CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 17, 2010
Men's Basketball Clinches Share of MIAA Title & Top Seed for MIAA Tournament;
Carissa Verkaik Sets MIAA Scoring and Field Goal Records in Victory Over
Adrian
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 78, Albion 66
ALBION -- The Calvin men's basketball team clinched a share of its second
consecutive MIAA title and the top seed for next week's MIAA Tournament with a
78-66 victory at Albion Wednesday night. Combined with Adrian's 73-68 victory
over Hope, Calvin moves into sole possession of first place in the MIAA
standings with one game left to play in the MIAA regular season. Calvin (16-8
overall, 11-2 MIAA) can clinch the outright title on Saturday with either a win
over Alma on Saturday at Calvin or a Trine victory at Hope (10-3 MIAA).
Calvin now holds the tie-breaker edge over Hope for the top seed for next
week's MIAA Tournament as Adrian has clinched third place in the final MIAA
standings. Calvin finished 2-0 against Adrian while Hope went 1-1 against the
Bulldogs, giving the Knights the tie-breaker edge. Calvin and Hope split their
regular season meetings this year. The next tie-breaker for MIAA seeding
purposes is the head-to-head record against the next highest team in the league
standings.
Calvin's MIAA title is its second straight including its seventh under head
coach Kevin Vande Streek who is in his 14th year at the helm of the Calvin
men's basketball program. The regular season title is also the 29th in Calvin
men's basketball history.
In its win over Albion on Wednesday, Calvin roared out to a 42-25 halftime
lead. The first half surge was ignited by junior point guard Trent Salo who
scored 11 points in the opening six minutes of the game including three baskets
from beyond the three-point arc. A layup just before the first half buzzer by
senior John Mantel gave the Knights a 17-point halftime advantage.
Calvin shot 56.7 percent from the field in the first half including 6 of 12
from three-point range.
"I thought we came out really ready to play," said Calvin men's basketball
coach Kevin Vande Streek after the game. "I thought our guys did the dictating
in the first half and whenever you could do that, you give yourself a chance to
win."
Albion (13-11 overall, 7-6 MIAA) scored the first 11 points of the second half
to cut the deficit down to six points at 42-36. A free throw by senior Matt
Veltema and a three-pointer by freshman Bryan Powell put the Knights back up by
10 at 46-36. The Calvin lead later balooned to 57-39 on a triple by junior
Brent Schuster and a pair of free throws by senior John Mantel but the Britons
refused to fold, ripping off a 24-9 scoring run over the next six minutes to
creep to within just three at 66-63 with 2:11 left to play.
After a timeout, the Knights were able to work the ball to Veltema who
responded with a clutch triple from the top of the key. Moments later, junior
Danny Rodts swished a three-ball from the right corner and the Knights had a
72-63 advantage and control of the game. The Knights then finished the game out
with a dunk by Mantel and free throws from Veltema and senior Paul Campbell.
Veltema finished the contest with 17 points including four three-pointers,
lifting his career three-point field goal total to 186, moving him past Todd
Hennink for fourth place on the Calvin career three-point list and within two
of Chris Knoester for third place. Ranked second nationally in free throw
percentage, was 3-of-4 at the free throw line with his miss in the second half
breaking a streak of 32 consecutive free throws made.
Mantel was next with 16 points and nine rebounds while Salo had 11 points.
Schuster had 12 points off the bench to lead a superb Calvin bench effort as
the Knights received 28 points from their reserves. Campbell was also superb
off the bench with nine points, seven rebounds, four assists and one steal.
Powell also had seven points.
"I thought our bench was terrific and I thought Paul Campbell in particular
was really good. I mean really good," said Vande Streek. "We don't win
tonight's game without Paul Campbell."
Albion was led by J.C. Cruse who had a game-high 24 points while Chris Hutton
had 16 points. In their first meeting against Calvin back in January, Albion
connected on 12 three-point baskets. On Wednesday, the Britons were 8 of 21
(.385) from three-point range led by Hutton with five triples.
Calvin held a 37-24 rebounding advantage and shot 17 of 24 from the free throw
line.
As for the MIAA title, Vande Streek was obviously pleased. "I'm just very
happy for our guys but they're not satisfied yet," he said. "This group wants
to win it outright on Saturday and to do that, they'll have to take on an Alma
team that I know will give us a strong test. They played us tough at their
place and we will not take them lightly."
Saturday's game against Alma is slated to start at 3 p.m. at Calvin's Van
Noord Arena. It will mark the final regular season home game for Calvin seniors
Paul Campbell, Matt Veltema and John Mantel.
OTHER MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY
Adrian 73, Hope 68
Olivet 74, Alma 59
Kalamazoo 69, Trine 54
MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-17-10 GAMES
Calvin 11-2
Hope 10-3
Adrian 9-4
Albion 7-6
Olivet 7-6
Kalamazoo 5-8
Trine 2-11
Alma 1-12
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 93, Adrian 77
(written by Calvin sports information student assistant Derek Neice)
It’s always great to see athletes rewrite the record books.
