CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR DEC. 29, 2007
Men's Hoops Falls to Montclair State;
Women's Hoops Falls in Championship Game to Baldwin-Wallace -- Harris Hits
1,000 Point Plateau
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Montclair State 72, Calvin 69
(Written by Drew DeVries' 08)
MONTCLAIR, NJ - When Calvin gets outrebounded, it generally has a tough time
winning the game. While that wasn't the only reason the Knights suffered a
72-69 defeat against Montclair State, Calvin (5-5) will nevertheless leave the
state of New Jersey with back to back losses.
Montclair State outrebounded Calvin 38-32. The Knights are now just 14-38 in
games over the last five years where they have been outrebounded.
Saturday's game marked the fourth meeting between Calvin and Montclair State
including the first since 1987. The series is now tied 2-2.
Like last night against Keene State and like its first ten games of this
season, Calvin struggled with offensive and defensive inconsistencies. Another
disappointing loss left Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek frustrated.
"It's disappointing about our lack of mental preparation," Vande Streek said.
"We've been really inconsistent just like last night and over our first ten
games. We tend to start poorly and then try to dig ourselves out of a hole the
rest of the game. We lose focus and that's been our struggle. After ten games,
I'm still not sure what players to play and what combinations to put out on the
court."
Starting poorly is exactly what the Knights did again this afternoon. Calvin
had five turnovers in the first four minutes and let a young Montclair State
team gain confidence. A frustrated Vande Streek on the sidelines watched his
team's streaky performance; a streaky performance that saw runs of 9-0 and 10-0
fueled by eleven first half points by Dustin Smith (Hamilton/Hamilton). But
then Vande Streek would watch his team give up runs right back to Montclair
State allowing them to hang around. At the half, the Knights clung to a 39-33
lead.
"They're [Montclair State] a really athletic team and they put the pressure on
us." commented Vande Streek. "But we turned the ball over right away. Against a
young team like Montclair State, you have to come out and start hard and get
after the opponent right away. But instead, we found a way to get behind and
had to scramble our way back in."
The second half was another half of on and off performances by the Knights
offensively and defensively. Derek Griffin (Whitehall/Whitehall) hit an early
triple to put the Knights up by nine, but after a couple of defensive
breakdowns and a long scoring drought, Montclair State went on a 19-3 run.
Midway through the second half, the Knights trailed 54-47.
It was Smith for Calvin who again took control and put his team back into the
game. Smith scored seven straight points after Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls,
SD/Sioux Falls Christian) finally broke the scoring drought en route to a 10-0
run that gave the Knights a three point lead.
But down the stretch, Calvin struggled to score while Montclair State came up
with the big plays. A fadeaway jumper by freshman James Williams with 1:13
remaining put the Red Hawks (5-5) up 67-65. Calvin then misfired on a shot,
forcing the Knights to foul. Montclair State proceeded to hit five of six from
the charity stripe but a bucket by senior Derek Griffin and a pair of free
throws by Caleb Veldhouse kept the Knights in the game. After Montclair State
split a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining, Calvin called time
out, setting up a final play. Calvin was able to get off a decent look at the
basket out of the timeout as a half-court pass to junior Tyler Zoerhof was
redirected over to Griffin who launched a triples from 24 feet out that glanced
off the side of the rim, allowing the Red Hawks to escape with the win.
Smith led the Knights in defeat with a career-high 21 points while Veldhouse
collected 15 and Griffin 10. For the Red Hawks of Montclair State, James
Williams and Ken Dudley each had 19. Carlos Pena alsproblems. He only played in the second half but provided his team an electric
spark scoring 10 points.
The Knights will now have about a week and a half to prepare for the conference
opener, which is something Vande Streek is thankful for. "We are going to be
able to work hard in practice and try to work out some of our problems," he
said. "This next week will be nice to have to get a chance to work on some
things and make progress before opening up conference play."
