WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[HOPEful]

Gracious. Calvin women go 1-14 with 9 turnovers in the first quarter.

If you can't prove yourself in a post-season tournament, there are certainly less satisfying ways to end one's collegiate career than a 77-26 shellacking of your rival followed by an opportunity at a hat-trick against the #3 team in the country.

It sure would be nice if we could just get East Texas Baptist, Hope, the SCAC champion, and the ARC champion together and play out a Final Four though.

[TUAngola]

Once again it's Hope vs Trine for the MIAA championship.  Trine has reached the championship game for the sixth straight year and will be the fifth straight matchup with Hope.  Each team has won 2 times against each other in the last 4 MIAA championship games.  They have alternated wins each year, so it's Trine's turn to take this one .  Not an easy task, Hope is ramping it up big time, the shellacking of Calvin was impressive.  Trine had a much tougher game with Albion last night, it was back and forth in the 1st half.  Trine was able to put a little distance between them in the second half and held on for the win.  Albion only loses one senior from their roster, but that player is one of the best in the league in Rain Hinton.  However Albion has some really nice pieces to work with in the future, got some guards who can shoot it and also have a couple Freshman bigs (6'3 & 6'2) who could become difference makers if they continue to put in the work.   

[TUAngola]

Hope up 37-24 at half.  As a Trine fan I've watched a lot of Hope-Trine WBB the last 6-7 yrs or so, and this year's Hope team is without a doubt the best ever.   Hope played an almost flawless 1st half.  Their defenseive pressure is unlike any other D3 team around.  They have forced a normally good ball handling Trine team into 17 first half turnovers which has resulted in Hope getting twice as many shot attempts as Trine.  You can't score if you don't have an opportunity to shoot, and that is what Hope does so well is take you out of your game.

We'll see if Trine can solve Hope's pressure defense any better in the second half.  Both teams are shooting well, especailly from 3 in the 1st half.  But you can really tell Hope is on a mission for their second consecutive unbeaten season!

[TUAngola]

Hope 64  Trine 54.

Congratulations on back to back undefeated and MIAA championships to Hope WBB!  Well deserved.  Really feel bad that the they can't play the year out in a National Tournament, but what a way to go out.  Congrats to Trine on another good year, but Hope has our number, 6 straight losses to the Dutch.  Turnovers were the story of this game, Trine ended up with 28 of them.  We actually outshot Hope from the field and free throw line percentage wise, but that's 28 opportunities to not score and that was the difference.

Both teams with lots to look forward to.  Even though Hope loses their fantastic senior class, they will be very good again, they just reload.  Trine loses just 2 seniors, Shay Herbert and Sophia Kreag, so we'll be looking for bigger and better things to come next year.

[scottiedawg]

Rebounding your own misses:
Hope = 29%
Trine = 16%

Rebounding your opponents' misses:
Hope = 84%
Trine = 79%

Trine had two players combine for 10 turnovers. Hope had 11 turnovers for the game.

Trine played wonderful defense in the 2nd half ; they were an extremely resilient team.

[Roundball999]

Congrats to Hope and Trine, great for the MIAA to have two of the top teams in the country. 

Trine shot considerably better than Hope from the field, from 3 and from the line.  As TUAngola pointed out, turnovers equalized that to a large degree,  I note that the Dutch also had 15 offensive rebs vs 4 for Trine.  17 fewer turnovers and 11 more offensive rebounds make up that large advantage for Hope in shot attempts.  Hope also had 33 bench points (more than half its scoring) vs 8 for Trine, with 6 Hope reserves playing at least 16 minutes.  Trine is also deep, with 4 reserves playing 17 or more minutes.  But in this game at least, the Trine reserves did not pose an offensive threat.  We all know about Hope's senior class and I think the numbers show that it's that depth that has been the real difference maker the past couple of years.  You need fresh legs to play that defense all game long, then to have the reserves also be scoring threats and get on the offensive boards has made this team special.

Both teams should be good next year but I give the early edge to the Thunder.  They return a bit more and importantly the Dutch will be without the mobile 6-2 and 6-3 bigs they have enjoyed for several seasons.

[HOPEful]

Well... it's the most poetic ending that 2021 could have offered this senior class. Congrats to a truly special group of young women!

Both teams should be good next year but I give the early edge to the Thunder.  They return a bit more and importantly the Dutch will be without the mobile 6-2 and 6-3 bigs they have enjoyed for several seasons.

I would agree with an asterisk. Rumor has it, one or two of Hope's seniors are still considering using the extra year of eligibility and returning next year. If that happens, I'd place it pretty even.

Unfortunately, those seniors considering staying are not Olivia and Ashleigh, so they're certainly losing that size inside.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Well... it's the most poetic ending that 2021 could have offered this senior class. Congrats to a truly special group of young women!

Both teams should be good next year but I give the early edge to the Thunder.  They return a bit more and importantly the Dutch will be without the mobile 6-2 and 6-3 bigs they have enjoyed for several seasons.

I would agree with an asterisk. Rumor has it, one or two of Hope's seniors are still considering using the extra year of eligibility and returning next year. If that happens, I'd place it pretty even.

Unfortunately, those seniors considering staying are not Olivia and Ashleigh, so they're certainly losing that size inside.