Wednesday night in the last regular season game at the Van Noord Arena,
freshman
Carissa Verkaik of Holland Christian High School rewrote the Calvin record
books, carving her name into Knights history as she scored 46 points, the new
Calvin and MIAA single game scoring record.
Verkaik for 18 for 20 from the field, including 3 for 3 from three-point range
while connecting on 7 of 8 from the free throw line. In connecting on 18 field
goals, Verkaik also established a new Calvin and MIAA single-game record for
field goals in a game, breaking the previous record of 17, shared by Eileen
Boonstra of Calvin (1980) and Laura Knapp of Adrian (1982). The previous Calvin
single-game scoring record had been 40 shared by Boonstra (1980) and Kristen
McDonald (2005).
“It shows a lot of unselfish play by our guards,” said Calvin coach John Ross
of Verkaik’s performance. “And Carissa [Verkaik] did a great job
offensively.”
Followers of Calvin women’s basketball probably aren’t too surprised to hear
that Verkaik broke this record though. Verkaik has been a dynamic scoring
threat for the Knights all season, even scoring a whopping 39 points in an
earlier December 5th game at Purdue-Calumet.
Verkaik had 29 points in the first half, connecting on her first 11 field goal
attempts, three of which were from three-point range. Verkaik's first miss did
not come until the final two minutes of the first half.
Verkaik entered Wednesday's game as the MIAA scoring leader and likely
cemented her spot as the MIAA scoring champion as she now holds a 61-point lead
over Kelley Murphy of Saint Mary's with one league game left to play. Verkaik
is bidding to become Calvin's fourth MIAA scoring champion including its first
since Robyn Fennema did so in 2000. Also MIAA scoring champions from Calvin
include Sharon Boeve (1982) and Kim Bartman (1992).
Calvin senior Brook Van Eck also had a strong game on Wednesday, scoring 20
points and grabbing 5 rebounds, and Courtney Kurncz and Julia Hildebrands both
added 7 apiece in this highly offensive game. With her five rebounds, Van Eck
moves into a tie for ninth place on the Calvin career rebounding list with 1998
Calvin graduate Sara Burde with 536 career boards.
Wednesday's game marked the final regular season home game for Van Eck and
fellow Calvin seniors Amber Benthem and Emily Ottenhoff.
“The seniors have been great leaders, and we’ve needed that,” said Ross of his
seniors.
“Great leaders, great friends, they’ve really just kept positive energy
throughout the entire year and our success is really because of these three
seniors.”
Calvin scored 54 points in the first half, 29 of them going to Verkaik as
Carissa missed only one shot and one free throw. She poured in 17 more in the
second half to set the new record, and surprisingly she actually didn’t even
know she had broken the record until a teammate told her to try and break 50.
“I didn’t know actually until my teammate came in and told me they were
leaving me in to score fifty,” said Verkaik smiling. “Then I looked up at the
scoreboard and it was forty-six”
“And I just love all the girls on this team, and I think we all just play
really well as a team,” continued Verkaik when asked about her contributions to
this team as a whole this season. “And I just try to help out as much as I
can, I hope we go far.”
Aside from Verkaik’s performance and the great offensive performance by the
team as a whole, Calvin actually didn’t play as well as Ross was hoping. The
Knights gave up 77 points, 23 more than their season average of points by
opponents. Had Verkaik not scored such a high number herself, the Knights
certainly would have had to fight to win this game.
“I was extremely disappointed with our defensive effort and you have to give
Adrian credit,” said Ross. “We’ve got to be better on the defensive end, and
we were fortunate enough to score that many points.”
Adrian was led in defeat by Ashley McClarren and Elysia Norris with 16 points
apiece.
But they did come away victorious, and with only one more game to go before
the conference tournament, Calvin still is keeping their focus where it should
be, one game at a time.
“We’re just going to worry about Alma right now,” said Ross of the mindset of
the team moving on. “We need to put in a real good performance up at Alma.
That’s our concern right now, we’ll worry about next week when we get there.”
So on Saturday Calvin will be at Alma, with tip-off taking place at 3 p.m.
The win Wednesday pushed the Knight’s record to 13-2 in the MIAA and 21-3
overall. Calvin is also currently ranked 11th by d3hoops.com and 10th by the
Women's Basketball Coaches' Association.
OTHER MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY
Alma 72, Trine 68
Saint Mary's 79, Olivet 59
Hope 81, Albion 46
MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-17-10 GAMES
Hope 15-0
Calvin 13-2
Saint Mary's 8-7
Adrian 7-8
Albion 6-9
Trine 6-9
Olivet 6-10
Alma 5-10
Kalamazoo 2-13
Received on Wed Feb 17 23:24:34 2010
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