for the fifth season in a row. But, instead of playing with an All-American (Maura McAfee) and conference defensive player of the year (Autumn Anderson), the team has carved out a new identity en route to an 18-2 overall record.

Instead of one or two headline players, the Flying Dutch attack from all over the floor.

"Our culture changes each year. I think this year, we are a very, very close group on and off the court," Hope junior guard Madison Geers said. "We have a lot of people who can do a lot of different things; we're very diverse. We each share a role. If one person is not having a good game, we have so much depth that we don't need to focus on just one person.

"That can be very helpful for us as we go into the playoffs. We have depth and the conditioning where we can run our transition game. We have 15 girls we can put in. It's nice to have that."

Hope doesn't hesitate to go to its bench for a spark.

"We pride ourselves on our depth. The starters do what they do and there's really no drop off when the second string comes in," Hope senior forward Mandy Traversa said "They give us a good rest and we know we don't have to worry. We have a solid five or six players who come off the bench that can get a few points if we need them, or a key rebound or a big steal. That really helps."

The depth has allowed the Flying Dutch to pick up the pace this season.

"It's a little bit of a different team for us. We're much smaller than we have been in the past, size-wise," said Hope coach Brian Morehouse, who is in his 21st year. "I've had to adjust my coaching and expectations a bit and adjust how we attack people. It's been a unique year. We're OK playing at a higher tempo and OK taking shots a little quicker. We're in transition a little more and our possessions are up."

The team's speed has paid off. Hope averaged 80.0 points per game last season, but is at 82.2 ppg so far.

"We definitely have been focusing on the transition game a little more and trying to get people to play at a higher tempo. We are good at our half-court offense, but we prefer to run on people," Geers said. "I still think our team is climbing up. We haven't peaked or leveled off. Hopefully, we peak at the right time. I have a lot of faith our team will do that."

The Flying Dutch encountered some adversity when it dropped an 83-77 overtime decision at Albion in MIAA play on Jan. 25. The team turned that defeat into motivation.

"We only suffered that loss for 24 hours. We can't dwell on the past. We knew what we did wrong. We know what to do now," Traversa said. "Sometimes, it's OK to lose. It was kind of a wakeup call for us. We see we're not perfect. In a way, that loss was kind of good for us. We're now even more focused. We know the margin of error for losing is very slim now in our conference. I think this team is practicing even harder to make sure we don't slip up again."

Leadership is another key for Hope. The team leans on its six seniors in Angelique Gaddy, Allison Hedrick, Paris Madison, Elizabeth Perkins, Tyra Smith, and Traversa. Gaddy, Smith, and Traversa are starters. Perkins was, but was lost for the season with an injury. Hedrick and Madison are two of the team's top reserves.

"Every one of those seniors has played two or three years of varsity. You can tell when they are out there that they're just so calm. It really helps the other players calm down and get into our offense or set the tone for our game," Geers said. "I think they are a big factor for us in key situations. They are all leaders out there, so it really helps."

Traversa insists the leadership isn't limited to the senior class.

"I remember my sophomore year, we had five seniors and it was very calming to know they were in all kinds of situations before and knew what to do. To have the other seniors with me is nice. We've played with each other for a long time. We know how we play and our tendencies," she said. "The younger kids look up to us. They lead, too. They take the reins sometimes, too, and we follow them. Everyone contributes in their own way.

"We're doing really well right now. For the seniors, it's our last year and we want to go all out. All of us have worked so hard to make sure it happens. We're focused on going 1-0 every game and every game is a big game. That's our mentality. We're not circling any one game on our calendar. We'll just go as far as we can."

Holmes sets another record

Denison senior Jordan Holmes set the NCAA D-III record for career rebounds. Her 1,578 career rebounds rank her eighth all-time across all divisions of the NCAA. Earlier this year she became D-III's career leader in blocked shots. Her 590 blocks ranks third all-time across all divisions of the NCAA. She is the reigning NCAC player of the year.