CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR MARCH 11, 2005 (Part One)
MEN'S BASKETBALL
(Story written by Calvin Director of Publications Lynn Rosendale)
ALBION*Despite a few early game jitters by Calvin, the outcome was never in question as the 14th-ranked Knights grabbed the early lead and never looked back, downing Mississippi College 75-60 to advance to the Elite Eight in the NCAA III National Tournament.
Calvin will face MIAA foe Albion in Saturday's national quarterfinal game at 7:00 p.m. at the Kresge Gymnasium with the winner advancing to the NCAA III Final Four the following weekend in Salem, Virginia. Calvin will be making its sixth appearance in a national quarterfinal game. The Knights are 3-2 in sectional championship games. Saturday night's game will mark the first-ever meeting between two MIAA men's basketball teams in sectional play.
A very limited amount of tickets will be available at the Calvin Box Office on Saturday morning beginning at 9:00 a.m. with tickets on sale until noon or until they are sold out.
"I think we were a little nervous," said coach Kevin VandeStreek, of the team's early play. "We knew that we had to combat their athleticism by being very disciplined and being in the right spot at the right time."
It didn't take long for the Knights to find their spots, posting an early 14-8 lead, off the strength of back-to-back buckets by Brian Roelofs.
Roelofs, who came off the bench to lead the Knights with 16 points, played a tough inside game against the smaller Choctaws.
"I'm not surprised [that he was our leading scorer]," said VandeStreek. "We have had a number of different guys stepping up all year."
In fact, the by the end of the first half, the Knights had nine players posting both points and rebounds.
"We've played ten deep all year," said VandeStreek. "We trust any one of these guys to go out there and do a good job on any given night."
It took the Knights just under three more minutes to push the score to 21-11 off a designed ally-oop jam by Josh Meckes, from guard Ricky Shilts.
Still the pesky Choctaws would not go away. They narrowed the score in within wight points with just under five minutes to go in the first half, but that is as close as Mississippi would get for the rest of the night.
"Holding any team to 60 points in the Sweet Sixteen shows what we played pretty good defense," said Roelofs. "Then once we started to take charge on offense, things went our way."
A 17-7 run to start the second half secured the victory for the Knights.
Mississippi College was led by Jaszmine Eugene who led all scorers with 22 points.
The Knights will face MIAA rival Albion College, which defeated John Carroll in the evening's late game, for the fourth time this season with a spot in the Final Four on the line. The game is Saturday at 7 p.m. at Albion. The Knights are 1-2 against the ninth-ranked Brits.
"At this point it doesn't matter who we play," said Shilts. "We are just taking each game as it comes, one at a time."
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The Calvin women's basketball is headed into uncharted territory.
For the first time in school history, the Knights have advanced to a national quarterfinal game and will get a chance to play for a berth in the NCAA III Final Four.
Calvin defeated conference foe Albion 64-56 in front of more than 1,200 fans at the Calvin Fieldhouse Friday night. It marked the first-ever meeting between two MIAA opponents in sectional play. It also marked the first time that Calvin has defeated Albion four times in a season as the Knights swept the Britons in a pair of regular season meetings and also topped the Britons 60-47 two weeks ago in the MIAA Tournament Championship game.
With the win, Calvin (25-4) also established a new single-season record for victories, surpassing the 24-win total originally established by Calvin's 1998-99 team that finished 24-6 overall.
Calvin will face sixth-ranked Millikin University (26-2) in Saturday's sectional final at 7:00 p.m. at the Calvin Fieldhouse. Millikin advanced to its second-ever sectional final with a come-from-behind 59-56 victory over UW-Stout in Friday's first semifinal game. Saturday's Calvin/Millikin winner will advance to the NCAA III Final Four the following week in Norfolk, Virginia. Neither Calvin or Millikin has ever been to the NCAA III Final Four. Saturday's night's sectional final will also feature the first-ever meeting between Calvin and Millikin in women's basketball.
Tickets for Saturday's sectional final will go on sale at the Calvin Fieldhouse doors beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Prior to Friday night's game with Albion, Calvin had advanced to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA III Tournament on two occasions but had come up empty in both tries, falling to Wisconsin-Oshkosh 61-59 in 1999 and 76-72 in double-overtime to Baldwin-Wallace in 2000.
"It feels really good to know that we've done some that no other Calvin team has done before," said second-year Calvin women's basketball coach John Ross who is now 48-8 at the helm of the Knights. "I'm extremely happy for my players but I'm even happier for Calvin College."
Calvin took a 33-25 halftime lead against Albion and then built a double-digit lead early in the second half at 36-24 after a three-pointer from the right win by senior guard Kristen McDonald. Calvin would continue to hold a double-digit margin at 50-38 on a jumper from senior Lesa Holleman with 11:10 remaining but Albion would rally with a 16-4 scoring run over the next nine-and-a-half minutes to tie the game at 54. Albion senior Sarah Caskey capped off the run with a three-point play inside that tied the game with just 1:40 remaining on the clock.
McDonald and Caskey would then go back-and-forth with McDonald drawing a foul and swishing a pair of free throws with 1:28 remaining. Caskey answered with a driving layup to tie the game at 56 with 1:11 left on the clock.
McDonald responded by with a floater in the lane with 46 seconds remaining to put the Knights up 58-56.
Calvin would then get a critical defensive stop and rebound 10 seconds later and McDonald would be fouled with 34 seconds left. The senior point guard nailed both ends of a bonus situation and would add two more free throws with 17 seconds left to give Calvin a 62-56 advantage. Sophomore forward Lisa Winkle would provide the final points of the evening with two free throws with eight seconds left on the clock.
"We've been in a lot of close games before this year so I think that helped us down the stretch," said Ross. "Our league is very tough. It doesn't matter who we played this year. We were always in a dog fight and tonight was no different."
McDonald and senior center Lisa Nanninga held game-high scoring honors for Calvin with 19 points apiece with Nanninga establishing a new career scoring high with her performance as she was eight of 10 from the field including five of seven in the first half.
With her 19 points, McDonald also moved past 1985 Calvin graduate Judy Wasmer and into sixth place on the all-time Calvin scoring list.
Winkle was also superb for the Knights as she chalked up her 13th collegiate double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds while also swatting away four Albion shots. Winkle now had 473 points on the year which is also a new Calvin single-season record.
Albion was led in defeat by senior Sarah Caskey who closed out her stellar four-year career with 15 points. Junior guard Jaime Fornetti adding 10 points while Jessica Babcock had nine points and six boards off the bench.
Free throw shooting allowed Albion to stay in the game as the Britons were 15 of 19 (.789) at the stripe while Calvin was 23 of 32 (.719).
Albion would shot just 33.9 percent overall including just 25 percent in the first half. Calvin would shoot 38.5 percent overall including 40 percent in the second half. Calvin also held a 41-30 rebounding advantage including 11-6 in the second half.
Calvin is now 11-8 in NCAA III Tournament play. The Knights are making their ninth appearance in the NCAA III Tournament.
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Mar 12 00:14:29 2005
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