CSR (Women's Basketball Defeats Alma - Van Eck Hits 500 Rebound Mark For Career)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR JAN. 21, 2010
 
Women's Basketball Defeats Alma - Van Eck Hits 500 Rebound Mark for Career
 
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 60, Alma 45

(written by sports information student assistant Derek Neice)

After a tough loss to Hope this past Tuesday night in Holland, the Knights got
back on the winning side of things at home against the Alma Scots in a
turnover-happy game that saw Calvin win its seventh conference game by a margin
of 15 points - 60-45.
At the midpoint of the MIAA season, Calvin is 7-1 in league play, one game
behind Hope and two games ahead of third place Saint Mary’s.
“We just have to concentrate more to get rid of those turnovers,” Calvin coach
John Ross said after the game. “I think sometimes we just don’t concentrate
and see certain players, so we need to do a better job of that.”
Despite all the turnovers, the game did feature a couple of huge milestones
for both teams in the form of Calvin’s Brook Van Eck (Lowell, MI) getting over
the 500 career rebound mark and Alma’s Meagen Hoblet (Cadillac, MI) reaching
the 1000 career point plateau.
From the stat-sheet, Calvin was led again by freshman Carissa Verkaik
(Holland, MI) who connected on 10 of 21 shots for 23 points. Verkaik also
finished with 10 rebounds to add another double-double to her young career.
Emily Ottenhoff (Palos Heights, IL) and Allison Wolffis (Muskegon, MI) both
finished with 8 points, Amber Benthem (McBain, MI) chipped in 7 and Courtney
Kurncz (St. Johns, MI) added 5 points 7 boards 3 steals and a block for the
Knights in their winning effort.
With a margin as big as 15 points though in this game, Ross still wasn’t quite
satisfied with his team’s level of play Thursday night.
“We had spurts where we were really good and then had stretches where we were
just dragging,” Ross said. “We just didn’t quite have the energy level we were
hoping for.”
In the first half Calvin jumped out to a lead it would never relinquish,
scoring 36 first half points and maintaining a double-digit lead for a large
majority of the game.
But despite controlling the game the entire way through, Calvin still turned
the ball over 22 times, one of the primary reasons a second half comeback by
Alma almost occurred as the Scots pulled within 9 points midway through the
second half.
Looking back to last season, Alma was Calvin’s Achilles Heel in this way as
they crept back into both regular season games and forced overtime, eventually
pulling upsets over the Knights in both of those games. Thursday night for a
moment looked exactly like one of those games from last season.
Perhaps with that thought on their mind, Calvin then showed why they are
ranked as one of the best 15 teams in the country as they stopped the Scots’
momentum and closed the game out, winning 60-45 and improving their conference
record to 7-1 on the year.
Junior Sydney Beckwith (Weidman, MI) led Alma with 13 points on 6 of 9
shooting follwed by Hoblet with 10 points on 5 of 16 shooting.
Calvin now sits on a 15-2 overall record as they continue on through the
middle of their season.
The Knights are back at home Saturday as they look to host Olivet in another
MIAA battle.
“We have to get fired up for Olivet on Saturday,” Ross said looking forward to
this weekend’s game. “They gave us a tough time down in their place so we will
need to be ready come Saturday.”
That game is set to kick off around 3 p.m. with Calvin’s men’s team hosting
Albion later that night.
CALVIN 500 REBOUND CLUB

1,034 -- Lisa Winkle, 2003-2007
765 – Eileen Boonstra, 1977-1981
720 – Lisa Winkle, 2003-present
631 -- Judy Wasmer, 1982-1985
619 – Jill Kreuze, 1997-2000
616 -- Kerry Walters, 1995-1999
550 -- Pam Wubben, 1990-1994
547 – Emily Beard, 2000-2003
536 -- Sara Burde, 1994-1998
506 – Marcia Harris, 2005-2009
505 - Brook Van Eck, 2006-2010
COACH JOHN ROSS POST-GAME AUDIO
INTERVIEW:http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/09/wbball/JohnRossPostGameAlma012110.mp3
OTHER MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES Thursday

Trine 49, Kalamazoo 40
Albion 61, Saint Mary's 56
Hope 77, Adrian 53

MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 1-21-10 GAMES

Hope 8-0
Calvin 7-1
Saint Mary's 5-3
Olivet 4-4
Adrian 3-5
Albion 3-5
Trine 3-5
Alma 2-6
Kalamazoo 1-7
 
 
Received on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:13:06 -0500