With the score tied in the waning seconds of overtime Saturday afternoon, the Hope College women's basketball team put the ball in the hands of sophomore forward Maddie Petroelje. 

Petroelje (Hudsonville, Michigan/Hudsonville) caught the inbounds pass at the top of the key, then drove left of the lane against Calvin University guard Anna Fernandez and banked in the game-winning shot from eight feet away with 0.5 seconds remaining, lifting the nationally-rank4d Flying Dutch to a heart-stopping 57-55 win over the Knights at Van Noord Arena in the 142nd women's basketball meeting in The Rivalry.

"[Associate head coach Courtney] Kust does a great job of getting us into end-of-game situations. That play is something we repped multiple times in practice. We ran it perfectly," Petroelje said after the game.

Head coach Brian Morehouse spoke of Petroelje and others on the Hope team having that "clutch gene" that enables them to step up with the game on the line.

"We could have drawn that play up for a lot of people," Morehouse said. "It takes a lot of courage to take that shot because if you miss, you feel like you lost the game for your team. So, you have to have enough confidence that you've done that before, that you've made that play before, that you can do it, and you're willing to fail so that you can succeed. I think Maddie has that, as do all of our players. But Maddie got the chance today."

Hope, ranked seventh in the country by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association poll and ninth by D3hoops, stayed within one-half game of first-place Trine University in the MIAA race with the come-from-behind win. The Flying Dutch are now 9-1 in the MIAA and 16-2 overall. Calvin slipped to 4-5 in the MIAA and 9-9 overall.

The Orange and Blue had to overcome a nightmarish first half to pull out its 22nd win in the last 23 meetings with Calvin and its 10th in a row at Van Noord Arena.

Hope went scoreless for more than five minutes to start the game, trailing 8-0 early on. Hope made only one field goal the entire first half – a basket by senior forward Sydney Vis (Byron Center, Michigan/Grand Rapids South Christian) early in the second quarter – and turned the ball over 12 times. Calvin led 25-11 at halftime.

The Flying Dutch amped up their defensive intensity in the second half, and in turn, it fueled the offense. Hope opened the half with a 9-2 run, capped off by a driving layup by sophomore guard Anna Richards (DeWitt, Michigan/Lansing Catholic), to cut the Calvin lead to 27-20.

Calvin bumped the lead back up to 12, but Hope closed out the third quarter with seven straight points, cutting the Knights' lead to 34-29 heading into the final 10 minutes of regulation.

The Hope rally continued in the fourth quarter, with Petroelje playing a central role in the comeback. She went on a personal 8-0 run in a span of 74 seconds, finishing it off with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Hope its first lead at 41-38 with 5:25 to play in regulation. It was the first of five lead changes down the stretch. 

"I was kind of out of it in the first half, so I knew I had to step up if we were going to come back," Petroelje said. "My teammates were playing great. We were on a huge run, they found me in a spot and I was able to knock down the shots.

With the score tied at 48, Hope got another one of those clutch plays from junior guard Terin Maynard (Grand Rapids, Michigan/Jenison). Maynard drove into the lane and hit a 10-foot floater with 3.1 seconds left in regulation, giving the Flying Dutch a 50-48 lead.

Calvin called timeout to move the ball into the front court. RyAnn Rorher's jumper from left of the lane hit the front of the rim, but got the roll as the buzzer sounded, tying the game at 50-all and forcing overtime.

Hope did not make a field goal for almost the entire overtime, but was able to build a 55-52 lead on two free throws each by Vis and Anna Richards, and one by Maynard. However, Calvin tied the score at 55-all on Katelyn LaRue's 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left. Hope called time out to set up the game-winning play for Petroelje.

Petroelje finished with 13 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter and overtime. 

"In the first half, we weren't very good, and (Calvin was) really good … they made us bad," Morehouse said. "The second half, we decided as a coaching staff to just turn our players loose and not run any of our set offenses, and just play some open gym and trust our talent. They did a great job, with us trusting their talent. We tried to put them into some good spots, but great players show up and clutch players are clutch."

Hope won the game despite shooting a season-low 25 percent from the field (16 of 64). Calvin made three more field goals than the Flying Dutch, but Hope cashed in on 22 of 30 (73 percent) from the free-
throw line compared to 10 of 19 for the Knights.

Hope also forced 24 Calvin turnovers, 10 of them in the third quarter when the Flying Dutch started their comeback. The Flying Dutch also outrebounded the Knights 48-44, including 19 offensive rebounds that led to 13 second-chance points.

Anna Richards led Hope with 14 points, including a perfect 8-of-8 from the line, and added seven rebounds and three steals. 

Vis had 11 points and eight rebounds. Maynard scored nine points and added four steals. Sophomore center Leah Richards (DeWitt, Michigan/Lansing Catholic) pulled down 13 rebounds, 10 of them on the offensive glass, to go along with eight points and three steals.

Rohrer led Calvin with 16 points while Jamie Custer hit five 3-pointers in scoring 15 points.

Hope cut Calvin's lead in the all-time series to 72-70. However, the Flying Dutch have gone 53-16 against the Knights since Jan. 1, 2001.

The Flying Dutch return to action Wednesday, Jan. 28 against Albion College at Kresge Gymnasium. Tip-off is 7 p.m.