'Two-headed monster' on point for Hope College women's basketball this season
· Yahoo Sports
HOLLAND - The Hope College women's basketball team has been a national powerhouse for decades.
Designed to win with defense, this year's version of the Flying Dutch has two experienced point guards leading the way on both sides of the ball.
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Starting point guard Terin Maynard pushes the pace, drives to the basket and anchors the perimeter defense.
While most teams lose quite a bit when a backup point guard goes in.
For Hope, there is hardly a noticeable difference when Josie DeSmit checks in.
The duo led Hope to a 72-65 win over Wisconsin-Platteville on Friday, Nov. 6, at DeVos Fieldhouse to open the season - both scoring career highs in the process.
Maynard scored a career-high 20 points to go along with six assists, while DeSmit had a career-high 15 points with three steals. Leah Richards had 15 points and eight rebounds.
"They were really good today," Hope coach Brian Morehouse said. "Josie is good enough to start and played her role very well. It gives us a two-headed monster and that is really hard on other teams."
The game was close in the fourth quarter and Morehouse chose to play both point guards together. DeSmit nailed a 3-pointer, then scored another basket to make it 64-54 with 4:50 to go.
"We showed our resilience and found a way to stick together and do the dirty work," Maynard said.
The Pioneers closed the gap again and Maynard took over with three-point play and a basket in the paint to make it 71-63 with 2:26 to go.
"We withstood 11 from 3 and gutted it out. We switched our defenses up and our defense was really good, but they had a lot of good shots in the last seconds of the shot clock. We played both of them together and if they can rebound a little more we will see that some more."
It was a fun change.
"We push each other every day in practice. I get to go up against the best defender in the MIAA. We feed off each other well and have some good chemistry," DeSmit said. "We both have our own strengths. Those differences help a ton on the court."
This is the second year they have been the top two point guards on the roster.
"It has been awesome to have her. When we do both go out there, we have the confidence in each other and can read each other," Maynard said. "We found a way to do that well."
It could key another strong season for the Flying Dutch.
"We have a lot of potential this year," Maynard said. "We have great new freshman who have grown our circle and we are starting better than we finished last year. We can only go up."
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’[email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: 'Two-headed monster' on point for Hope College women's basketball this season