CSR (Women's Basketball Captures MIAA Championship/Men Top Tri-State)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 21, 2004 (Part Two)

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

ADRIAN -- There will be no need for a coin flip. A Calvin victory and a Hope defeat determined that on Saturday afternoon in the final regular season contest for both teams.

Locked in a tie for first place in the MIAA standings heading into Saturday, Calvin and Hope appeared destined for a coin flip to determine the league's top seed for the upcoming MIAA Tournament. The two teams were separated by afternoon's end however as Calvin secured an 81-72 victory at Adrian while Hope was upset on the road at Albion 62-52.

As a result, Calvin (21-3 overall, 13-1 MIAA) locked up its 10th MIAA title including its first since the 1998-99 season while snapping Hope's four-year stranglehold on the MIAA regular season crown. With 10 MIAA titles now to its credit, Calvin has won more MIAA women's basketball crowns than any other league school with Alma second with nine.

Calvin's victory over Adrian Saturday was also its 20th straight win, two victories short of matching the Calvin single-season record of 22 set by its 1995-96 team. Calvin also gains the top seed for next week's MIAA Tournament and holds homecourt advantage as long as it remains alive in the single-elimination three-round event. The Knights will host St. Mary's in a first round MIAA Tournament game Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.. The MIAA Tournament semifinals (singles games) are scheduled for Thursday night at the site of the highest remaining seeds with the MIAA Tournament Championship game slated for Saturday afternoon at the site of the highest remaining seed.

After one half of play, it appeared that Calvin would run away with Saturday's contest at Adrian as the Knights led 42-25 at the break behind six first half triples from junior guard Kristen McDonald (West Catholic HS). Playing in front of an Adrian Senior Day crowd, the Bulldogs refused to give up however and ripped off an 18-4 scoring run in the opening five minutes of the second half to close to within 46-43.

Leading just 48-45 moments later, Calvin received a basket in the lane from freshman forward Lisa Winkle (South Christian HS) and then a clutch three-pointer from senior Kim Wolthuis (South Christian HS) to take a 53-45 lead. The triple was the first of three for Wolthuis in the second half * all of which came in key moments.

Her second triple of the half gave the Knights a 60-50 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining. Calvin would then hold a 67-52 lead with 8:20 remaining, only to see Adrian whittle the Calvin lead down to seven points on two occasions * the second of which came at 71-64 with 1:51 left to play. On the following possession, Wolthuis stepped up with just four seconds left on the shot clock and drilled her final trifecta of the contest to give the Knights breathing room with just over a minute to play.

Calvin then put the game away by connecting on 7 of 8 free throw attempts in the final minute.

McDonald led the Knights with 22 points on 7 of 8 shooting overall including 6 of 7 from three-point range along with a 4 of 4 showing at the free throw line. In the first half, McDonald connected on all six of her triple tries while finishing the game one short of matching the Calvin single-game record for three-pointers and two short of matching the MIAA single-game record. McDonald also had a fine floor game, dishing out seven assists against just one turnover while also collecting four steals in 31 minutes of play. Wolthuis was also superb, scoring 20 points including 13 in the second half while picking up four assists and two steals. Winkle also notched double-digits in scoring, doing so for the 21st time in 24 games as she picked up 18 points and three blocked shots despite battling foul trouble that limited her to 19 minutes of action. Senior Andrea Estelle (Allendale HS) chipped in with six points and seven rebounds while junior Lisa Nanninga (Grand Rapids Chris!
tian HS) had five points and five rebounds off the bench.

Adrian (9-15 overall, 4-10 MIAA) was led in defeat by Rachael Petre who pumped in 19 points and collected 10 rebounds along with four assists while Mandi Lemmons had 12 points, Amanda Rainsberger 11 points and Corri Helldobler and Anna Psaute 10 points apiece.

Calvin shot 58 percent overall including 59 percent in the second half. Adrian shot 50 percent overall including 64.5 percent in the second half. Calvin held a 30-27 rebounding advantage and connected on 11 of 15 free throw attempts (.667).

