CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 28, 2009
Women's Basketball Remains Unbeaten After 86-73 Win Over Siena Heights at
Olivet Thanksgiving Classic;
Men's Basketball Falls to Hope 79-76 in Consolation Game Thriller at Hall of
Fame Classic
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 86, Siena Heights 73
OLIVET -- The Calvin women's basketball team upped its season record to 5-0
Saturday afternoon with an 86-73 victory over Siena Heights University in a
second round game of the Olivet Thanksgiving Classic. Freshman Carissa Verkaik
(Holland Christian HS) notched her fourth double-double of the season and her
second of the tournament with 23 points and 13 rebounds to go with five blocked
shots.
One night prior in a 79-66 victory over Elmhurst, Verkaik notched 26 points
and grabbed 13 rebounds. For her efforts over the course of the weekend,
Verkaik was named the tournament MVP.
Verkaik was one of four Calvin players to notch double-digits in scoring as
senior Amber Benthem (McBain Christian HS) had 18 points including a pair of
three-point field goals to match a career scoring high. Senior Brook VanEck
(Lowell HS) and freshman Allison Wolffis (Muskegon Mona Shores HS) had 10
points each. VanEck was also named to the all-tournament team, marking her
second all-tournament berth of the season as she was also so honored at the
Wilmington Tip-Off Tournament the week before.
Calvin shot 50.0 percent (27 of 54) overall including 81.8 percent (27 of 33)
at the free throw line. Siena Heights (4-2) shot 31.1 percent overall. The
Saints were 29 of 40 (.725) at the free throw line.
Siena Heights was led in scoring by Shalala Hubbard with 22 points while Tanci
Levit had 21 points.
“I’m very pleased with our effort this weekend,” said Calvin women’s
basketball coach John Ross at the conclusion of the tournament. “Our game
with Elmhurst on Friday night was very physical and we were a little beat-up
today. I thought we dug down and fought through some fatigue and bumps and
bruises against a very athletic Siena Heights team. We’re just thrilled to be
5-0 right now but we know we have some very difficult games ahead of us.”
Calvin will now break until Tuesday when it travels to Manchester for a
non-conference game slated to start at 7:30 p.m. The Knights will then journey
to Carthage next Friday and then travel to Purdue-Calumet a week from today.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Hope 79, Calvin 76
GRAND RAPIDS – Like many meetings before it, the 173rd meeting between
Calvin and Hope in men’s basketball went down to the wire. Surviving a
frantic Calvin comeback effort, Hope pulled out a 79-76 victory over the host
Knights to claim the consolation game of the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame
Classic Saturday evening at the Van Noord Arena.
During the first half, it appeared that Hope (2-1) would run away with the win
as the Flying Dutchmen led by as many as 18 points before Calvin (1-3) was able
to whittle the Hope lead down to 45-34 at halftime.
Hope then built its lead to 15 points at 58-43 five minutes into the second
only to see the Knights rip off a 15-2 run to close to within two at 60-58.
Calvin then used back-to-back three-pointers from senior Matt Veltema to tie
the score at 70 with 2:17 remaining but Chris Nelis of Hope answered back with
a triple that put the Flying Dutchmen back on top 73-70 just seconds later.
A Calvin turnover and free throws from Peter Bunn and David Krombeen put Hope
up 77-70 with 20 seconds remaining but the Knights came up with a three by
junior Danny Rodts to cut the deficit to four at 77-73 with 15 seconds left.
Two more free throws by Krombeen put Hope up six but Rodts was fouled
attempting a three-pointer with three seconds left and promptly hit three
straight free throws to bring Calvin to within three at 79-76.
Hope then turned over the subsequent inbounds pass and the Knights called
timeout with a second left to play. On the ensuing out-of-bounds play, Rodts
was able to get off an off-balance three that came up short, allowing Hope to
pull out the win.
Rodts led all scorers with a career-high 26 points on 10 of 13 shooting while
senior John Mantel had 14 points, senior Matt Veltema 13 points and senior Brad
Schnyders 11 points.
Bunn led Hope in scoring with 19 points while Nelis had 18 and Krombeen 13.
Hope now leads the all-time series with Calvin 88-85.
In the championship game Cornerstone defeated Aquinas 69-67.
The all-tournament team included Matt Veltema of Calvin, Peter Bunn of Hope,
Damacious White of Aquinas, John Lierman of Aquinas and Caleb Simons of
Cornerstone while Matt Kingshott of Cornerstone was named the tournament MVP.
Received on Sat Nov 28 22:28:14 2009
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