CSR (Basketball Teams Fall to Aquinas/Hope)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2003

MEN'S BASKETBALL

In a game of scoring runs, Aquinas had the final say as the Saints recorded a
76-73 victory over Calvin Tuesday evening at the Calvin Fieldhouse.

The visiting Saints (4-1) trailed 70-60 with just over four minutes remaining
but proceeded to rattle off 14 unanswered points, en route to finishing the
game with a 16-3 scoring run over the final 3:51 of play. 6-9 junior center
Kevin Murphy scored 13 Aquinas points in the final run including a juncture
where he connected on four successive mid-range jumpers in a two-minute span to
allow the Saints to take a 72-70 lead with under a minute remaining.

Calvin (1-2) had two chances to tie the game or take the lead but missed a
baseline jumper with 25 seconds remaining and then a three-point shot with 16
seconds left. A pair of free throws by sophomore guard Mike Blicher then gave
Aquinas a 74-70 lead but Calvin senior Chris Prins (Escondido, CA) answered
with a off-balance three-point shot to bring the Knights within one. Trailing
75-73 with just over five seconds left, Calvin regained the ball under its own
basket but threw the ball away attempting to set up a last shot. A free throw
by Murphy with three ticks remaining gave the Saints a three-point margin and a
final Calvin push went without a shot, allowing Aquinas to pull out the
come-from-behind win.

Aquinas took a 21-9 lead at the 10 minute mark of the first half on the
strength of a 13-2 scoring run but the Knights fought back, using a 13-2 run of
its own over the final 4:26 of the first half to tie the game at the break at
33-33.

In the second half, Calvin trailed 50-44 but proceeded to rattle off 13
unanswered points to build a 57-50 lead. After Aquinas closed to within a
point at 57-56, Calvin rolled off a 13-4 run to take its 70-60 lead with 4:04
left on the clock.

Senior Kevin Broene (Grand Rapids Christian HS) led the Knights with 20 points
while Prins had 17 and junior Dan Aultman (Mason County Central HS) 10. With
his 17-point effor, Prins boosted his career scoring total to 1,006 points,
becoming the 15th player in Calvin men's basketball history to crack the 1,000
point plateau.

Murphy led all scorers with 22 points while Damien Mayo had 16 and Tom Kuslikus
10 for the Saints. Blicher also collected 12 assists and three steals for
Aquinas.

Aquinas held a 45-37 rebounding edge and held Calvin to 36.9 percent field goal
shooting overall. Calvin did hold a substantial edge at the free throw line,
connecting on 19-of-23 attempts (82.6) at the charity stripe while Aquinas was
just 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) at the line.

Calvin returns to action Friday when it opens up action at the Select Bank
Tournament against Cornerstone at noon. Hope and Grand Valley will play in
Friday's second first round game after the conclusion of the Calvin-Cornerstone
tilt.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

The nationally-ranked Flying Dutch of Hope showed little drop-off from its
2002-2003 form as they rolled to a 78-61 victory over Calvin Tuesday evening at
the Calvin Fieldhouse in the MIAA opener for both teams. After graduating six
seniors from its 2002-2003 team that finished 31-1 and reached the NCAA III
Tournament Quarterfinals, Hope was not even picked to win the MIAA in the
pre-season coaches' poll.

In Tuesday night's game however, it cleary appeared that Hope will be the team
to beat in the MIAA this year as the Flying Dutch put on an impressive
performance to improve to 3-0 overall and to 1-0 in the MIAA.

A three-point play by Calvin junior point guard Katherine Pettinga (South
Christian HS) tied the game at 5-5 early on but that would be as close as the
Knights (2-1 overall, 0-1 MIAA) would get as Hope ripped off a 27-5 run to take
control of the game.

Hope shot blistering 57.1 percent from the floor in the first half while Calvin
connected on just seven field goal attempts and finished with a first half
shooting clip of 25.9 percent as Hope led 45-18 at the break.

Calvin came back to outscore Hope 43-33 in the second half and shot 50 percent
from the floor in the final 20 minutes but would get no closer than the final
score.

Calvin was led in scoring by junior Lisa Nanninga (Grand Rapids Christian HS)
who tossed in 12 points and grabbed six rebounds off the bench while freshman
Lisa Winkle (South Christian HS) had 10 points, six boards and three blocked
shots for her third straight double-figure scoring game for the Knights.

Hope was led by sophomore guard Bria Ebels who pumped in 18 points -- all of
which came in the first half. Junior Adelynn Vilmann was next with 14 points
and 10 boards while junior Kelly Taylor added 13 points and three assists.

Calvin returns to action next Tuesday when it travels to Wheaton (IL) for a
non-conference game scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. (ET).

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Wed Nov 26 00:19:26 2003