CSR (Women's Basketball Falls to Albion)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR DECEMBER 19, 2007

Women's Basketball Falls to Albion

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Albion 78, Calvin 51
(written by Drew DeVries '08)

GRAND RAPIDS - With two of its starters on the bench nursing ankle injuries, Calvin suffered its first conference loss falling to the visiting Brits of Albion College 78-51. Juniors Kelly Trewhella (Rockford/Rockford) and Kristi Brummel (Byron Center/South Christian) both did not play.

The Knights got off to a rough start that they were never able to overcome as the game progressed. Calvin continued to struggle with turnovers and had a hard time defending Albion's offense. Albion shot 52% from the field while knocking down nine triples as it got great looks at the basket all night long.

"We just didn't guard like we are capable of," said Calvin head coach John Ross. "We had breakdowns on defense and weren't talking on defense. I have to give Albion a lot of credit. They executed perfectly with everything they did."

Ross did not, however, think having two starters absent caused his team to struggle like it did. "Even with Brummel and Trewhella out, it shouldn't matter. We still should be competitive."

One of the few brightspots of the night was the play of junior Sarah Partridge (East Lansing/East Lansing). Partridge kept the Knights in the game as much as she could by scoring eleven points in the first ten minutes and finishing the half with fourteen. She finished the night with a game high and career high seventeen points.

The second half did not prove to be too much better than the first half for the Knights as Albion (8-1 overall, 2-1 MIAA) rattled off a 7-3 run to start the half. The Brits kept knocking down their shots as Calvin could not come up with an answer on defense, as well as on offense as the Knights turned the ball over 28 times.

Marcia Harris (Grand Rapids/GR Christian) was the only other Knight to finish in double digits with fifteen. Four Albion players finished in double digit scoring with Kati Till leading the way for the Brits collecting sixteen points.

The Knights will now move on and put this game behind them as they prepare for the four team Baldwin Wallace Tournament next week Friday and Saturday.

"We are going to have to play really well," said Ross. "All the teams that will be in it are good teams and anyone can win it. We are going to have to guard a lot better and hopefully will be healthy again. I've seen how good we can be when we are healthy."

Calvin (6-3 overall, 3-1 MIAA) will face Allegheny next Friday at 7:30pm.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Wed Dec 19 23:05:26 2007