FEBRUARY 20, 2001
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
After a pair of up-and-down performances against Olivet this year, the
question for Calvin was which team would show up against the Comets in a
first round MIAA Tournament game Tuesday night at the Calvin
Fieldhouse?
In a January 3 meeting at home, Calvin came up with a season scoring
high in routing Olivet 80-50. Three weeks later, Calvin was held to its
lowest scoring total of the year as the Comets topped the Knights 41-35
at Olivet's Upton Center.
On Tuesday night, Calvin reverted to its early-season form as the
Knights pulled away for a 72-56 first round MIAA Tournament victory over
Olivet. With the win, Calvin advances to the MIAA Tournament semifinals
for the ninth consecutive year. Calvin will travel to nationally-ranked
Hope Thursday night for an MIAA Tournament semifinal game scheduled to
begin at 7:30 pm at the Dow Center.
Calvin's win over Olivet was an important confidence booster according
to head coach Kim Gall as it came on the heels of a 90-56 loss at Alma
Saturday. "This was a good start to the tournament for us and a good
confidence booster," said Gall. "We had a tough second half against
Alma Saturday so we needed a game like this to boost our spirits and our
performance tonight did just that."
Calvin led 37-28 at halftime and then used a 16-4 second half scoring
run to take a 57-37 lead with 11:23 left to play. Calvin used eight
points in the paint from junior Kendra Toonstra (Calvin Christian) in
the run along with three-pointers from freshman Kim Wolthuis (South
Christian) and sophomore Tricia Dyk (Western Michigan Christian).
The Knights (13-12) coasted from that point on as Olivet (13-13) would
get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
Toonstra finished the game with a season-high 17 points off the bench
as she connected on her first eight shots of the game. Sophomore
Jennifer Plakmeyer (Calvin Christian) was next with 15 points and five
assists. Plakmeyer's 15-point effort boosted her career total to 500
points. Dyk also came up with a strong all-around effort as she scored
11 points and came up with six rebounds, six steals, four assists and
three blocked shots.
Olivet's backcourt tandem of Amy Strouse and Melissa Young combined for
37 of Olivet's 56 points with Strouse scoring 19 and Young 18. Calvin
effectively bottled up MIAA scoring champion Louisa Grill however as the
sophomore center scored just six points on the evening.
Calvin forced Olivet into 22 turnovers which led to 16 steals for the
Knights. Calvin also shot 42.9 percent overall (30-of-70) including
53.3 percent (8-of-15) from three-point range.
"We had good contributions from a number of individuals tonight," said
Gall. "This win was a team-effort."
Calvin will now face a fifth-ranked Hope team that has won 19
consecutive games.
"We're looking forward to the opportunity to play in the MIAA
Tournament semifinals" said Gall. "Each game is a new opportunity and
we plan to give it our best effort Thursday night."
OTHER MIAA TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND SCORES
Alma 90, Adrian 64
Kalamazoo 70, Albion 54
Hope 95, St. Mary's 48
MIAA TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL PAIRINGS THURSDAY NIGHT
Kalamazo at Alma - 7:30 pm
Calvin at Hope - 7:30 pm
-end-
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