Whether seniors return for a 5th year or not, Hope's "cupboard" isn't exactly bare or lacking size.  Sure, on most teams some of those "end of the bench" players are not likely to make an impact, but not the way Coach Mo uses his team.  Jemison and Velazquez (typically the 17th and 18th players to see the floow) appeared in 14 and 13 games repectively.

Returning varsity players:

Kasey DeSmit - 5-6 G
Meg Morehouse - 5-7 G
Ella McKinney - 5-10 G
Hannah Smith - 5-10 F
Claire Baguley - 5-11 G/F
Kate Majerus - 5-11 G/F
Savannah Feenstra - 6-1 F
Jessica Velazquez - 6-1 F
Raven Jemison - 6-3 C

Those returning varisty players this year accounted for:

41% of the total minutes
41% of the total points
45% of the rebounds
41% of the assists
45% of the steals
Shot 45% from the floor
Shot 41% from 3
Shot 61% from the FT line
Had a 1.17 A/TO ratio

And don't forget the JV team, that went 5-0 with an average margin of 37.6 pts, also has some size (4 players 6-0 or taller).

[AlwaysHope]

So Hope has 4 returning sophmores:  Meg Morehouse, Claire Baguley, Ella McKinney, and Savannah Feenstra.  I remember that Meg and Claire were on last years' team.  Not sure about Ella and Savannah.  But here's a unique fact:

The sophs that played on last year's team are not only 45 - 0 for their career record, but have never been on a college team that lost a game.  That record will be rather difficult to maintain for the next two years!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

So Hope has 4 returning sophmores:  Meg Morehouse, Claire Baguley, Ella McKinney, and Savannah Feenstra.  I remember that Meg and Claire were on last years' team.  Not sure about Ella and Savannah.  But here's a unique fact:

The sophs that played on last year's team are not only 45 - 0 for their career record, but have never been on a college team that lost a game.  That record will be rather difficult to maintain for the next two years!

Ella was also on varsity last year - appeared in 21 games.  I have been really impressed with her this year, great 3pt shooting (.429), a 1.73 A/TO, and the ability to post up and rebound (a 5-10 guard is a wonderful thing). 

Savannah played her freshman year at Bethel College where she earned All-Freshman honors in the Crossroad League after averaging 9.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

[AlwaysHope]

So we may have lost up to 9 seniors.  But help is on the way:

https://www.mlive.com/highschoolsports/2021/02/with-attack-mode-always-on-abi-tarrant-storms-into-1000-point-club.html

Here's an article a year ago about Abi:

https://www.mlive.com/highschoolsports/2020/03/meet-mlives-2019-20-girls-basketball-dream-team-from-bay-city.html?utm_campaign=baycitytimes_sf&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR16Nq530logMulJ_9XLn3M2fhv0lnjCfidSNDX12XH-zwJuyu82eutwj-o

[scottiedawg]

I was very impressed with McKinney and Baguley. The best players always play super fast, but look very under control doing it. You saw it with Bria Ebels. Same with Schoonveld. McKinney and Baguley looked to have a lot of control/restraint, but were always producing.

[HOPEful]

Well... it's the most poetic ending that 2021 could have offered this senior class. Congrats to a truly special group of young women!

Both teams should be good next year but I give the early edge to the Thunder.  They return a bit more and importantly the Dutch will be without the mobile 6-2 and 6-3 bigs they have enjoyed for several seasons.

I would agree with an asterisk. Rumor has it, one or two of Hope's seniors are still considering using the extra year of eligibility and returning next year. If that happens, I'd place it pretty even.

Unfortunately, those seniors considering staying are not Olivia and Ashleigh, so they're certainly losing that size inside.

Kasey DeSmit - 5-6 G
Meg Morehouse - 5-7 G
Ella McKinney - 5-10 G
Hannah Smith - 5-10 F
Claire Baguley - 5-11 G/F
Kate Majerus - 5-11 G/F
Savannah Feenstra - 6-1 F
Jessica Velazquez - 6-1 F
Raven Jemison - 6-3 C

For sure! There definitely needs to be some balance between lamenting the fact that the best senior class Hope has ever seen (and arguable one of the best ANYONE has ever seen) won't get to prove it in the NCAA tournament and that Hope still has some excellent players and is poise to remain very good next season.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

MIAA post season awards have been announced (link below):

Most Valuable Player
Kenedy Schoonveld, Hope (2)

Defensive Player of the Year
Olivia Voskuil, Hope (3)

2021 Women's Basketball All-MIAA First Team
Tara Bieniewicz, Trine (2)
Rain Hinton, Albion (4)
Sydney Muller, Hope
Kenedy Schoonveld, Hope (4)
Olivia Voskuil, Hope (3)
Kayla Wildman, Trine (2)

2021 Women's Basketball All-MIAA Second Team
Leah Harris, Calvin
Chelsea Palmer, Adrian
Taylor Sas, Alma
Kelsy Taylor, Trine
Gabby Timmer, Calvin (3)
Elena Welker, Albion

(#) Number of multi-time All-MIAA, including career first- and second-team honors

https://www.miaa.org/sports/wbkb/2020-21/releases/AllMIAA2021

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Just learned that on the men's side #2 Trine is traveling to play #1 Randolph Macon on Sunday.  Kind of a defacto national championship.

Would love to see the Hope women get a similar opportunity versus East Texas Baptist.