The Knights will open up conference play at home on Wednesday, January 9,
against a tough Tri-State team. The game will be part of a doubleheader in
which the women will first take on Hope College, followed by the men for an
8:00 tip-off.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Baldwin-Wallace 65, Calvin 60
(written by Baldwin-Wallace SID Kevin Ruple)
BEREA, OHIO — Four players each scored a team-high 12 points as the
24th-ranked Baldwin-Wallace College women’s basketball team defeated
19th-ranked Calvin (Mich.) College, 65-60, today (Saturday, December 29, 2007)
in the championship Game of the B-W Holiday Invitational Tournament in the
Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center in Berea. (Rankings
are taken from the latest WBCA, Women's Basketball Coaches Association, poll).
The Baldwin-Wallace victory snapped a two-game losing skid against Calvin at
the Ursprung Gymnasium as the Knights had previously defeated the Yellow
Jackets at the Ursprung Gymnasium in the 1997 and 1999 NCAA III Tournaments.
With its victory, B-W is 10-1 overall and has won five straight games. Senior
guard Selena Eskinazi-Budge, junior guard Amanda Mondrach , junior guard
Rachael Quiring and freshman guard Courtney Ritzler each scored 12 for the
winners.
Calvin, now 7-4 overall, was led by junior forward Marcia Harris (Grand Rapids
Christian HS) with 18 points and sophomore guard Nikki Zimmerman (Traverse City
West HS) and junior guard Sarah Partridge (East Lansing HS) each had 11 points.
In scoring 18 points, Harris became the 11th player in Calvin women’s
basketball history to surpass the 1,000 point plateau in a Calvin career.
Harris now has 1,003 career points and is just five points away from moving
past Julie Post and into 10th place on the all-time Calvin scoring list.
In the first half, the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 7-4 lead at the 17:43
mark when Quiring made two foul shots. B-W extended its lead to nine points at
17-8 with 14:36 left when Ritzler made a three-pointer.
Following a 6-0 Calvin run, B-W regained its nine-point advantage at 25-16 with
9:03 left when Mondrach scored on a layup. Following an 8-0 Calvin run that cut
B-W’s lead to 25-23 at the 6:26 mark, the Jackets outscored the Knights 7-6 to
lead by three points at halftime, 32-29.
In the second half, B-W extended its lead to nine points at 51-42 with 11:25
left when Ritzler made a jumper. Calvin then went on a 10-2 run to close to
53-52 with 6:34 when Patridge made two foul shots.
B-W then went on an 8-1 run to build its lead back to eight points at 61-53
with 3:07 left when Mondrach made a three-pointer. Calvin then outscored the
Yellow Jackets 7-0 to close back to 61-60 with 1:36 left when Patridge made two
more foul shots.
A pair of Quiring free throws at the 1:25 mark gave B-W a 63-60 lead and Budge
canned a jumper with 20 seconds left to “ice” the game and earn tournament Most
Valuable Player honors
In addition to Budge, B-W placed sophomore center Ariel Brough and Ritzler on
the all-tournament team. Harris made the squad for Calvin and was joined by
Hanover (Ind.) College freshman center Molly Martin and Allegheny (Pa.) College
sophomore forward Emilie Simone. Hanover defeated Allegheny in the consolation
game, 69-48. Calvin is back in action on January 9 when it hosts rival Hope at
6:00 p.m. at the Calvin Fieldhouse.
CALVIN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 1,000 POINT CLUB
1,721 -- Lisa Winkle, 2003-2007
1,332 -- Kerry Walters, 1995-1999
1,288 -- Sarah Ondersma, 1987-1991
1,285 -- Sharon Boeve, 1982-1985
1,146 -- Judy Wasmer, 1982-1985
1,170 – Kristen McDonald, 2001-2005
1,103 -- Pam Wubben, 1990-1994
1,007 – Julie Post, 1984-1988
1,003 – Marcia Harris, 2005-present
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Dec 29 17:31:37 2007
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