WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[Erm Schmigget]

Jenny Cowen's blood is ice water.

sweet!!!

61-49  2 1/2 to go, here come the fouls...

[sac]

Hope 67 Thomas More 51

For all the questions about Hope's depth this year and whether it was good enough to get them back to the elite 8..........Hope's bench outscored Thomas More 27-6!  They came up big tonight.

Jenny Cowen had a great second half,  hard to argue against her play being the difference.  I think she had 16 second half points, and her two three's late in the 2nd half thwarted any chance by TM to gain momentum.

The final minute was one of the classiest final minutes I've ever seen, big pat on the back to both teams for that..............Hope runs the clock down, step out of bound intentionally, no fouls from Thomas More then Thomas More just dribbles out the clock.............no pointless desperate shots etc.  Refreshing to say the least.


Also funny moment before the broadcast, when Thomas More head men's coach John Ellenwood was caught in an open mike........"God they're big".


Congrats ladies and Go Hope!

[Erm Schmigget]

1:20 to go, Hope up by a bunch, Hope going to the line, and the computer decides it needs to reboot.  AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good thing for me we brought the radio for backup....so Vera could listen.   

Congrats, Hope.  Elite again.

See you in person tomorrow.

GO HOPE!!!

[sac]

The MIAA takes it on the chin a little bit when people talk about its quality of play.  I'll just point out this is the 6th time in 7 years an MIAA rep will play for a chance to go to the final four.  Hope 4 times, Calvin twice, and once Calvin had to beat Albion in the Sweet 16 to get to the elite 8.


For Hope, this is the 4th time in their last 5 NCAA tournaments they've made the Sectional Final.

2003--Wisc.-Eau Claire 74, Hope 56
2006--Hope 76, DePauw, Ind. 60
2008--Howard Payne, Tex. 53, Hope 49
2009-- vs George Fox (29-0)

Last year Hope beat George Fox 47-40 in the Sweet 16.

The George Fox website and +k to their SID for alreay updating their Sweet 16's to include 2009.
http://www.georgefox.edu/athletics/womens_bball/index.html

GF has 10 Freshmen.

[jspiii]

Hope bench = 11/14 FG 4-4 3pt 2 turnovers in 60 minutes of combined time. SOLID!!

I hope to expect Knox to have a better game tomorrow.

[Erm Schmigget]

Hope bench = 11/14 FG 4-4 3pt 2 turnovers in 60 minutes of combined time. SOLID!!

I hope to expect Knox to have a better game tomorrow.

You may go ahead and expect.

+k fer the chuckle

[wwjjdd]

Speaking of class, with the game still up in the air in the 2nd half, a Thomas More player hit the floor after a Hope offensive rebound. She was obviously injured and Hope was off and running 5 on 4, while the TM player lays under  their basket.  Suddenly, a time out was called.....by Brian Moreland.  As I expressed my astonishment, someone who works in Mo's office explained that Mo does not like to see such a situation in which the injured player's team does not have the ball and cannot call a timeout, so he will call a timeout so that the player can be attended to.  Mega kudos for a class act. 

Tomorrow night's game will be interesting.  I doubt George Fox has faced the kind of pressure defense Hope will surely bring.  GF's 6'4" center basically glues down herself in the low post.  It will be interesting to see how Hope handles her and how she handles Hope's 3 very active post players. 

[BruinFan]

I was surprised to see that the attendance for the George Fox - Oglethorpe game was listed at 1136 and the attendance for the Hope-TM game was at 1200.  I could only see parts of the bleachers on the internet video, but they must have figured the attendance near the end of the game as Thomas More and Hope fans were coming in. It looked like there was plenty of empty seats during the first game.

[BruinFan]

Great to hear about Coach Mo's sportsmanship by taking timeout for the injured player. Nice to know there are few left that still think that way.

George Fox plays against a physical and tough University of Puget Sound at least twice a year. (4 times last year).  I'm sure that Hope's defense will be a significant challenge for the Bruins.
I'm looking for a great game and it will be fun if both teams are playing well.

I think the winner of this game will be favorite in the national semi-final.

[hope80]

good game girls all the way

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Random thoughts from the Hope/Thomas More game. 

- As others have commented, Hope seems to be rushing on the offense for most of the first half.  Huge minutes from Rachel Kutney helped Hope keep the slimmest of leads at the half. 

- Knox was really hampered throughout by foul trouble.  4 points and 1 rebound in 16 minutes.  I predict we see a big game from Courtney tonight.

- The second half Hope really got their offense going, and the D was great. 

- Crowd support was awesome - I'm guessing 350 Hope fans (and all of them / us were loud).  I look for an even bigger Hope crowd tonight - giving the Hope team a bit of a home fan advantage.

- Kudos to Carrie Snikkers for an extremely tough, physical game.  To Jenny Cowen for shooting the lights out in the second half.  To Erica Bruinsma for a great all around game, and to Miranda DeKuiper for 2 huge threes.

[wwjjdd]

Please pardon my senior moment in calling Coach Mo Brian Moreland vice Morehouse.  As a die-hard Cubs fan, I must have had Keith Moreland on my mind....as in "watch Keith Moreland drop a routine fly."  Time for my Geritol and warm milk.

[sac]

Halftime

George Fox 29 Hope 28

Its a good one.

[HopeConvert]

Yikes! Can't make a shot. 

[sac]

at the moment 3-20 by my count this half.