Want confirmation of the Hope College women's basketball team's commitment to its hallmark balanced team attack? Look no further than Saturday's 70-53 win over Albion College at the Britons' Kresge Gymnasium.

Sophomore guard Meg Morehouse of Zeeland (Zeeland East HS), pictured right, was the only Flying Dutch player in double-digit scoring with 10 points, and her last two points came late with 1:16 left in the game.

The rest of No. 1-ranked Hope's high scorers followed this way:

• two players with nine points each (senior center Olivia Voskuil and sophomore forward Claire Baguley),
• one player with seven points (junior forward Hannah Smith),
• and four players with six points apiece (forward Kate Majerus, senior guard Kenedy Schoonveld, senior guard Sydney Muller, and senior guard Natalee Kott).

Coach Brian Morehouse's Flying Dutch extended their win streak to 37 games. The victory gives Hope an 8-0 overall record this year while being 2-0 in the MIAA.

Albion is 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the league.

"It was a beautiful game in that regard (team balance) because that's really what we want to do," Morehouse said. "Our bench had 40 of our 70 points, which was really big. And that's why it's a team, you know. That's what we've always hung our hat on — being a great team.

"I thought that our starters have been so consistent all year long in their efficiency. And today was a harder day for them. I didn't do a great job in getting plays called and getting them into the right sports but they gutted it out. Their defense was very good."

The Flying Dutch started the game in its typical hot-hand fashion. After the first 63 seconds, Hope had a 7-0 lead. By the 1:52 mark in the first quarter after a Morehouse layup, Hope led 21-5.

But over the course of the next 12 minutes, Albion came back at the Flying Dutch, forcing Hope into 10 of their 20 total turnovers in the time and whittling the lead down to 34-28 at halftime. 

"Our 14 turnovers (total) in the first half, combined with poor free-throw shooting, really, really put us in a difficult spot," added Morehouse. "Luckily, we got off to a blazing start. We had 21 points with thirteen minutes to go in the first half but then we really limped home to the the end of that first half.  . .We rallied the troops at halftime, though." 

The Britons got their closest to the Flying Dutch just 10 seconds into the second half when Rain Hinton hit a three-pointer to cut the Hope lead to 34-31. For the middle portion of the third quarter, the Britons continued to hang close, but the end of the period, the Flying Dutch extended their lead to 12 points, 51-39, and then they widened it over the last 10 minutes.

Near the end of the fourth quarter, Hope achieved its largest lead – 22 points – when sophomore forward Savannah Feenstra hit a free throw to make it, 67-45, with 2:35 left to play.

The Flying Dutch had 18 more rebounds for the game than the Britons, 51-33.  

"I thought a big, big key to the game was our rebounding," Morehouse said. "(Olivia) Voskuil obviously had a nice rebounding game with seven, but Claire Baguley had seven rebounds too, and Ella McKinney led with nine.

"Kenedy offensively rebounded harder than I think she's ever offensively rebounded before. She didn't come up with them all, but she got her hands on a few of them before the ball went out of bounds and we maintained possession. So sometimes you don't always get the stats, but when you make the effort, good things happen. I thought that that made the difference in the game."

As did reducing their turnovers in the second half as the Flying Dutch had only six miscues in the last 20 minutes.

Hope bested the Britons in field goal percentage (41% to 30.5%) though Albion was better at the free throw line than the Flying Dutch. Hope made 14 of 26 free throws for 53.8% while the Briton went 11-for-16 for 68.8%.

The Flying Dutch return to DeVos Fieldhouse for a home game against Alma College on Wednesday, Feb. 17. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m.