The nationally-ranked Flying Dutch began their postseason march with a new group of faces.
The Hope College Women's basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament with a 65-54 win over Ripon College on Friday evening in Greencastle, Indiana.
The MIAA regular season champions used a second-half push after using the first half to get comfortable in a new environment.
"It's always great to advance," said head coach Brian Morehouse. "We were able to beat a really good, and really well-coached team. I think sometimes people forget how young we are…and they're figuring out how to play in the NCAA Tournament with a bunch of people who haven't done it before."
Hope, 25-3, advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round for the seventh consecutive postseason appearance and 18th overall.
The Flying Dutch will take on host DePauw University on Saturday, March 2 at 8 p.m.
DePauw defeated Berea College (Ky.), 74-52, in Friday's second game.
Hope held a 33-28 lead after the first half after Ripon rebounded from a nine-point first quarter, outscoring Hope by a narrow margin of 19-17 in the second quarter.
Hope got hot in the third quarter, shooting 50% from the field, to bring the Redhawks to a simmer.
The Flying Dutch jumped to a 49-37 lead heading into the final stanza.
Juniors Jada Garner (Midland, Michigan / H.H. Dow HS) and Olivia Bellows (Lake City, Michigan / Lake City) shared a game-high 15 points.
Both Garner and Bellows went 2-for-4 from behind the 3-point line.
Garner also dished out a team-high four assists.
Senior Raven Jemison (Grand Rapids, Michigan / East Kentwood) snagged a game-high eight rebounds.
Three Hope players had three steals in the game: junior Keegan Kaiser (New Albany, Indiana / Floyd Central), Junior Courtney Lee (Fishers, Indiana / Heritage Christian), and freshman Terin Maynard (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Jenison).
Hope outscored Ripon in second-chance points 17-4.
"It's a pretty unique experience when we began the season unranked, and that's where we should have been," Morehouse said of this year's team. "I'm just excited about the growth of this group, and it's just exciting to watch them improve year long. They've been able to gut games out and play really close games and tough 'em out."
Ripon finished the season at 19-9. Natalie Rauwolf led the Midwest Conference champions with 13 points. Bella Opelt had 11 points.