Ashleigh Thomas helped No. 1 Hope get the jump on No. 5 Trine in Wednesday night's marquee MIAA matchup. Photo by Lynne Powe, Hope College

By Gordon Mann
D3hoops.com

After being named the No. 1 team in the country, Hope validated that ranking by beating No. 5 Trine, 61-52, in a game that the Flying Dutch led from start to finish. After the game, however, the DeVos Fieldhouse was filled with very different emotions for the victorious team.

“I’m mad and I’m sad,” said Morehouse into his cell phone camera during the postgame press conference, searching for the words to describe another promising season cut short by the pandemic. “I just hurt for our players.”

• Wednesday's full wrapup
• Wednesday's women's scores | men's scores

For the second consecutive season, the NCAA Division III basketball championships were called off with Hope and Trine preparing for a big game.

Last March, the NCAA canceled all winter and spring sports championships at all levels because of the coronavirus, making the announcement less than two hours before the sectional rounds of the Division III basketball NCAA Tournaments were scheduled to begin. That announcement ended the season for Hope, which was undefeated, ranked No. 1 in the country and scheduled to host Baldwin Wallace in the round of 16. It also cut short the season for Trine, which was preparing for its own Sweet 16 game in Maine against Bowdoin.

On Wednesday evening, shortly before Trine and Hope tipped off, the NCAA Division III Administrative Committee announced that all Division III winter sports championship events for 2021 are canceled because there were not enough participating institutions in any sport to meet the minimum participation thresholds required for the event.

This time around, Hope and Trine played their scheduled game, with the Flying Dutch players not even aware of the NCAA’s announcement until they were told in a postgame meeting.

In the game itself, the Flying Dutch lived up to their moniker and their No. 1 ranking, bounding out to a 18-6 first quarter lead. Trine had multiple would-be open looks on offense disappear into a sea of Hope defenders, and the Flying Dutch held Trine to 2-for-14 shooting in the first quarter. Hope senior center Ashleigh Thomas outscored the Thunder by herself with nine of her 12 points in the first period.

Trine found some life in the second quarter and went on an 8-0 run that started and ended with three-pointers by Shay Herbert, the latter of which cut Trine's deficit to 23-16. Thomas ended that spurt with a three pointer on Hope’s next possession and the Flying Dutch finished the first half up 32-23.

In the second half, the Thunder tried to turn the tide with aggressive defense and pulled within six on a Kayla Wildman three-point play with 6:24 to play in the third period.

But shortly after that, the Thunder committed their fifth team foul, putting Hope in the bonus. The Flying Dutch converted their free throws when they were fouled again and Ella McKinney hit a three-pointer to push the Hope advantage up to 44-37. Trine would not get within single digits again until the game’s final seconds.

McKinney finished with 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting in 18 minutes. All-American Kenedy Schoonveld had nine points, all in the second half after taking just one shot in the first. But she also held Trine’s leading scorer Tara Bieniewicz to just five points.

“Kenedy isn’t just an All-American offensively,” Morehouse remarked in the postgame. “She’s an All-American because she plays defense every single play.”

Kenedy is one of several seniors on the Flying Dutch roster who have now seen two seasons with national title aspirations end prematurely. Morehouse said that the process for building this senior-laden roster started years ago when Schoonveld, Olivia Voskuil and their fellow seniors were still in middle school. Schoonveld is the daughter of Hope College Athletic Director Tim Schoonveld and the Flying Dutch are a program built on local talent, with the players often having a family connection back to the College.

“I can remember a night five years ago when they (as high school seniors) all came to the same game. All the seniors. I bet one of the conversations they had was winning a championship.”

While it is much too soon to know how many of those seniors may use the NCAA waiver that would extend their athletic eligibility another year, Morehouse acknowledged it is unlikely most of them will.

“It’s a pretty tough ask to have people come back and pay for a fifth year. They came here to get a four year degree and most of them graduate in three and a half.”

Some of the seniors, like Thomas and Lauren Newman, are nursing majors who are close to finishing their certifications. “They have a bigger goal,” Morehouse pointed out. “To serve on the front lines of health care.”

Unlike last season, when the coronavirus stopped the season in its tracks, this one is not over yet for Hope or Trine. The teams are scheduled to play again on February 24 on Trine’s home court. That game, unlike this one, will count in the MIAA standings.

And beyond that?

“I would like to have that feeling (of playing with my teammates),” Thomas said while seated next to two of her teammates, all of them wearing masks that could not hide their emotions.

“Eight more times. Nine more times. However many more we get. I’d love to experience (another win) with this group of girls.”