From: Jeff Febus (jfebus@calvin.edu)
Date: Fri Nov 29 2002 - 22:44:32 EST
CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2002
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
After fueling up on turkey Thanksgiving afternoon, the Calvin women’s
basketball team decided it was time for a menu change Friday afternoon.
Using a “Big Mac” attack, Calvin advanced to the championship game of its
own Thanksgiving tournament with a 68-56 first round victory over cross-town
rival Aquinas Friday at the Calvin Fieldhouse.
Calvin will meet rival Hope in the championship game at 3:00 p.m. Saturday with
Aquinas facing Cornerstone in the consolation game at 1:00 p.m. Hope defeated
Cornerstone 77-59 in Friday’s other first round game.
The inside-outside “Big Mac” tandem of 6-3 junior center Andrea MacDonald
(Allendale HS) and 5-6 sophomore point guard Kristen McDonald (West Catholic HS)
paved the way for the Knights as both players notched career scoring highs in
Friday’s victory. Andrea MacDonald exploded for 17 points, 15 rebounds and
six blocked shots as she also notched career-highs in rebounds and blocked
shots. Kristen McDonald added a game-high 18 points off the bench that included
four rebounds and four assists. McDonald was 6-of-13 from the field including
4-of-8 from three-point range. It marked the second consecutive career-high
scoring performance for McDonald who tallied a then career-high 14 points in a
73-64 win over Grace (IN) Tuesday night.
Andrea MacDonald was one of two Calvin players to post double-double
performances on Friday as senior center Emily Beard (Southfield Christian HS)
had 10 points and 12 rebounds along with three rebounds and three assists to
notch the ninth double-double of her career. Junior guard Kim Wolthuis (South
Christian HS) added 12 points, three steals and two assists for the Maroon and
Gold.
Calvin led just 30-29 at halftime but used a 13-3 scoring run to open the
second half to build a 43-32 lead. Andrea MacDonald scored nine of Calvin’s 13
points during the run. Aquinas would get no closer than seven points the rest
of the way as the Knights picked up their sixth win against Aquinas in its last
eight tries.
Aquinas was led in scoring by Cassie Chan and Jessica Staubus who scored 12
points apiece.
Calvin shot just 38.9 percent overall but held Aquinas to 30.3 percent field
goal shooting. Aquinas also turned the ball over 16 times while Calvin
committed just eight turnovers.
In its win over Cornerstone, Hope was led by senior center Amanda Kerkstra who
tallied 19 points and seven rebounds while senior guard Amy Baltmanis had 18
points. Cornerstone was led by Katie Anderson and Jessica Weston who picked up
13 points apiece.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
The rematch of the 2000 NCAA Division III national championship featuring
Calvin College against University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire was played in much the
same way as the first one featuring tough defense on both sides of the court.
The outcome came out differently, however, with the Blugolds downing the Knights
78-73 in the first round of the Holiday Inn Airport International Tournament at
University of Rochester in New York.
Calvin took the edge early building a 16-6 lead and seemed to be in control
until the Eau Claire Blugolds tightened up the defense and forced Calvin to work
more from the outside. At only 2 for 11 from the three –point line in the
first half, the Knights struggled against the Blugolds toughened defense
throughout the first half.
“Calvin got off to a great start early and we weren’t getting back and
matching up with their shooters,” said Blugold coach Terry Gibbons. “We
didn’t step up the defense as much as we just tried to match up better on the
perimeter and inside.”
The Blugolds got back into the game quickly outscoring Calvin 12-2 including
back-to-back buckets by sophomore Casey Drake.
With the tight defense by the Blugolds, they were able to knot the score midway
through the first half at 18-18.
“We ran the floor to start the game,” said Calvin coach Kevin VandeStreek.
“We took some things away from them. Then I think they slowed the tempo way
down and started working it inside.”
After some back and forth buckets by both teams, Eau Claire pulled to a 3-point
advantage—34-31-- that it held at the half.
“We had some good looks, but the shots just didn’t fall,” said
VandeStreek. “If we hit a few of those, we’re up seven or eight at the
half.”
Wisconsin-Eau Claire opened the second half with a bucket by Jason Larson, who
led all scorers with 31 points.
Six minutes into the second half, the Blugolds had built the lead to a
nine-point advantage.
But the Knights battled back and the momentum swung back to the Knights with 13
minutes to go following a big three-point shot by Kevin Broene, who tallied 11
points on the night.
Broene’s shot was followed with two points by Chris Prins, and a huge
turn-around jumper by Veenstra, who led the Knights with 20 points, knotted the
score at 54-54 with 11 to go in the half.
A back-and-forth physical battle would see the score tied five times in the
last ten minutes of play before the Blugolds took the final lead at 71-69 off a
15-footer by Larson.
Two turnovers in the last two minutes of the game hurt the Knights’ chances
late.
“We had three crucial errors all in the last two minutes,” said
VandeStreek. “The turnovers and then we didn’t block out the shooter on the
free throw (referring to a missed shot by Larson in which he grabbed his own
board with eight seconds remaining).”
“We have the utmost respect for Calvin,” said Gibbons. “It was a physical
game, but that’s what we’re used to seeing night in and night out. We
weren’t really thinking about it as a rematch, but we were excited to play
against a great team and a great player in Jeremy Veenstra.”
The Knights will play in the consolation game Saturday at 1 p.m. against Johns
Hopkins University (MD). Host Rochester, ranked third in the D3hoops.com
national poll, defeated Johns Hopkins 73-48 in the second first round game
Friday night.
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