CSR (Women's Basketball Defeats Trine/Men's Basketball Picks Up Road Win at Adrian)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 10, 2010

Women's Basketball Defeats Trine;
Men's Basketball Picks Up Road Win at Adrian
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 75, Trine 49
(written by Calvin sports information student assistant Derek Neice)

Having a week off after losing a heartbreaker to your biggest rival has its
advantages, or at least it did this week for the Knights as they got right back
to work in defeating Trine 75-49 Wednesday night just a week after suffering
their second loss of the year to Hope.
From the stat-sheet Calvin played very well in every facet of the game.
Offensively the Knights shot excellently from three-point range and their post
presence was superb. Leading the Knights in the game was freshman Carissa
Verkaik, who was two rebounds shy of a double-double as she finished with 17
points and eight boards and senior Brook VanEck who added 13 points. Sophomore
Jill Thomas hit on 3 of 4 shots from beyond the arc to finish with 10 points,
freshman Kelsey Irwin added three triples for nine points, and senior Amber
Benthem chipped in eight points.
"We’re hoping to really take a lot more rest here at the end of the season and
I think that really helped us here tonight," said Calvin coach John Ross after
the game. "Rest is really important right now, and it helped us tonight because
Trine is a really good team and I’m really happy with how well we did
tonight."
In the first half the Knights started out near perfect as they got out to an
early 8-0 lead in the first minutes of the game. That initial run would
translate into more scoring runs for Calvin as the Knights used a 17-0 run and
went in to the locker room with a 43-21 lead.
Calvin also played great defense in the first half, not giving Trine any easy
shots, and equally good offense as the Knights shot 60.7 percent from the
field, connecting on 6 of 11 shots from beyond the arc.
"It’s good to finally get some three’s to go down but we did get a lot of good
penetration and good kick outs to the guards," Ross said of his balanced
offense. "And defensively I thought we had a good scouting report against them
and we did a good job executing against them."
The second half saw much of the same story as Calvin went on in the second
half to outscore the Thunder 32-25 and win the game by a score of 75-49.
For the Thunder, Danielle Senf and Kristen Julian were the leading scorers
with 10 points apiece. Liz Gehrig chimed in with 6 points and Kelly Costello
and Sydney Spragg both added 5 each.
Looking ahead Calvin still has a trio of games remaining on its schedule, one
of those being home at the Van Noord Arena next Wednesday against Adrian.
Calvin’s next game is scheduled for this Saturday at Albion.
"We’re going to have to be ready on Saturday," said Ross of Saturday’s game at
Albion. " From here on out for us it’s just one game at a time."
The Knights defeated Albion 65-44 at home in the first match-up between the
two teams. Saturday’s game is slated for a 3 p.m. kickoff.
OTHER MIAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY

Albion 49, Alma 40
Adrian 62, Olivet 60
Hope 85, Kalamazoo 49

MIAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-10 GAMES

Hope 13-0
Calvin 11-2
Adrian 7-6
Saint Mary’s 7-6
Albion 6-7
Trine 6-8
Olivet 5-9
Alma 4-9
Kalamazoo 1-13
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 78, Adrian 67
(written by Calvin sports information student assistant Nate Triezenberg)
ADRIAN - Free throws.
What separates a win from a loss more times than not is the one thing in a
game that is said to be free.
The charity stripe.
The place where the men and boys are separated. In the last four games the
Knights have gone 2-2, bouncing back from back-to-back losses against Hope and
Olivet respectively.

“Our goal is to make more free-throws than our opponents shoot,” said Coach
Vande Streek.
Wednesday night at Adrian College the Knights (9-2, 14-8 overall) did just
that, connecting on 23 of 29 free throws compared to 18 of 21 shooting by the
Bulldogs. Matt Veltema led the Knights with 15, followed closely by Danny Rodts
with 14, John Mantel with 12, and Trent Salo with 10. At the charity stripe,
Veltema connected on 4 of 4, Mantel on 5 of 6 and Salo, making many of his free
throws near the end of the game to push the Knights out of reach, made 5 of 6
as well.
These three players alone combined for 14 of 16 from the free throw line,
nearly outscoring the Bulldogs (7-4, 12-10 overall) at the free throw line as a
trio. This win keeps the Knights in the hunt for another conference title, tied
with rival Hope College at 9-2 in conference play.
The Knights jumped out to an early lead before the Bulldogs settled in and
decided to make a game of things. Adrian was also looking to stay in the hunt
for its first conference title since the 1955 season when the Bulldogs were
co-champion with the Knights. The Knights on the other hand, were looking to
stay in the hunt for their second consecutive conference championship.
“You have to come out and play hard every night against teams in the MIAA.
There’s never a team that is going to roll over for you, every team is good
enough to win on any given night,” said Coach Vande Streek following tonight’s
game.
Despite the widened final margin, the Bulldogs made a game of things and kept
the Knights in check until the final minutes when the Knights pulled away with
their free-throw shooting.
When asked about the way he felt the game went for his team tonight Coach
Vande Streek shared mixed feelings saying, “In the first half I wasn’t pleased
with our effort especially on the boards but in the second half we settled in
and found our game.”
The Knights did just that shooting 46% from the field and 88% from the stripe
as the Knights went on to win by a score of 78-67.
The remainder of the schedule for Calvin includes a Saturday home game against
Kalamazoo, a road trip to Albion next Wednesday and a home contest on February
20 against Alma.
Much like tonight, the rest of the season will most likely come down to a few
lonely shots at a stripe called free. They might be free, but they pay the way
for a win and tonight, the Knights came out on top.

OTHER MIAA MEN’S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY
Olivet 91, Trine 73
Hope 85, Kalamazoo 63
Albion 69, Alma 49

MIAA MEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-10 GAMES

Calvin 9-2
Hope 9-2
Adrian 7-4
Albion 7-4
Olivet 6-5
Kalamazoo 4-7
Trine 2-9
Alma 0-11
Received on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:30:58 -0500