The nationally-ranked Hope College women's basketball team came up short in its bid for a fifth consecutive MIAA Tournament championship Saturday night at DeVos Fieldhouse as the Flying Dutch fell to Trine University 63-59.

Hope, which won the MIAA championship for having the best record in conference play in regular season play at 15-1, fell to 24-3 overall with the loss.

The Thunder improved to 21-7 by giving the Flying Dutch their first MIAA Tournament home loss since DeVos Fieldhouse opened in 2005. Hope had won 35 straight conference tournament games at home before Saturday's loss.

The Flying Dutch (No. 7 WBCA/No. 9 D3hoops) are expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. The tournament announcement will take place on Monday afternoon.

The game was close all the way, with neither team leading by more than seven points. The game was tied nine times and the lead changed hands nine times.

The Flying Dutch went on a 12-2 run in the first quarter, highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers by sophomore guard Karsen Karlblom of Crystal Lake, Illinois (Prairie Ridge) to take an 18-12 lead

The Thunder responded with a 14-2 run of its own to grab a 26-20 advantage early in the second quarter. Trine led 31-29 at the half and 48-46 after three quarters.

Trine outscored the Flying Dutch 15-13 during the fourth quarter.

"I thought the story of the game was free throws," head coach Brian Morehouse said.. "They doubled (us) on the free-throw line and we lose the game by four. They get 15 free throws and we got eight ... we had the same number of field goals in the game. We had one more three, they had one more two that we did."

The Thunder sank 10 of 15 free throws to 5 of 8 for Hope. The Flying Dutch outrebouned Trine 36-27 for the contest.

Karlblom led the Flying Dutch with 13 points while freshman Terin Maynard of Grand Rapids, Michigan (Jenison) added 12 in a little more than 11 minutes off the bench.

"She doesn't shrink from the moment at all. She's an absolute warrior," Morehouse said of Maynard. "She's unfazed and unafraid. I think that's what you want. It's pretty cool to see a young player be able to play like that, with that kind of poise in a big game."

Jada Rhonehouse led Trine with 15 points and Sidney Wagner added 14.