FEBRUARY 10, 2001
MEN'S BASKETBALL
ALBION - Kevin Vande Streek's 100th career victory at Calvin will
certainly be imbedded in his memory as one of his biggest.
Vande Streek reached the century mark with an 86-78 victory at Albion
Saturday afternoon in a showdown for first place in the MIAA. Now in
his fifth year at the helm of the Knights, Vande Streek is 100-31 (.776)
at Calvin.
The victory allowed Calvin to remain in sole possession of first place
in the league standings as the Knights improved to 8-2 in the MIAA and
18-4 overall, moving two games ahead of Albion (15-7 overall, 6-4 MIAA)
and remaining one game ahead of Hope (14-8, 7-3 MIAA).
Ranked fifth in the Great Lakes Region, Albion was bidding for its first
regular-season sweep of Calvin since 1984 as the Britons had stunned the
Knights 77-68 in Grand Rapids January 17.
Sophomore All-American candidate Jeremy Veenstra (Kalamazoo Christian)
led the Calvin attack with 32 points and 10 rebounds as he notched his
11th career double-double. Veenstra was 8-of-11 from the floor,
13-of-14 from the line and 3-of-6 from three-point range while also
collecting four assists and one steal in 34 minutes of action.
Veenstra scored 17 of his 32 points in the second half and converted all
12 of his free throw attempts inside the final nine minutes of play. In
addition to Veenstra, Calvin received 12 points apiece from senior Josh
Tubergen (Holland Christian) and sophomore Bryan Foltice (Tri-unity
Christian) while seniors Derek Kleinheksel (Hamilton) and Nate Burgess
(South Christian) added nine and eight points respectively with Burgess
also grabbing eight rebounds.
Unlike its first meeting against Albion, Calvin got off to a strong
first half start as the Knights opened up a 24-14 lead midway through
the half with Veenstra putting the Knights up 10 on a slam dunk. Albion
retaliated with 13 unanswered points to take a 27-24 lead with 3:17 left
in the half. Veenstra broke the Calvin drought with a three-pointer and
buckets by Burgess and Tubergen allowed the Knights to take a 32-29
halftime lead.
With the lead, Calvin was able to push the tempo and maintain its lead
the rest of the way., The Knights stretched their lead to 12 points at
57-45 with 11:43 left and then built a 74-60 lead on a pair of Veenstra
free throws with 3:35 remaining.
Albion cut the deficit to seven points at 83-76 on a triple by senior
Steve Champine with 28 seconds left but would get no closer as the
Knights closed out the win. Champine led Albion with 24 points
including five three-pointers while junior center Andrew Neidlinger had
15 points and eight boards. Senior Jon VanderWal added 11 points with
junior Mike Knight chipping in 10.
Free throw shooting proved to be a huge factor in the game as the
Knights connected on 33-of-39 attempts for a sizzling 84.6 percent clip
at the line while Albion was 18-of-25 at the line for a 72.0 percent
clip.
Ranked fourth in the Great Lakes Region and 11th nationally, Calvin also
finished with a 39-34 rebounding edge and turned the ball over just 10
times.
Calvin will now prepare for Wednesday's showdown at the Holland Civic
Center against Hope. The game will be the 145th meeting between the two
storied rivals with Calvin leading the all-time series 74-71.
Calvin can clinch its third straight MIAA title with a victory over Hope
while the Flying Dutchmen can forge a tie for first place with a victory
over the Knights. Since Calvin entered the MIAA for the 1953-54 season,
Calvin and Hope have combined to win 44 out of the last 47 MIAA titles.
After Wednesday night, Calvin will close out the MIAA regular season by
hosting Alma next Saturday while Hope will host Albion next Saturday.
The MIAA Tournament will take place February 21, 23 and 24 with the top
seed receiving a first-round bye and receiving homecourt advantage for
the MIAA Tournament semifinals and championship game.
OTHER MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES SAT.
Hope 107, Alma 61
Kalamazoo 64, Adrian 61
MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-10 GAMES
Calvin 8-2
Hope 7-3
Albion 6-4
Olivet 4-6
Adrian 4-7
Kalamazoo 4-7
Alma 3-7
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin remained tied for third place with Kalamazoo in the MIAA
standings and moved two games ahead of fifth place Olivet with a 74-45
victory over visiting Albion Saturday afternoon at the Calvin
Fieldhouse.
The win was the third consecutive victory for the Knights who improved
to 12-10 overall and 7-5 in the MIAA. Leading 21-14, Calvin ripped off a
14-2 run over the final 4:22 of the first half to take a 35-16 halftime
lead. Albion (4-18 overall, 3-9 MIAA) never threatened in the second
half as the Knights widened the gap to as much as 30 points.
Using a swarming full-court pressure defensive attack, Calvin forced the
Britons into 28 turnovers including 16 in the first half while holding
Albion to just 30.6 percent field goal shooting. Albion entered
Saturdays' contest with a scoring average of 71.5 points a game over its
four previous contests. The Britons were also shooting better than 46
percent from the field in that same four-game span.
Conversely, Calvin finished with its second-highest shooting percentage
of the year as the Knights connected on 47.6 percent (30-of-63) of their
field goal attempts including 57.1 percent (16-of-28) in the second
half.
Junior Kendra Toonstra (Calvin Christian) led Calvin with 11 points and
11 rebounds, recording her second career double-double in the win.
Sophomore Jennifer Plakmeyer (Calvin Christian) also had 11 points for
the Knights while handing out five assists. Sophomore Emily Beard
(Southfield Christian) added 10 points off the bench. Junior Tara
Bergsma (Calvin Christian) and sophomore Tricia Dyk (Western Michigan
Christian) both came up with strong all-around performances as Bergsma
had eight points, five rebounds and four steals off the bench while Dyk
had six points, six steals, five rebounds and five assists. Sophomore
MandyVanDenBosch (Grand Rapids Christain) also chipped in with nine
points, two steals and one blocked shot.
Albion was led by Amanda Yeager who tallied 11 points and eight
rebounds.
Calvin will now prepare to face nationally-ranked and league-leading
Hope Wednesday at 7:30 pm at the Calvin Fieldhouse. Ranked eighth
nationally, Hope will bring a school-record 16-game winning streak into
Wednesday night's game.
OTHER MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES SAT.
Hope 81, Alma 54
Kalamazoo 79, Adrian 62
St. Mary's 75, Olivet 61
MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-10 GAMES
Hope 12-0
Alma 10-2
Calvin 7-5
Kalamazoo 7-5
Olivet 5-7
Albion 3-9
Adrian 2-10
St. Mary's 2-10
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