Women's Basketball

Press Release

3/14/2008 - HOPE 47, GEORGE FOX 40: Flying Dutch Too Much for Bruins at the End

Box Score

BROWNWOOD, Texas - Carrie Snikkers hit two critical three-pointers late in the second half, the only two for her team in the game, as the No. 1-ranked Hope College Flying Dutch escaped the upset-minded George Fox University Bruins 47-40 in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament sectional Friday evening here at the Brownwood Coliseum.

Hope (30-0), the 2006 national champion, advances to an "Elite 8" game Saturday at 7:00 p.m. against the winner of Friday's second game between host Howard Payne University (29-0), the No. 2-ranked team and only other unbeaten in the nation, and De Sales University (26-3). George Fox (25-5), with a new school record for wins in a season, exits the tournament after reaching the "Sweet 16" for the third time in five NCAA appearances in the last nine years.

The defensive battle before 1,645 fans was closely contested throughout the entire 40 minutes, the final seven-point margin being the largest lead either team would enjoy. It was the closest anyone has come to the Dutch all season, other than a 64-62 win at Albion College on Jan. 19. There were six ties and four lead changes in the first half, Hope holding a three-point lead three times in the first four minutes, but George Fox leading for most of the period.

Tiffany Behary's three-pointer, one of three she nailed in the first half, gave the Bruins an 18-17 lead with 11:52 left, and she drained another with 10 minutes to go to make it a 21-17 lead. The Bruins held four-point advantages three more times, the last when Nicole Hudson canned a trey to make it 28-24 with 4:53 left, but they did not score again in the period, enabling the Dutch to tie it at halftime on layups by Courtney Knox and Snikkers.

George Fox shot .423 (11-26) in the first half and Hope hit .440 (11-25), but both teams struggled to find the range in the second half. The Dutch were held to a .333 mark (8-24) while the Bruins managed only a .167 percentage (4-24) in the final 20 minutes, and that proved to be the difference late in the game.

Melissa Marek-Farris hit a jumper to give the Bruins the early 30-28 second-half lead, but the Dutch answered with a basket by Philana Green shortly thereafter. Both teams then went scoreless over the next four-plus minutes before a Green bucket gave Hope its first lead of the half, 32-30, with 14:42 left in the game. Behary answered with her fourth trey 28 seconds later for a 33-32 Bruin lead. A Snikkers layup with 14 minutes to go put the Dutch back in front, but the Bruins regained the lead when Hudson hit a three to make it 37-35 with 7:07 left.

Snikkers tied it with a layup with 6:40 remaining before the Bruins took the lead for the last time, Katy Campbell hitting a layup with 6:25 to go and a free throw with five minutes left for a 40-37 George Fox lead. It was the last points the Bruins would score, however.

A Green jumper cut the deficit to 40-39, and Snikkers gave Hope the lead for good with her first three with 4:13 left. The Bruins missed five shots to go ahead, three of them three-point tries, over the next two-and-a-half minutes, before Snikkers hit her second three for a 45-40 Hope advantage with 1:32 left, virtually sealing the win in a game in which points were at a premium. A basket by Julie Henderson with 39 seconds left gave the Dutch some final insurance.

Behary led the Bruins with 12 points, all on threes, and made three steals. Marek-Farris added 11 points with a career-high eight blocked shots. Campbell, the Northwest Conference Player of the Year, was held to seven points but led the team with eight rebounds. George Fox finished as the No. 1 team nationally in defense, allowing only 45.4 points a game.

Jordyn Boles, Hope's leading scorer at 11.3 points per game and an All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association First Team selection, was held to only one point, but Snikkers made up the difference by leading all scorers with 16 points off the bench and picking up three steals. Green added 13 points on 6-8 from the field. Green and Lindsay Lange grabbed seven rebounds apiece as the Dutch held a 37-32 edge on the boards.