CSR (Calvin Basketball Teams Fall to Wheaton)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2006

Basketball Teams Fall to Wheaton in CCIW/MIAA Classic Competition

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Wheaton 73, Calvin 62
(Written by Annalise VenHuizen ’08)

Kenosha, WI--As part of the annual CCIW/MIAA Classic going on at Carthage College this weekend, Calvin faced Wheaton College in a 7:00 p.m. game Friday night. Ranked tenth in the latest D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, the Knights fell to Wheaton 73-62. The Knights were plagued by turnovers and defensive fouls that allowed Wheaton to take an early lead and prevented Calvin from making a comeback.

After Calvin freshman forward John Mantel (Chelsea/Chelsea) started the scoring with a lay-up, Wheaton went on a 9-0 run with the help of three Calvin turnovers. Though back-to-back field goals from senior Kyle Snoeyink (Grandville/Calvin Christian) put the Knights within three at 10-13, the Knights never made up the early deficit as Wheaton did not let Calvin within nine points in the second half. The Thunder (3-2) led by as many as twelve points late in the first half and shot 56 percent in those twenty minutes. Calvin trailed 34-46 at the end of the half.

Mantel began scoring again in the second half, but every Calvin point was answered by one from Wheaton. A Wheaton three-pointer gave the Thunder its largest lead, 13 points at 55-42. A three from sophomore Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD/Sioux Falls Christian) put Calvin within three, the closest they had been since the middle of the first half. Calvin's next five points also came from Veldhouse, but as the Calvin defense was unable to get a stop, Wheaton matched each shot. The time ran out after two made foul shots by Wheaton, who took the 11 point, 73-62 victory.

Head Coach Kevin VandeStreek traced Calvin's woes back to shoddy first-half defensive play: "Our first half was really disappointing. We can not win games if we have the kind of defensive performance we had in the first half. I felt we did much better in the second. We're learning and we're young."

Leading Calvin (3-2) in defeat was Veldhouse with 16 points. Junior Derek Griffin (Whitehall/Muskegon CC) had 10 points behind a strong effort from the free-throw line. As a team, Calvin was 13-20 from the line. Snoeyink also had 10 points.

Wheaton was propelled by sophomores Kent Raymond who amassed 24 points and Matt Akeney who had 12 points. The Thunder out-rebounded Calvin 37-29.

Calvin continues play in the Classic tomorrow evening as it faces host Carthage in a 5:00 p.m. game.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Wheaton 49, Calvin 46

WHEATON, IL -- Calvin suffered its first-ever defeat in the CCIW/MIAA Classic, falling 49-46 to host Wheaton Friday night. Ranked 10th in the latest D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, Calvin (3-1) held a 20-16 halftime lead but the Knights committed 15 second half turnovers, allowing the Wheaton Thunder to pull out the narrow win.

Wheaton (4-3) grabbed its first lead of the game at 24-23 three minutes into the second half. The lead then changed hands eight times before Wheaton was able to take the lead for good at 43-42 on a free throw by junior center Jill Trenz with 3:15 left to play. Trenz then came up with a clutch play with 15 seconds left, grabbing an offensive rebound after Calvin senior center Lisa Winkle had blocked a Wheaton shot attempt. Trenz grabbed the loose ball and tossed in a put-back to give the Thunder a 48-43 lead.

Calvin countered with a three-pointer by sophomore Kristi Brummel with six seconds left that cut the cap to two at 48-46. After a Wheaton free throw with two seconds left, Brummel nearly tied the game after collecting a long inbounds pass and throwing up a three pointer that banked off the board and rim at the buzzer.

The Wheaton victory snapped a two-game losing skid against Calvin which had defeated the Thunder by three points in the 2004 CCIW/MIAA Classic and by five points in the same tournament a year ago. Wheaton however, has defeated Calvin the last two times the two non-conference rivals have met at Wheaton's King Arena.

Whe second half with 14 of its second half points coming off of Calvin turnovers.

Calvin was led in defeat by Winkle who had 12 points and seven rebounds while Brummel had 10 points and sophomore Marcia Harris nine points and eight rebounds.

Wheaton was led by Brittany Cooper who came up with 16 points and four assists while Trenz had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Both teams had 36 rebounds with Wheaton shooting 39.6 percent overall and Calvin shooting 35.3 percent overall.

Wheaton will face Hope on Saturday on day two of the CCIW/MIAA Classic while Calvin will face Carthage.

Calvin is now 4-1 all-time in the tournament while Wheaton is 2-3.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Fri Dec 1 22:02:29 2006