CALVIN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL MIAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
1979
1983
1988
1993
1994
1996
1997
1998
1999
2003

FINAL MIAA WOMEN"S BASKETBALL REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS

Calvin 13-1
Hope 12-2
Albion 10-4
Alma 7-7
Kalamazoo 5-9
Adrian 4-10
Olivet 3-11
St. Mary's 2-12

MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS

First Round Games February 24

#8 St. Mary's at #1 Calvin
#7 Olivet at #2 Hope
#6 Adrian at #3 Albion
#5 Kalamazoo at #4 Alma

Semifinals at site of highest remaining seed February 26

Championship Game February 28 at site of highest remaining seed

MEN'S BASKETBALL

ANGOLA, IN * Calvin rebounded from a disappointing loss to Hope Wednesday night with a victory at future MIAA opponent Tri-State University Saturday afternoon, allowing the Knights to head into MIAA Tournament play on a winning note. Saturday's contest was a high-scoring affair with the Knights coming out on top by a 111-106 score, establishing a single-game scoring high for the 2003-2004 season in the process.

Calvin (16-9) trailed 28-13 in the early going but rallied to build a 51-46 halftime lead behind a 20-2 scoring run midway through the first half.

The second half featured back-and-forth action with the lead changing hands eight times. Calvin's largest lead was nine points at 63-54 with 16:12 remaining but Tri-State thundered right back with a 15-4 run to take a 69-67 lead. Tri-State (12-13) took its final lead at 94-93 with 5:30 remaining but a layup by Calvin junior Dan Aultman (Mason County Central HS) put the Knights up 95-94 seconds later. The Aultman layup would put Calvin ahead for good as it sparked a 9-1 run that gave the Knights a 102-95 lead. Tri-State scored the next six points to close to within a point but Calvin responded with another layup by Aultman and then seven free throws on eight attempts in the final 40 seconds of play to close out the win.

Senior Chris Prins (Escondido, CA) led the Knights in scoring with 20 points and two steals while converting all eight of his free throw attempts. Senior Kevin Broene (Grand Rapids Christian HS) also had a fine game with 15 points, hitting four of five from beyond the three-point arc. Sophomore Brian Roelofs (Haverford, PA) was next with a career-high 14 points along with five rebounds off the bench while Aultman had 12 points and five boards and sophomore Andy Draayer (Denver, CO) 11 points. Smalligan added seven points, six boards and two blocked shots.

Tri-State was led by Britain Flower who pumped I 24 points with Dwight Brace scoring 20 and Micah Williams 18.

Tri-State attempted 66 three-pointers, connecting on 26 for a 39.4 percent clip. Calvin shot 64.4 percent overall to the 41.1 percent of Tri-State. The biggest difference came at the free throw line with Calvin converting 27 of 33 attempts for an 81.8 percent clip while Tri-State was just 6 of 13 at the charity stripe (.462).

The Calvin victory also evened its all-time record against Tri-State as both teams had now claimed three victories against each other in a series that dates back to the 1960's.

Idle from conference play on Saturday, Calvin finished third in the final MIAA regular season standings.

Calvin will now prepare for a first round MIAA Tournament game Wednesday night at home against sixth seeded Kalamazoo (7-18). The game will begin at 7:30 p.m.. Hope wrapped up the outright MIAA regular season title on Saturday with an 88-70 win over Alma to finish 10-2 in the league, one game ahead of 9-3 Albion. As the top seed for the MIAA Tournament, hope receives a first round bye and will host the MIAA Tournament semifinals Friday night and the MIAA Tournament Championship game Saturday night.

FINAL MIAA REGULAR MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS

Hope 10-2
Albion 9-3
Calvin 8-4
Adrian 7-5
Olivet 5-7
Kalamazoo 2-10
Alma 1-11

MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS

FIRST ROUND MIAA TOURNAMENT GAMES FEBRUARY 25, 2004

#7 Alma at #2 Albion
#6 Kalamazoo at #3 Calvin
#5 Olivet at #4 Adrian

MIAA TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS FEBRUARY 27, 2004 at HOLLAND CIVIC CENTER

Calvin/Kalamazoo winner vs Albion/Alma winner
Hope vs Olivet/Adrian winner

CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL FEBRUARY 28, 2004 AT HOLLAND CIVIC CENTER

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sun Feb 22 00:28:18 2004