CSR (Women's Basketball Falls to Hope/Men's Hoops Defeat Tri-State)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR JAN. 9, 2008

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS TO HOPE IN RIVALRY GAME;
MEN'S BASKETBALL OPENS MIAA CAMPAIGN WITH WIN

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Hope 56, Calvin 39

The women’s basketball team fell to number-one ranked Hope on Wednesday
night, 56-39. Despite holding the Dutch to a mere 36 percent from the field in
the second half, the Knights shot just 23 percent from the floor throughout –
including 20 percent from long range.

Although each team committed 25 turnovers in what shaped up to be a
defensively oriented battle, Hope out-rebounded Calvin 44-31.

Calvin trailed 31-17 at halftime but whittled the lead down to nine at 33-24
with a 7-2 burst to open the second half. Junior Marcia Harris brought Calvin
within nine at 35-26 on a jumper moments later but the Knights would get no
closer the rest of the way. A 9-0 run by Hope inside the final seven minutes of
play affectively put the game out of reach, allowing the Flying Dutch (12-0
overall, 4-0 MIAA) to remain unbeaten on the year.

Hope’s stellar freshman standout Carrie Snikkers dismantled Calvin’s
defense, recording 15 points and hauling in 12 boards off the bench. The Dutch
backcourt received support from Jordyn Boles and Julie Henderson, who scored
seven and six points, respectively.

For the Knights, junior Sarah Partridge headed the scoring attack with 11
points while managing to grab five rebounds and swipe a pair of steals. Harris
was next with 10 points and eight rebounds as she moved past Julie Post and
into ninth place on the all-time Calvin scoring list. Harris currently has
1,015 points in her Calvin career. Calvin shot 77 percent from the charity
stripe, but had only 13 attempts throughout.

Wednesday’s game marked the 62nd meeting between the two rivals with Calvin
holding a 61-31 series lead with Hope holding a 16-5 lead during the decade of
the 2000s.

The Knights (7-5, 3-2) have now dropped three of their last five games, but
have a chance to improve on their conference record when they travel to Adrian
(4-8, 2-2) on Saturday, January 12. Calvin will then host three consecutive
home games, beginning with Olivet on January 16.

OTHER MIAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY
Adrian 63, Alma 55
Olivet 70, Tri-State 69
Albion 85, Saint Mary’s 56

MIAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-9-08 GAMES
Hope 4-0
Albion 4-1
Olivet 3-1
Calvin 3-2
Saint Mary’s 2-3
Adrian 2-2
Alma 1-3
Kalamazoo 1-3
Tri-State 0-5

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 56, Tri-State 48
(written by Drew DeVries '08)

GRAND RAPIDS - For the twelth year in a row, the Knights begin their MIAA
conference schedule with a victory. Behind a strong defensive effort, Calvin
defeated the Thunder from Tri-State 56-48.

In the first half, Calvin came out firing on offense connecting on seven three
pointers and shooting almost forty-five percent from the field. Dustin Smith
(Hamilton/Hamilton) opened up Calvin's scoring and had seven of his team's
first eleven points. Matt Veltema (Grandville/Calvin Christian) had eleven
first half points behind three triples while Derek Griffin
(Whitehall/Whitehall) added nine. Calvin built a ten point lead with just over
three minutes to go in the half but failed to add on to its lead, beginning a
scoring drought that would last almost seven minutes spilling into the second
half. The Knights would walk into the locker room with a 36-29 lead.

It was then in the second half that the defense for both teams took over.

"Both teams played really hard tonight," said Calvin head coach Kevin Vande
Streek. "All week we had emphasized toughness and competitiveness which is
something I saw tonight. We were able to get some stops down the stretch which
helped us get our first conference win."

After letting Tri-State get right back into the game allowing a 6-0 run to
open the half and then letting the Thunder tie the game at 39 apiece, it was
Calvin's defense that needed to take over because its offense wasn't doing
much. Calvin had only four second half baskets scoring twenty points. So it was
Calvin's defense that shined in the second half as it held the Thunder to
nineteen points and allowed only one Tri-State player to finish in double
figures.

Follwing the game, it was no suprise that Vande Streek had plenty of praise
for his defense. John Mantel (Chelsea/Chelsea) played one of his most physical
games of the season, Tyler Zoerhof (Holland/Holland Christian) contributed by
grabbing ten rebounds and collecting three assists, and Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux
Falls, SD/Sioux Falls Christian) held Tri-State's top scorer, Tony Benford, to
only six points.

"Mantel was big on the boards tonight and played a tough and physical game,"
said Vande Streek. "Zoehof really did a nice job and I felt we were a better
team with him on the floor tonight. He got some tough boards that no one else
on our team might have been able to get and challenged a lot of shots."

But Vande Streek was exceptionally impressed with the defense of his junior
guard. "I have to give a lot of credit to Caleb," he said. "His defense has
improved so much over his time here and he did a great job on Benford. Overall,
our team played great on defense, but Caleb drew the tough assignment on
defense and did a great job with it."

Veltema, Mantel, Smith, and Griffin all finished the game with eleven points
for the Knights while Andre Patrick led the Thunder with thirteen.

Calvin (6-5 overall, 1-0 MIAA) will travel to Alma on Saturday to face the
Scots at 3:00pm.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Wed Jan 9 22:49:41 2008