The Alma Women's Basketball team opened up its portion of the 2008-09 MIAA season on Saturday afternoon as they traveled to Hope College. However, the Scots came up on the short-end of a 63-46 score against the Flying Dutch. Alma dropped to 0-6 (0-1, MIAA), while Hope improved to 5-0 (2-0, MIAA) for the year.

The Flying Dutch got off to a 12-2 lead in the first half and the Scots could never quite catch up as the closest they could come was five points midway in the first frame. Hope went into halftime with a 39-22 as Alma shot 33% from the field, but just one for seven from beyond the arc.

Hope continued to gather momentum in the second half as Alma could not close the gap against a talented Flying Dutch team. The Scots fought hard to the end but came up short as Hope, despite shooting just 32% in the final half, kept Alma at bay by winning the battle of the boards by a margin of 47-31 for the game.

Kathryn Bigelow (Alma, MI) led all Scots scorers with 12 points, while Heather Keenan (Charlotte, MI) added eight on the afternoon. Meagan Hoblet (Cadillac, MI) and Bigelow contributed team-highs in rebounds with six, while Bigelow also led the way with five assists for Alma.

The Scots are now off until next Saturday, December 13, when they travel to Kalamazoo College to continue the MIAA season against the Hornets. Game time at Kzoo is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.