FEBRUARY 22, 2001
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
A youthful Calvin women's basketball team has seen its share of ups and
downs this year. It has also seen a steady stream of improvement
That steady improvement culminated in a near-upset of nationally-ranked
Hope Thursday night in the MIAA Tournament semifinals as the
fifth-ranked Flying Dutch escaped the Dow Center with a 73-71 overtime
victory over the upset-minded Knights. Thursday's game was the first
overtime affair between the two schools since a 55-53 Hope victory over
Calvin in 1995.
With the win, Hope advances to the MIAA Tournament Championship game
Saturday afternoon where it will host second-seeded Alma at 3:00 pm with
the winner gaining the MIAA's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament.
Alma defeated Kalamazoo 69-66 in Thursday's other semifinal contest.
For a good portion of Thursday night's game in Holland, it appeared
that Calvin (13-13) might be the team advancing to the MIAA Tournament
Championship game as the Knights led 38-36 at halftime and then traded
leads with Hope throughout the second half. A turnaround jumper by
sophomore Tricia Dyk (Western Michigan Christian) with 33 seconds left
in overtime gave Calvin a 71-70 lead and forced Hope to call a timeout
with 21 seconds remaining.
Attempting to feed the ball inside after the timeout, Hope was forced
to feed the ball outside as Calvin packed the interior. The move paid
off for the Flying Dutch as junior Becky Sutton buried a three-pointer
from the left wing with seven seconds left to put Hope up 73-71. The
triple was just the second field goal of the evening for Sutton and was
just the fourth three-pointer on 12 attempts for the Flying Dutch all
night. After using its final timeout, Calvin attempted to push the ball
the length of the floor but was unable to get off a good look at the
basket, allowing Hope to escape with the two-point victory.
"I could not have asked for anything more than the effort our team gave
tonight," said Calvin women's basketball coach Kim Gall. "It hurts to
lose but we can hold our heads high. I'm proud of everyone of our
players."
Dyk served as the catalyst for Calvin's near-upset as she finished with
a career-high 27 points, connecting on 13 of 21 field goal attempts
while also dishing out four assists and collecting three steals. Dyk
finished the season with 89 steals, two short of matching Calvin's
single-season record of 91 established by Jodi Toonstra during the
1998-99 season. The sophomore out of Grand Haven was a dynamo throughout
the evening as she played 39 of a possible 45 minutes and connected on a
variety of twisting and turning shots.
"Tricia was tremendous," said Gall. "What more can you say after a
performance like that? She was all over the court all night. She was a
big reason why we were in position to win at the end of the game."
With Dyk connecting on her first five field goal attempts of the
evening and sophomore Emily Mejeur (Kalamazoo Christian) later scoring
seven points in a two-minute span, Calvin vaulted into a 28-18 lead with
7:55 left in the first half. Hope responded with a 13-3 run capped off
by a triple by junior Sarah Zoulek with 3:55 left to bring the Flying
Dutch to within a point at 32-31. Calvin refused to give up the lead
however as juniorsTara Bergsma and Kendra Toonstra (Calvin Christian)
sandwiched field goals around a free throw from freshman Kim Wolthuis
(South Christian) to allow the Knights to take a 38-36 lead at
halftime.
Using its powerful inside tandem of junior Laura Poppema and freshman
Laura Geurink, Hope took an early 46-42 lead in the second half but
Calvin answered with a runner in the lane by sophomore Jennifer
Plakmeyer (Calvin Christian) and another triple from Mejeur to take a
49-48 lead with 13:27 remaining.
The lead then changed hands four times over the next 10 minutes with
Calvin building a 61-56 lead on pull-up jumper by Dyk with 5:15 to go
before Hope countered with a 6-0 run to take a 62-61 lead at the 3:51
mark.
Defense took over the next two minutes before Dyk was able to finally
break the drought as she drained another pull-up jumper, this one coming
with just 1:04 left in regulation, giving Calvin a 63-62 lead. A
turnaround jumper by sophomore Amanda Kerkstra put Hope back on top
64-63 with 46 seconds left and after a missed field goal attempt with 33
seconds left, Calvin was forced to foul. Hope missed the front end of a
bonus situation with 30 seconds left but grabbed the offensive rebound,
forcing the Knights to foul again. With 23 seconds left, Sutton split a
pair of free throws to put Hope up 65-63.
Plakmeyer then stepped up for the Knights as she was fouled on a drive
to the basket with 14 seconds left and proceeded to drain both ends of a
bonus situation to knot the score at 65-65. Hope had a chance to win in
regulation but Calvin junior Mandy VanDenBosch (Grand Rapids Christian)
slid over in the closing seconds to block a game-winning attempt in the
paint by Hope at the buzzer.
In overtime, Calvin took an early 67-65 lead on a steal and layin by
Dyk but Hope came back with a 5-0 run to take a 70-67 lead with just
under two minutes to play. Sophomore Emily Beard (Southfield Christian)
closed the gap to one, converting a successful feed from Mejeur with
1:12 left. After a defensive stop, Dyk gave the Knights the lead with
her jumper with 33 seconds left, setting up the game-winning shot by
Sutton.
In addition to the 27 points from Dyk, Calvin received 12 points apiece
from Plakmeyer and Mejeur. VanDenBosch and Beard led the Knights on the
boards with six and five rebounds respectively.
Hope was led by Geurink who popped in 18 points off the bench while
Kerkstra and senior Kristin Koenigscknect had 11 points each with
Poppema chipping in with 10.
Calvin finished with a 41.1 percent field goal clip including 45.7
percent in the first half. Hope shot 47.3 percent overall including
58.3 percent in the first half. Hope outrebounded Calvin 39-34 but the
Flying Dutch also turned the ball over 21 times while Calvin turned the
ball over just 13 times.
Thursday night marked the ninth consecutive year that Calvin has
advanced to the MIAA Tournament semifinals. With its 13-13 overall
record, Calvin has also achieved a .500 or better season 11 consecutive
years.
-end-
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