BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Hope College women’s basketball team stood behind coach Brian Morehouse during the news conference after the NCAA Division III championship game Saturday. It was a representation of their fondness for each other as a complete team.
Morehouse was flanked on both sides by the team’s leaders.
To his right sat junior center Carrie Snikkers, the NCAA Division III women's Player of the Year, and to his left sat senior forward Philana Greene, the unquestioned heart and soul of the Flying Dutch’s roster.
No one felt like rehashing
to Washington University-St. Louis in front of 2,300 fans at Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center. Everyone struggled for the right words to express their feelings after the end of an unforgettable season in which the Flying Dutch finished 32-2 and reached the Final Four for the third time in the program’s history.
It was no surprise that Greene summed it up best amid her tears.
“I’m really trying to keep my composure right now, but I’m already failing,” she said, fighting through sniffles and triggering sniffles around her. “Not one person on this team quit out there. Not even when we knew (it was over).
“As bad I wanted to win this game, I won so much more with these people behind me. The national championship would’ve been great, but the bond I have with these people is so much more important.”
It sure puts things in the proper perspective.
Despite the loss, Greene still felt like a champion. The former Grandville High School standout put her signature all over the championship game, making sure she left it all out there on the court.
As usual, Snikkers led Hope, finishing with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
The unselfish Greene, regarded as the real MVP of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association by some media members because of her leadership on and off the court, had 18 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals.
“She stuffs a stat sheet like nobody’s business,” said Morehouse, who rattled off a long list of superlatives about Greene that don’t show up in the postgame stats.
“The things that don’t get on a stat sheet is her defensive prowess -- she takes people out of the game. She’s such a complete player, she looks to pass to a fault almost. She could’ve averaged more points than she did. She gets other people wide-open looks and easy spot-up 3s where they don’t have to do anything but catch and shoot.
“She played point guard in high school. She has that point-guard mentality of getting everyone involved.”
Greene set the tone for a second-half comeback attempt.
The Flying Dutch trailed 24-20 at the intermission, but Greene set up Snikkers for an easy basket in the post on their first possession of the second half. Two possessions later, she stole the ball, dribbled behind her back in transition, penetrated into the lane, then threw a no-look pass to Snikkers for another uncontested hoop that, for a moment, trimmed Washington University’s lead to just a single point.
Even after the referees swallowed their whistles and allowed Snikkers to get mugged repeatedly in the second half, Greene took the lead on scoring duties to help keep Hope in the game.
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It almost worked.
She stripped the ball from Washington’s Bethany Morrison at midcourt and dribbled in all alone for a layup. She kept shooting guard Zoe Unruh from getting the ball during a key possession with 5 1/2 minutes left in the game, forcing the Bears to a shot-clock violation. Greene kept pushing the ball up the floor in the final minutes, refusing to quit.
In all, she scored seven points in the final 19 seconds, had 10 in the final 1:45, and erupted for 14 in the second half.
“If I’m a senior, that’s how I’d want to go out. That’s what I told her,” Morehouse said.
In her final collegiate game, Greene, who will no doubt be regarded as one of the smartest, savviest, finest all-around performers to wear a Hope uniform, left every ounce of her heart and soul on the court.
And with no regrets, either.
“I’m disappointed, but very proud,” she said, lighting up a room with her infectious smile one last time. “Everyone gave everything they had out there. Everything is not going to go your way in life.
“But I can live with the result of this game.”
E-mail Brian VanOchten at bvanochten@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/BrianVanOchten