FINAL CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 17, 2006
Men’s Basketball Tops Concordia In Calvin Tip-Off Opener’
Women’s Basketball Opens Elmhurst Tourney With Win;
Swim Teams Split With Hope
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 98, Concordia (WI) 76
(Written by Calvin Sports Information Student Assistant Bruce VanBaren)
The men’s basketball team, ranked eight in the D3hoops.com Top-25 preseason poll, faced Concordia of Wisconsin in the 6th Annual Calvin College Tip-off Tournament Friday night.
Despite a poor defensive first half, the Knight’s offense clicked all game as they exploded to beat Concordia 98-76 in their home opener.
Two of Calvin's big additions this year, freshman John Mantel (Chelsea HS)and junior transfer Derek Griffin (Whitehall HS), came out firing for the Knights in the first half recording Calvin’s first nine points.
“I was really nervous about playing them because our defensive system takes so much experience to know,” said head coach Kevin Vande Streek. “Offensively they’re both pretty talented so that didn’t make me scared. They came right out and scored right away and hopefully that’s a sign of a lot of things to come.”
Calvin did struggle defensively in the first half as Concordia’s Josh Atkinson put up 21 first half points including three three-point field goals. Steve Huenink also put up three three-pointers as Concordia lead by as many as six.
The Knights came roaring back, however. Mantel hit a three to tie the game at 23-23. Griffin then capped off a 15-6 run with a big three to give Calvin an eight point lead in the closing minutes of the second half.
Concordia then went on an 8-2 run, with all eight points credited to Atkinson, to close the gap to three at the half with Calvin leading 51-48.
Atkinson and Huenink combined for 37 first half points, while Mantel and Griffen combined for 27. The teams combined for 15 three-point field goals in a heavily offensive first half.
Calvin’s half time adjustments worked as the defense stepped up and its offense continued to click. Two Tyler Zoerhoff steals as well as two three-pointers from sophomore Caleb Veldhouse ignited the Knights to an early 17 point second half lead.
Concordia, who stuck with its starting five much of the first half, began to show signs of tired legs as their offensive production dwindled. Atkinson was shut down and limited to seven points second half points.
Calvin went on a 10-3 run capped off by a Veldhouse three-pointer to put the game out of reach. Calvin led by 25, its biggest lead of the night, with fewer than four minutes to play.
Mantel, in his collegiate debut, led the team in points and rebounds. He tallied 17 points and collected seven rebounds. Griffin, in his Calvin debut, added 16 and Veldhouse, who was plagued by early foul trouble, also added 16.
“[Mantel and Griffin] certainly scored and I thought they did a pretty good job defensively,” Vande Streek said.
Calvin shot 55.2% from the field and grabbed 42 rebounds, 18 of which were offensive. “If you want to be a great team you have to be a great rebounding team,” Vande Streek said. “With our athleticism it’s really a waste not to go to the offensive board.”
“Last year we weren’t a great rebounding team and it kind of prevented us from taking the next step. If this team [wants to take the next step], that’s where it has to happen,” he continued.
Calvin advances to 1-0 and will face Benedictine University tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. in the championship game. Grace Bible (2-6) will face Concordia at 1:00 p.m. in the consolation game. Both games will be held in the Calvin Fieldhouse.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 58, Johnson and Wales 46
ELMHURST, IL * Calvin used strong defense and team rebounding to post a 58-46 victory over Johnson and Wales College of Rhode Island Friday night in the first round of the Elmhurst College Invitational.
Calvin (1-0) limited Johnson and Wales to 33.3 percent field goal shooting and held a 37-29 rebounding edge to pull away for the win.
Sophomore Marcia Harris (Grand Rapids Christian HS) had a big game for the Knights, scoring 22 points on 10 of 13 shooting while also grabbing eight rebounds. Senior Lisa Winkle (South Christian HS) scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds despite being saddled with foul trouble for much of the game.
Junior post Rachael Willett (Rockford HS) also came off the bench to score eight points, grab six rebounds and collect three steals. Sophomore Kristi Brummel (South Christian HS) also had seven points and three assists.
Calvin shot 42.9 percent overall including 44 percent in the first half. Johnson and Wales was able to keep the game somewhat close due to its free throw shooting, converting 16 of 22 attempts at the line while Calvin was just four of 10 at the stripe.
Johnson and Wales was led in scoring by Shannon Hunter with 18 points while Samantha Cowens * daughter of current Detroit Pistons assistant coach and former Boston Celtic great Dave Cowens * had 13 points and nine rebounds.
Calvin will face host Elmhurst in the championship game on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. (EST). Elmhurst was a 72-57 first round winner over Eureka College (IL).
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
CALVIN WOMEN 166, HOPE WOMEN 132
HOPE MEN 157, CALVIN MEN 141
Calvin split dual meets against rival Hope in men’s and women’s swimming and diving action Friday night at Calvin’s Bergsma Natatorium.
In the women’s competition Calvin defeated Hope 166-132 to move to 5-0 on the season. In the men’s competition, Calvin fell to Hope 157-141 to fall to 1-4 on the season.
In the men’s dual meet, Calvin led 133-129 heading into the final two events of the nights * the 200 IM and the 400 freestyle relay but the Knights were unable to hang on against the heavily favored Flying Dutchmen despite a valiant effort.
Sophomore Keith Conrad (Wheaton, IL) led the Calvin charge, winning the 1,000 freestyle (10:09.18) and 500 freestyle (5:00.55). Junior Joe Gluvers (Rocklin, CA) also had a good evening, winning the 100 backstroke in a time of 55.30 and taking second in the 200 backstroke (2:01.27). Calvin freshman Alex Oddo (Grosse Pointe Park) also took first place on both the one-meter (192.90) and three-meter (198.25) diving boards. Freshman John Toll (Atlanta, GA) also won the 200 butterfly (2:03.42) while senior Andrew Resseguie (Holland Christian HS) won the 50 freestyle (22.46). In addition, Calvin’s 200 medley relay team of Gluvers, junior Lucas Seebeck (Grand Rapids Christian HS), junior John Boumgarden (Naperville, IL) and freshman Kurt VanAllsburg (Grand Rapids Christian HS) took first place in a time of 1:40.14.
In the women’s dual meet, senior Becky Weima was a triple-winner, posting NCAA III B’ cut qualifying times in all three events. Weima took first place in the 50 freestyle (24.24), 100 freestyle (52.99) and 200 freestyle (1:54.13).
Sophomore Erica Deur (Holland Christian HS) also had a huge night, wining the one-meter (258.60) and three-meter (250.30) diving competitions. Her score on the one-meter board was an NCAA III qualifying mark.
Other individual winners for the Calvin women included freshman Emily Roberts (Dekalb, IL) in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.15) and junior Stephanie Duncan (Long Grove, IL) in the 500 freestyle (5:24.41).
Calvin also took both relays. Calvin’s 200 medley relay team of sophomore Jordan Scott (Oakville, ON), Roberts, freshman Katie White (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and junior Kat Vinson (Kaneohe, HI) took first in a time of 1:51.67 while its 400 freestyle relay team of sophomore Julie Wolfe (Westerville, OH), senior Liz Ingebrigtsen (Bensenville, IL), White and Weima took first place in a time of 3:37.04.
Both Calvin teams will compete in a quadrangular on Saturday that will include teams from Denison, Wooster and Westminster. The meet will be held in Canton, Ohio.
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Nov 18 00:36:20 2006
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Sat Nov 18 2006 - 00:36:20 EST