by Mackenzie McMahon

The Hope College women's basketball team took back their winning ways on Saturday by gaining the lead after halftime over Albion College and never looked back. 

With just a three point lead after the first quarter the Flying Dutch were then outscored 7-10 with a three-point shot by Albion at the buzzer to halftime that sealed a 22-22 tie. 

"We knew it was going to be a really physical, and tough game. We did not shoot the ball well, but I thought we defended incredibly well for 40 min," said head coach Brian Morehouse. "I thought we showed a lot of mental and physical toughness throughout the whole game"

Albion would take a lead as big as 6 points before Hope would start their engines to fire back. The orange and blue would go on a five-point run to bring the difference back to three. A Kate Majerus (Sycamore, Ill. / Sycamore HS) three pointer would seal a two point lead for Hope College to head into the fourth quarter. 

A 13-point run to start the fourth quarter beginning with a Sydney Muller, pictured right, layup at the end of the third quarter and ending with a Kenedy Schoonveld layup in the fourth quarter, the Flying Dutch saw themselves with a 49-36 lead with less than four minutes remaining in the game. 

"Sydney Muller's layup and foul at the end of the third quarter was big. It got us into the lead finally and it was a big signature moment, she knocked down the free throw, which we had struggled to do, so I thought that gave us a little bit of momentum," said Morehouse of the big run for Hope. 

Muller, a senior from Grand Rapids, MI (Grand Rapids Christian), led the Flying Dutch in points with eight. Savannah Feenstra (Osceola, Ind. / Northwood), pictured left, also grabbed eight points from the bench to help the Flying Dutch grab the victory over Albion. 

"Savannah Feenstra played her second game in a row where she played incredibly physically tough. Getting rebounds, diving on the floor, I thought she was incredible."

Hope College kept Albion's leading scorer to just 10 points tonight despite her averaging 12.5 points per game this season. 

"The two people I wanna call out the most are Meg Morehouse and Kasey DeSmit on the job they did on the point today, on one of the toughest guards in our league," said Morehouse. "I think they just did an incredible job of keeping Lolo Reed in front of them, it's almost an impossible task as good as she is with the ball."

The Flying Dutch moved to 17-1 overall and 9-1 in MIAA conference play with the 51-38 Albion win. They take the court again on Saturday, Feb. 5 at home as they play host to Saint Mary's (Ind.) on senior day. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. at DeVos Fieldhouse.