CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 16, 2010
Women's Basketball Opens With Win Over Visiting Manchester;
Men's Basketball Opens Season With Loss at Nationally-Ranked Davenport
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 62, Manchester 48
By sports information student assistant Derek Neice
An extremely young team that is returning only two starters from last year and
having only two seniors on the roster, the Knights showed they do have some
work to do in terms of gelling more as a team, but Calvin played strong
defensively and sophomore Carissa Verkaik (Holland, MI) scored a team-leading
25 points to give the Knights their first win of the year.
“All you can ask at this point is just to get out there and compete,” Coach
Ross commented after the game. “We just seemed a little out of sync but at
least we played hard enough defensively to keep us in the game.”
“She’s [Verkaik] is a great person to have on the team,” Ross said of his
sophomore. “She works really hard and we’re just really glad to have her.”
Along with her 25 points, Verkaik also led the Knights with 7 boards and 4
blocks. Sophomore transfer Logan Marsh (Byron Center, MI) added 11 points 4
rebounds and a pair of steals, and sophomore Kelsey Irwin (Fraser, MI) hit a
trifecta of threes to finish with 9 points.
Other contributors for the Knights were sophomore Ally Wolffis (Muskegon, MI)
with 6 points and 3 boards, junior Courtney Kurncz (St. Johns, MI) with 4
points, and junior Leah Mattson (Cadillac, MI) with 3 points.
Manchester was led by Kailey Honn (Westfield, IN) and Erynn Meiklejohn (Fort
Wayne, IN) with 9 points apiece. The Knights led 31-24 at the break, and they
never let up in the second half en route to the win.
“We’re young and we’re just going to keep working hard,” Ross said. “It’s
going to be a building process but we have a great group of young ladies here
and we’re going to keep getting better.”
The next action for the Knights will be this weekend at the Wisconsin-Lutheran
Tourney. On Friday the Knights will face UW-Whitewater at 6 p.m.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Davenport 88, Calvin 79
CALEDONIA - For more than 35 minutes, a youthful Calvin men's basketball team
took the nationally-ranked Davenport Panthers to the limit. The Knights were
unable to close however, dropping an 88-79 decision at 11th-ranked (NAIA D2)
Davenport Tuesday night in the home opener for the Calvin men's basketball
team.
Calvin led 37-32 at halftime behind 51.6 percent shooting from the floor.
Davenport (5-0) clawed back to take a 51-50 lead with 12:57 left in the second
half. Calvin answered with an 11-3 scoring run to build a 63-56 lead capped off
by a layup by freshman Mitch Vallie (Goodrich HS) with 9:01 left to play.
Davenport regained the lead at 70-69 with just over five minutes remaining
however and never trailed again as the host Panthers outscored Calvin 17-8 over
the final 4:42 to seal the win.
"We have a very young and inexperienced team that is still learning how to
play defense," said Calvin men's basketball coach Kevin Vande Streek. "We had
several defensive errors that led to easy baskets and when you're playing a
very talented team like Davenport, those mistakes will cost you."
Sophomore Tom Snikkers (Jenison/Unity Christian HS) led Calvin in defeat with
20 points while senior Danny Rodts (Niles/Niles HS) had 18 points and seven
rebounds. Junior Brian Haverdink (Holland/Holland Christian HS) chipped in with
a career-high 10 points off the bench while senior Brent Schuster (Denver,
CO/Denver Christian HS) had nine points and seven rebounds.
Nathan Cox led Davenport with 21 points off the bench while James Nelson had
20. Calvin held a 38-35 rebounding advantage but the Knights committed 21
turnovers while Davenport turned the ball over 10 times.
Calvin will now prepare to host its own Calvin Tip-Off Tourney Friday and
Saturday at Van Noord Arena. The Knights will face Grace Bible College at 7:30
p.m. Friday night with Ohio Wesleyan and Heidelberg set to tangle in the first
game at 5:30 p.m.
Received on Tue Nov 16 23:59:24 2010
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