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Danbury
2001

Coverage of the women's Final Four

Second-round game stories

Saturday, March 3, 2001

Ohio Wesleyan 72, Hope 71
By Greg Chandler, D3hoops.com

Hope's Kristin Koenigsknecht drives on Ohio Wesleyan's Jessica Viertlboeck during second round action Saturday. Photo by Tom Renner, Hope College

HOLLAND, Mich. — With time running out in Saturday's NCAA second round tournament game, Ohio Wesleyan coach Nan Carney-DeBord drew up a play for her leading scorer, Jessica Viertlboeck, to take the final shot.

But when Viertlboeck was double-teamed, the senior forward spotted teammate Katy Sturtz open and got her the ball. Sturtz did the rest, driving down the lane to score with 4.6 seconds remaining, lifting the unranked Battling Bishops to a 72-71 upset of No. 5 Hope, in front of a sellout Dow Center crowd of 1,152.

"When you've been playing with someone for three years, you know each other more than anything," Sturtz said of Viertlboeck. "It's just like you've played with them your whole life ... You just know what they're going to do, when they're going to do it. You know where to be."

Ohio Wesleyan (23-6) became the first team ever from the North Coast Athletic Conference to reach the Sweet 16 of the Division III women's tournament. The loss ended a school record 21-game winning streak for the Flying Dutch, who finished at 25-3.

Viertlboeck, who led the Battling Bishops with 23 points, set a school single-season scoring record with 525 points. But in the end, it was her unselfish play that set up the winning score.

"You look at (Viertlboeck's) number of assists all season (a team-high 85). Somebody (comes up to defend her), and she'll give somebody else the rock," Carney-DeBord said.

Sturtz's game-winning basket capped a wild final minute of play. After trailing by as many as nine points in the second half, Hope finally caught the Battling Bishops at 68-68 on Amy Baltmanis' 10-foot jumper with 51.8 seconds remaining.

Viertlboeck gave Ohio Wesleyan the lead back at 70-68 on a 10-foot jumper in the lane with 37.8 seconds to play, but Hope tied it again at 70-70 on two Amanda Kerkstra free throws with 27.5 seconds left.

Moments later, Hope guard Jodi Boom stole the ball from OWU guard Elizabeth Ettinger and was fouled. Boom hit one of two foul shots to give the Flying Dutch a 71-70 lead with 14.1 seconds to play, Hope's first lead since a 2-0 advantage early in the contest.

Held scoreless in the game's first five minutes, Ohio Wesleyan put together a pair of 7-0 runs to open up a 22-13 lead with 5:05 left in the first half. But with Kerkstra, the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association's most valuable player, asserting herself inside, Hope rallied to cut the Bishops' lead to 28-25 at halftime. The 6-1 Kerkstra, who led the Flying Dutch with 24 points and 11 rebounds, accounted for more than half of Hope's first-half points with 13.

Ohio Wesleyan opened up the second half with a 10-4 run to build a 38-29 lead, then withstood several Hope runs by hitting key shots in critical situations.
The Battling Bishops prevailed despite being outrebounded 45-28, including 24-8 on the offensive glass. The Battling Bishops also turned the ball over 21 times, but shot 52% (31-for-60) from the field and hit 6 of 10 from 3-point range. Hope, meanwhile, shot 40% (28-for-70) from the field and made only 3 of 16 from long range.

"Stats are only one portion of the game. Heart and desire are the intrinsic tools that have gotten us this far," Carney-DeBord said. "I thought today was a great example of different people coming through in different ways."

Viertlboeck grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists on top of her 23 points, while Sturtz tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds for Ohio Wesleyan. Michelle Wolfe came off the Battling Bishops' bench to nail 4 of 5 from 3-point range and finished with 14 points.

Kerkstra was the lone Hope player in double-figure scoring. Laura Poppema pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with eight points.

"We had a stretch in the first half that really hurt us. We scored the first basket, but then we didn't score (for more than six minutes)," Flying Dutch coach Brian Morehouse said. "I thought we let the fact that it was an NCAA tournament game get in the way of how we played."

Prior to this year, Ohio Wesleyan had not won an NCAA tournament game in three previous appearances. On the other hand, Hope has lost in its first tournament game in each of its last four appearances, and hasn't won a tournament game since winning the 1990 Division III championship.

BOX SCORE
OHIO WESLEYAN (23-6) - Anissa Haynes 2-7 0-0 4, Jessica Viertlboeck 9-13 3-3 23, Katy Sturtz 8-11 0-0 16, Elizabeth Edinger 3-7 1-1 7, Leslie Welch 4-10 0-0 8, Michelle Wolfe 5-10 0-0 14, Jaime Dann 0-0 0-0 0, Talia Brader 0-1 0-0 0, Jodi Huck 0-0 0-0 0, Kristin Thompson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-60 4-4 72.

HOPE (25-3) - Kristin Koenigsknecht 4-7 0-0 8, Laura Poppema 4-7 0-2 8, Amanda Kerkstra 9-23 6-8 24, Becky Sutton 1-5 0-0 3, Amy Baltmanis 3-9 0-0 6, Sarah Zoulek 2-4 4-4 9, Laura Geurink 3-5 1-1 7, Jodi Boom 2-6 1-2 6, Colleen Corey 0-2 0-0 0, Kathi Grotenhuis 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 28-70 12-17 71.

Halftime - Ohio Wesleyan 28, Hope 25. Three-point goals - Ohio Wesleyan 6-10 (Wolfe 4-5, Viertlboeck 2-4, Brader 0-1), Hope 3-16 (Sutton 1-5, Boom 1-4, Zoulek 1-3, Koenigsknecht 0-2, Grotenhuis 0-2). Fouled out - Haynes. Rebounds - Ohio Welseyan 28 (Sturtz 10), Hope 45 (Poppema 13). Assists - Ohio Wesleyan 16 (Viertlboeck 5), Hope 18 (Baltmanis 6). Total fouls - Ohio Wesleyan 15, Hope 9. Technical - Hope bench.
Attendance - 1,152.

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