A decisive third quarter helped the nationally-ranked Hope College women's basketball team to a 63-57, CUNYAC Coaches vs. Tournament opening-game win over Salem State University (Mass.) on Thursday afternoon in the Bronx.
The Flying Dutch's seventh victory in a row moved them to 11-1 this season.
Hope also advanced to the championship game on Friday, Dec. 29 at 2 p.m. against host Lehman College.
Lehman (2-8) defeated the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, 69-61, in Thursday's second matinee.
The Flying Dutch are ranked 12th in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll and 16th in d3hoops.com poll.
After leading by just four points at halftime, Hope outscored Salem State 19-12 during the third quarter and 23-18 during the fourth quarter.
Sophomore Sydney Vis (Byron Center, Michigan / South Christian HS) nabbed a career-high 22 points to lead Hope.
Vis also had a team-high four assists and tied for a game-high three steals with juniors Jada Garner (Midland, Michigan / H.H. Dow) and Courtney Lee (Fishers, Indiana / Heritage Christian).
"I thought it was a really good day for [Vis], she drew three fouls, and the four assists showed that she was playing aggressively but not just for her shot, but for her team," said head coach Brian Morehouse. "I was really happy with the way that she played."
Freshman Chloe Brunsberg (Chaska, Minnesota / Southwest Christian) and Garner joined Vis in double-digit points with 14 and 10, respectively.
Brunsberg paced Hope's bench points which totaled 31. Brunsberg shot 5-of-6 from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
Senior Raven Jemison (Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Kentwood) grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to match her season-high.
"Raven got in some foul trouble but was able to play past that and did a really nice job, especially on the boards. I was very happy with how she played on both ends [of the court]."
Both teams started slow. Each team shot less than 27% during the first quarter, but Hope held a 14-6 lead.
"The holiday break for both teams led to not the shooting performances either team would have liked, but I thought we got things going in the right direction in the third quarter, little bit better energy and little bit better defense. We held them to 33% in the third quarter, and that allowed our offense cranked up a bit," said Morehouse.
Lehman outscored the Flying Dutch, 21-17 during the second quarter to trail 31-27 at halftime.