After 10 back-and-forth minutes with a game opponent in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament, the Hope College women's basketball team headed to its bench to recoup.

The Flying Dutch heeded the instructions from head coach Brian Morehouse, taking control during the second quarter and beginning their postseason march to an 82-61 win against St. Norbert College (Wis.) on Friday in front of a DeVos Fieldhouse crowd of 1,528.

"A well-coached St. Norbert team. Starts are difficult right now," head coach Brian Morehouse said. "We were a little out of sorts in the first quarter. I think that adversity will help us. I think we responded really well. 

"I challenged them to compete harder on defense, specifically to rebound better. We turned that up."

Hope, 26-2 and last season's national champion, advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round for the sixth consecutive postseason appearance and the 17th time overall.

The Flying Dutch will host Wartburg College (Iowa) on Saturday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m at DeVos Fieldhouse. Tickets are on sale online. They also can be purchased at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students with ID and for youth.

Ironically, Wartburg is the last team to beat Hope in the NCAA Tournament. The Flying Dutch have won eight postseason games in a row since a 79-49 loss at Wartburg in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

Wartburg defeated Baldwin Wallace University (Ohio) in Friday's first game.

"Excited to be moving on," Morehouse said. "At this stage, you're just hoping to play well, win the game and move on."

Hope held a narrow 17-14 lead after the first quarter after St. Norbert nearly matched the Flying Dutch in field-goal shooting and 3-pointers made.

In the second half quarter, Hope stayed hot from the floor while cooling down the Green Knights.

Hope raced to a 42-28 lead and never trailed.

Senior forward Savannah Feenstra (Osceola, Indiana / NorthWood) powered the Flying Dutchmen offense by scoring 14 of her game-high 19 points before halftime. 

Feenstra finished nearly perfect from the field, going 8-of-9 with the lone miss coming from 3-point range. Feenstra also grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

Morehouse said Feenstra excelled at getting herself open throughout the game.

"The great thing was we didn't run a ton of specific things to her, but I think she moved really well without the ball and became a tough moving target," Morehouse said. "A lot of it was Sav moving without the ball. I also thought it was her teammates really recognizing as the ball moved and (St. Norbert) expanded out how they could hit Sav. She went to work and was super efficient."

Feenstra made it easy to find her, senior guard Ella McKinney (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) said.

"It's all about trust," McKinney said. "You can ask any of her guards out there. Whenever we drive, we know Sav's going to be in the right spot. When we drive, we know she's there, we're just looking to the defenders to see if two or three people are there. If they are, we'll find our shooters outside. If they are not, she's there."

McKinney, who scored 15 points herself, was one of three Hope players with three assists.

Seniors Claire Baguley (Ada, Michigan / Forest Hills Central), Meg Morehouse (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland East), and Kate Majerus (Sycamore, Illinois / Sycamore) also recorded three assists apiece.

Baguley also reached double figures in scoring with 10 points, all after halftime.

Feenstra credited her teammates.

"They did all the work," Feenstra said. "I was in the right spot, but it was easy because my guards did all the work for me. I know they're going to work as hard as they can (and) get those drives. I've just to do my part and help them out."

St. Norbert finished the season at 24-4. Four Green Knights reached double figures, including three with 13 points apiece: Kaycee Gierczak, Casey Jepson and Emma Morrisey.