Maura McAfee

The Hope women's basketball team set a school record for points in a game while winning the Chicago Marriott Naperville Tip-off Tournament on Saturday.

The nationally ranked Flying Dutch scored 71 first-half points and defeated host North Central (Ill.) 126-56 to surpass their previous best of 118 points from a 2005 win over now Trine.

Junior forward Rebekah Llorens of Grayslake, Ill. (Grayslake Central HS), netted a game-high 23 points en route to Tournament Most Valuable Player honors for Hope (2-0 overall). She shot 9-of-14 from the field and 9-of-10 from the foul line.

Llorens averaged 17.5 points in the return to her home state.

Senior guard Brittany Berry of Grand Rapids (Catholic Central HS) and junior forward Maura McAfee of Midland (Midland HS) joined Llorens on the all-tournament team. McAfee netted 21 points against North Central (1-1), while Berry chipped in six with two 3-pointers.

North Central plays a Grinnell style of offense with full-court pressure defense and an emphasis on 3-point attempts. The Cardinals edged Ripon (Wis.) 113-111 in overtime in Friday's semifinals.

The Flying Dutch picked apart North Central's defense to shoot 57.6 percent from the field (49-of-85) and 68.6 percent from the foul line (24-of-35). Hope only attempted seven 3-pointers and made four of them.

"Most teams just aren't deep enough. They're playing 15-man rotation and rotate them every minute to minute-and-a-half. We rotated to a lot of people to keep our kids fresh.

"We had a really focused group of players. They executed the plan we laid out in the shootaround to perfection. I thought we really did a nice job of playing unselfishly, keeping our composure." 

Hope returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 19, when it tips off Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) play at Calvin.