GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Today the Calvin women's basketball team welcomed the Flying Dutch of Hope College to Van Andel Arena for this season's second meeting and the overall 137th edition of The Rivalry. It was bound to be a special one from the start as coming into today's game Hope held the number one spot in the MIAA standings while Calvin was close behind in second place. In the end, despite an epic comeback, the Knights fell just short and Hope was able to pick up the 60-57 victory.

After today's matchup Calvin fell to a 14-6 overall record and a 8-3 MIAA record while Hope improved to 19-1 overall and 11-0 in MIAA.

In the first quarter, after a Hope defensive rebound, sophomore RyAnn Rohrer (Ludington, Mich./Ludington) stole the ball and turned around for a layup for the Knights first points of the game. Calvin's next points came when Katelyn LaRue (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) took off on a fast break and spun around a Hope defender for a layup. On the other end of the floor, Hope shot 100 percent from behind the arc as the Flying Dutch went 3-3 and ended the quarter with a 21-10 lead.

After shooting 60 percent in the first quarter, the Calvin defense dug in and held Hope to just a 25 field goal percentage in the second quarter while forcing the Dutch to make five turnovers. Calvin picked up momentum three minutes in when they forced a shot clock violation which it turned into points on the other end when Valerie Dirkse (Vienna, Va./Marshall) hit LaRue on a backdoor cut. Dirkse picked up another assist on the next possession when she snagged an offensive rebound and found Grace Rosser (Allendale, Mich./Allendale) who hit a baseline three. 

Freshman Hannah Sall (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) got in on the second quarter scoring action when she drove through three Hope defenders and laid it in to cut Hope's lead to six points. However, as time ran down on the clock, Hope hit its sixth three-pointer of the game to claim a nine-point lead heading into halftime.

As the third quarter got underway the Knights looked to dig themselves out of the hole as Rohrer got two quick baskets on back-to-back possessions. With three minutes left in the quarter, sophomore Anna Fernandez (Plymouth, Mich./Plymouth Christian Academy) came alive as she grabbed an offensive rebound before finding Lauren Vanderstelt (Plainwell, Mich./Plainwell) for a jumper from the elbow. Two plays later Fernandez picked up another offensive rebound and put it right back up to cut Hope's lead to five, the closest Calvin had been since the first minutes of the game. Fernandez continued to stay hot as she drove to the basket for a layup before hitting a shot from the elbow as the buzzer sounded for the end of the third.

Hope started the fourth quarter with a 47-39 lead but the Knight continued to chip away. The teams traded baskets as they both struggled to claim the momentum. With just under three minutes left in the game, Calvin got the spark they were looking for when Chloe Wiegers (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) poked the ball away from the Dutch point guard and sent the ball into the backcourt. Dirkse went flying to the floor and passed to Fernandez who found a streaking Wiegers for the layup. Two possessions later LaRue found an open Fernadez who hit a baseline three-pointer to bring the Knights within three.

After intentionally fouling to stop the clock, Hope went to the other end of the floor and hit two free throws to once again extend their lead to six points. With twenty five seconds left Calvin inbounded the ball in its own territory and quickly found LaRue who nailed a three-pointer to shrink the Hope lead to three. 

With just twenty seconds left on the game clock, Rohrer grabbed her third steal of the night and brought the ball back up the floor to give the Knights one last chance to tie things up. Unfortunately, as time wound down, Calvin was unable to make anything happen and the comeback fell just short as Hope snuck out with the 60-57 victory.

Calvin finished the game outshooting the Dutch as they put up a 38.1 shooting percentage while holding Hope to 36.1. On defense, the Knights recorded 12 team blocks with 6 blocks coming from Sall and tying her career high. They also forced Hope to make 16 turnovers throughout the game and outscored the Dutch in the paint 36-30.

Fernandez ended the night as Calvin's leading scorer with a career-high 17 points while LaRue finished with 13 points. Rohrer finished with 10 points and Sall chipped in 6 points.

COACHES COMMENT: "Coming into today's game I think we felt good about how we have been playing,'' said head coach Mark Christner. "I think we played with some mental toughness and after taking a pretty heavy hit in the first quarter we needed that mental piece to help get us established. We give Hope credit and of course give our players a lot of credit for hanging in there and having a chance to tie it at the end. I love coaching our team. We've grown a lot over the last month and there is more growth to come."

UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Wednesday, January 31st when they travel to Alma to take on the Scots in a 5:30PM tipoff.