The second unit for the Hope College women's basketball team proved to be first-rate. 

The nationally-ranked Flying Dutch rallied for a 62-55 victory against Albion College on Wednesday at DeVos Fieldhouse behind 48 points off the bench. 

Hope avoided the Britons' second consecutive upset bid while tallying its own 14th consecutive win. Albion took down Trine University on Saturday, 48-38.

"I thought our bench played unbelievable," said head coach Brian Morehouse. "We've had games where our starters have carried us, and I thought our bench was just unbelievably good today.

"A 40-minute grinder. I thought we got loose in the third quarter and just started playing a little bit more free."

The Flying Dutch (18-1, 10-0 MIAA) outscored Albion by a 22-10 margin during the third quarter to take a 42-36 lead.

After Albion (11-8, 5-5 MIAA) took its largest lead of the game, 30-20, two minutes into the third quarter, Hope used a 12-2 point run that finished with Olivia Bellows sinking a shot from behind the arc to tie the game at 32-32.

Morehouse credited a mindset shift for the high-scoring third stanza. 

"I don't think it was a strategy as much as a mindset for us," said Morehouse. "We tweaked a couple things on where we attacked, but by and large it was just doing what we do better instead of changing what we do."
 
The orange-clad Flying Dutch would take the lead again for good just two minutes later thanks to two successful charity line shots from sophomore Lauren Leach (Angola, Indiana / Angola HS). 

The Albion charge did not waiver during the final quarter, as the Brits pulled as close as two points, but never swayed the leaders. 

Freshman Terin Maynard (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Jenison) and Junior Courtney Lee (Fishers, Indiana / Heritage Christian) iced the Britons with free throws during the final seconds of the game.

Bellows (Lake City, Michigan / Lake City) scored a game-high 18 points off the bench, with 10 of her points coming within the third quarter. 

Maynard chipped in 16 points off the bench for Hope. 

Junior Jada Garner (Midland, Michigan / H.H. Dow) added 14 points after going 4-for-5 from behind the arc. Garner was the lone Hope starter to score.

Lee reeled in a game-high nine rebounds in the win to keep Hope atop of the MIAA standings, and sophomore Sydney Vis (Byron Center, Michigan / South Christian) grabbed eight rebounds. 

Albion also had three players in double figures as Daniah Beavers finished with 13 points, while Riley Davis and DeBraya Edwards picked up 11 points each. 

Hope finished at 32.2% shooting from the field. Albion shot 37.5% from the field.

"I told them 'No matter how you played today, you played A+ because we won and I don't care what your stats say. The only thing that matters at the end of the day is that we won,'" said Morehouse of his team's performance. "We had to grind it out, we showed poise in the second half and we came out with a hard-fought win."

Hope travels to Calvin for another game in The Rivalry on Saturday, Jan. 27, at 3 p.m. 

Calvin won at Trine on Wednesday to move into sole possession of second place in the MIAA standings.