CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR NOV. 21, 2009 (PART ONE)
Women's Basketball Captures Wilmington Tournament Title;
Men's Basketball Defeats Lake Forest In Consolation Game of Calvin Tip-Off
Tourney;
Swimming and Diving Teams Fall to Wayne State in Dual Meet Action
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
WILMINGTON, OH—Calvin captured the championship of the Wilmington College
Domino’s Tip-Off Tournament, defeating host Wilmington 67-59 in the
championship game Saturday afternoon.
With freshman center Carissa Verkaik (Holland Christian HS) saddled with foul
trouble on Saturday, senior forward Brook Van Eck (Lowell HS) stepped up to
provide a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman Allison
Wolffis (Muskegon-Mona Shores HS) also scored 10 points and grabbed nine
rebounds off the bench.
For her efforts, Van Eck was named the tournament MVP. She was joined on the
all-tournament team from Calvin by Wolffis.
“We’re just really excited to win this tournament,” said Calvin
women’s basketball coach John Ross. “I was really proud of our effort,
particularly since we played most of the game without Carissa. We had
contributions from everyone down the line. We played really loose and upbeat.
Our effort was tremendous. We’re not focusing on wins and losses right now.
We’re just going out and playing right now.”
Calvin led 38-35 at halftime and stretched its lead to as many as 11 points in
the second half. Wilmington later trimmed the lead to five points late in the
second half but the Knights connected on four free throws in the final 1:30 to
help seal the win.
Calvin (3-0) limited Wilmington (1-1) to 33.8 percent field goal shooting and
enjoyed a six-point advantage at the free throw line with the Knights
connecting on 17 of 24 at the line (.708) while Wilmington was 11 of 17 (.647)
at the stripe.
Calvin returns to action next Friday when it faces Elmhurst (IL) in a
tournament hosted by Olivet College.
All-Tournament Team:
Rose-Hulman: Eli Baca
Marian: Nikki Schmidt
Wilmington: Kortney Kin
Wilmington: Amy Bricker
Calvin: Ally Wolffis
MVP: Calvin: Brook VanEck
MEN'S BASKETBALL
After dropping their opening round game to Grace Bible College in
disappointing fashion, the Calvin Knights rebounded with an 85-78 victory over
Lake Forest College on Saturday.
The Knights opened the game shooting hot from the field and transition points
got Calvin out to an 8-1 lead early. But the Foresters battled back to take a
9-8 lead and the teams traded points for most of the first half.
Eventually, Calvin’s scorching hot shooting was too much for Lake Forest in
the first half. Calvin shot 64% from behind the arc with junior Danny Rodts
contributing 14 points off of 3-3 shooting from three-point territory. Brent
Schuster also displayed his mid-range talent with 8 first half points of his
own. A John Mantel buzzer-beating three from the right wing gave Calvin a
49-44 lead going into the second half.
Lake Forest hung around in the second half, despite strong efforts from
Calvin’s Mantel. Mantel exhibited the inside presence Calvin so desperately
needed in their first round game. His baseline fade-away and “and-one”
efforts maintained a Calvin lead in the second half. Halfway through the first
half, however, the Foresters tied the game at 63, and later took a two point
lead. Freshmen Bryan Powell then stepped up and hit a crucial three-pointer to
give Calvin a 68-67 lead. Calvin then continued to bang the ball inside.
Another tough lay-up with a foul for Mantel gave Calvin a six point lead, which
they controlled through the remainder of the game. Free throws and rebounding
kept Calvin on pace, concluding an 85-78 victory for Calvin.
Mantel led the Knights in scoring with 23 points. He was also the leading
rebounder, with eight boards to his name. Rodts finished with 20 points of his
own, and shot 5-10 from the field.
“I told the team before the game, we are going to find out a lot about the
character and hear of this team. We were mentally really good. We were very
enthusiastic with a lot of talk and encouragement,” said Coach Kevin Vande
Streek.
Vande Streek added that he was excited to see more success in the paint,
something he feels should be a strength of the Knights.
On the overall performance of his team, Vande Streek concluded, “I’m
disappointed with didn’t win the tournament, but in the big picture that’s
not the biggest thing. We gained experience.”
In the championship game, Davenport defeated Grace Bible College 78-74.
All Tournament Team: Patrick Hanley (Lake Forest), John Mantel (Calvin),
Allen Durham (Grace Bible), Nathan Cox (Davenport),
MVP: James Neslon(Davenport)
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
In another day of action for the Calvin swim and dive team and despite taking
a pair of losses for both men and women’s teams, the Knights swam what coach
Dan Gelderloos called their best meet of the year at home against Division II
team Wayne State University.
A Saturday event held at Calvin’s Venema Aquatic Center, the losses pushed
Calvin’s season record to 2-2 and 1-3 for the women and men respectively in
dual meet action. The women, recently ranked at #5 in the Division III Top 25
poll, fell by a score of 146-92, and the men, who have received votes in the
poll but are not ranked in the Top 25, lost by a team score of 164-74.
“Today we swam what was probably our best meet so far,” Gelderloos said
after the meet had concluded. “Sometimes it’s good to step up your
confidence and get out of your comfort zone to get a reality check of what else
is out there.”
“We found out some things and got some good surprises here today,”
Gelderloos continued, “and we found some other things that will need some
more time to work on, but all in all we’re going to hit the break feeling
good about ourselves.”
On the women’s side, the best finishes were a first place finish by
Stephanie Fox in the 200 yd free at 1:56.53, and second place finishes in the
200 yd medley relay by the A-team at 1:51.56, the 50 yd free by Monica Bressler
at 24.87, the 400 yd IM by Rachel Colasurdo at 4:51.14, the 100 yd free by
Colasurdo at 54.64, the 500 yd free by Fox at 5:15.52, and in 1 metr diving by
Cassandra Herman with a score of 255.35.
For the men there were second place finishes in the 50 yd free by Mark Rushlow
at 22.32 and in the 200 yd free relay by the A-team at 1:31.30. Third place
finishes included the 200 yd medley relay by the A-team at 1:41.21, the 50 yd
free by Kurt Van Allsburg at 22.41, the 400 yd IM by Stephen Kraft at 4:37.00,
the 100 yd free by Jon Herrema at 51.04, the 100 yd back by Tyler Westman at
57.70, and the 500 yd free by Ross Battoclette at 5:05.10.
Calvin will have one more meet before heading off to Puerto Rico for a team
cross-cultural trip where the swimmers will get a chance to get out of the
United States and experience another country, even getting the chance to do
some swimming there.
“We’re going to treat it [Puerto Rico] as a cross-cultural experience,”
Gelderloos said of the upcoming trip, “and it’ll be good to get these kids
out to another place, somewhere different, which is always a fun thing for me,
and it’ll definitely be a very busy and action-packed week.”
Before that trip, the Knights will host the Calvin Winter Invitational, a
two-day event that will see teams from around the MIAA coming to compete. The
meet is scheduled for December 3-5.
Received on Sat Nov 21 20:06:37 2009
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