CSR (Calvin Basketball Teams Pick Up Conference Victories)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR JANUARY 16, 2008

Basketball Teams Pick Up Conference Victories

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 93, Olivet 61
(written by Colin McWhertor ’08)

The Calvin women’s basketball team enjoyed an offensive eruption Wednesday
night while beating Olivet College 93-61 at the Calvin Fieldhouse. The point
total was the highest of the season by the Knights and helped break a three
game losing streak, matching the program’s longest under head coach John
Ross. The win also vaulted the Knights into third place in the MIAA standings
at 4-3 (8-6 overall). Calvin’s scoring output was its highest since a 94-36
win over Rochester College in February of 2004.

The Knights maintained a lead throughout the game, using strong post play and
a sparkling transition game to build a 17-point lead at halftime. Calvin
finished the half on a 17-7 run and never looked back after leading 47-30 at
the break.

Calvin received a huge contribution from the frontcourt in the victory as
junior Marcia Harris (GR Christian), sophomore Brook VanEck (Lowell) and
freshman Kacy Cryderman (Dimondale) all reached double digits in scoring.
Harris led the Knights with 18 points on 8-12 shooting while Cryderman scored a
career high 14 points and VanEck chipped in 13 points. Cryderman and VanEck
each also grabbed six rebounds to lead the team.

“I thought altogether we played well,” said head coach John Ross. “We
made a lot of good plays and did the things we needed to do to have a good
game. I was glad to see some players step up and start scoring some points. I
hope we can use this to keep performing well.”

The Knights had numerous other players put up strong numbers as freshman Amber
Benthem (McBain) scored 10 points off the bench to spark Calvin. Junior Sarah
Partridge (East Lansing) added nine points, senior Wendy Zigterman (Western
Springs, IL) seven points and Kristi Brummel (South Christian) six points as
Calvin received a huge lift from the bench in the form of 51 points.

“I think Amber Benthem did a good job tonight,” said Ross. “She plays
with a lot of energy and she changes the way we play defense. We were trying
to get her in (the game) a lot tonight and will look to continue to do
that.”

Calvin was able to shoot a season best 64.4 percent from the field while
holding Olivet to 39.3 percent. The Knights also kept their turnovers low,
committing only 15 for the game while collecting a whopping 24 assists, a
season best turnover-to-assist ratio.

Olivet falls to 3-3 in the MIAA with the loss and 4-9 overall. The Comets
were led in defeat by senior point guard Amy Brackenwagen who scored 14
points.

Calvin has the next two games at home as Kalamazoo College travels to Grand
Rapids on Saturday for a 3:00pm tip-off and then the Belles of St. Mary’s
College come to town the following Wednesday evening.

Other MIAA Scores Wednesday night:
Hope 75, Adrian 54
Alma 76, Albion 57
Saint Mary's 72, Kalamazoo 69

MIAA WOMEN”S BASKETBALL STANDINGS (through 1-16-08)

Hope 6-0
Albion 5-2
Calvin 4-3
Adrian 3-3
Olivet 3-3
St. Mary’s 3-3
Alma 2-4
Tri-State 1-5
K-Zoo 1-5

MEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 79, Adrian 67
(written by Drew DeVries ’08)

ADRIAN - Calvin was able to find its offense rhythm in this game as the
Knights used a strong first half to propel itself to victory over Adrian at the
Merillat Center. Calvin (8-5 overall, 3-0 MIAA) remains unbeaten in the
conference and has won three straight with the 79-57 road win.

Calvin's offense came out firing as it quickly built a 7-0 lead early, en
route to a 15-3 run inside the first six minutes of the half. The Knights
continued to put the pressure on the Bulldog defense by hitting six three
pointers in the half and attacking the glass on offense. Calvin had 11 second
chance points and behind 12 Caleb Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD/Sioux Falls
Christian) points, the Knights held an insurmountable 40-25 lead in arguably
their best first half performance of the season.

"We've been talking for the past two days on how tough this game was going to
be and I thought we responded in great fashion," said Calvin head coach Kevin
Vande Streek. "Our mental toughness was there and we executed well by hitting a
lot of shots early. It was a great start for us."

Calvin began the second half a little lethargic. Adrian pulled to within eight
early on but as they were able to do each time, the Knights had their answer.
Back to back triples by Veldhouse and Dustin Smith (Hamilton/Hamilton) put the
Knights back up by 14.

But Adrian wasn't about to give up. The Bulldogs cut the deficit down to five
points, but again the Knights answered and Adrian would cease to get any
closer. This time is was Matt Veltema (Grandville/Calvin Christian) with the
answer as he jumpstarted a 9-0 run that gave Calvin a 63-51 which was too much
for the Bulldogs to overcome.

Vande Streek credited the win to his team's great start and was more than
pleased to leave Adrian a winner. "We didn't play as well in the second half
except for the fact that we played hard. We had a lot of turnovers, didn't
handle their defensive pressure well, and didn't play great defense ourselves.
But the good thing is we hung in there. We were able to get enough good looks
in the second half to hang on for the win. I'm ecstatic with my guys with how
mentally tough they were."

Veldhouse finished the game with a game high 26 points, connecting on 10 of 19
from the floor including 4 of 6 from three-point range. "I was really proud of
Caleb tonight," said Vande Streek. "He's been sick with a bad cold but he
gutted it out and did a great job all around. He defended [Desmond] Young well,
took care of the ball, and made good shots." Veldhouse also finished with five
assists and three steals.

Also finishing in double figures for the Knights were Derek Griffin
(Whitehall/Whitehall) with 12 and Smith with 13. Desmond Young led the Bulldog
attack with 18.

The Knights will now look to take on Albion at home this Saturday for a 7:30
night game as the Knights look to keep their momentum going.

OTHER MIAA MEN’S SCORES WEDNESDAY
Tri-State 59, Alma 58
Hope 88, Kalamazoo 60
Albion 70, Olivet 58

MIAA MEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-16-08 GAMES

Calvin 3-0
Hope 3-0
Kalamazoo 2-1
Tri-State 2-1
Adrian 1-2
Albion 1-2
Alma 0-3
Olivet 0-3

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Wed Jan 16 23:22:01 2008