CSR (Men's Basketball Defeats Trine/Women's Basketball Defeats Alma)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 16, 2011
 
Men's Basketball Clinches Home Court Advantage for First Round of MIAA
Tournament With Win at Trine; Women's Basketball Rolls to Win Over Alma -
Remains Tied for League Lead With Alma
 
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 71, Trine 67
 
ANGOLA, IN - The Calvin men's basketball team clinched homecourt advantage for
the first round of the MIAA Tournament with a 71-67 victory at Trine University
Wednesday night. With the win, Calvin improves to 13-11 overall and 8-5 in the
MIAA. The Knights are assured of at least the the number-three seed for next
week's MIAA Tournament and can gain the number-two seed with a win at Albion on
Saturday. Albion is tied with Calvin for second place in the MIAA standings at
8-5 as the Britons defeated Hope 78-76 in overtime Wednesday night. The winner
of Saturday's Calvin-Albion contest will finish in sole possession of second
place in the MIAA regular season standings while the loser will finish in third
place - perhaps in a tie with Olivet - but will hold the third seed for the
MIAA Tournament because of tiebreaker advantages over the Comets.
 
Calvin needed a come-from-behind effort to gain the win at Trine Wednesday as
the Knights trailed 32-20 but scored the final nine points of the first half to
trail 32-29 at halftime. Calvin then scored the first six points of the second
half to take a 35-32 lead. Trine (12-12 overall, 4-9 MIAA) came back to regain
the lead on two occassions but Calvin gained the lead for good at 50-49 on a
jumper by sophomore Tom Snikkers (Jenison/Unity Christian HS). The Snikkers
basket sparked a 10-1 Calvin run that gave the Knights a 58-51 lead.
 
Trine came back to trim the lead down to three at 68-65 with 43 seconds
remaining but senior Brent Schuster (Denver, CO/Denver Christian HS) nailed a
pair of clutch free throws with 12 seconds remaining to give Calvin a 70-65
advantage and senior Danny Rodts (Niles, MI/Niles HS) added a game-sealing free
throw with one second remaining.
 
Rodts finished the game with 16 points including 11 in the first half while
senior Brad Schnyders (Hudsonville, MI/Unity Christian HS) had 12 points off
the bench including several key defensive plays in the second half. Snikkers
had 10 points and five boards while Schuster had a man-sized game with nine
points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Freshman Tyler Kruis (Grand Rapids,
MI/Calvin Christian HS) also was a force in the paint with five points and a
career-high 10 boards. Senior Trent Salo (Rudyard, MI/Rudyard HS) also had a
career-high seven rebounds.
 
As a team, Calvin outrebounded Trine 54-31. Ian Jackson led Trine with 25
points while Scott Rodgers had 16.
 
Calvin was 22-of-27 (.815) at the free throw line as the Knights outscored the
Thunder by nine points at the charity stripe.
 
Saturday's game at Albion is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
 
OTHER MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY
 
Olivet 81, Kalamazoo 77 (OT)
Albion 78, Hope 76 (OT)
Alma 54, Adrian 53
 
MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-16-11
 
Hope 11-2
Albion 8-5
Calvin 8-5
Olivet 7-6
Adrian 6-7
Kalamazoo 6-7
Trine 4-9
Alma 2-11
 
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 74, Trine 48
(by Sports Information Student Assistant Derek Neice)
 
On senior night and the last home game of the regular season for the Knights,
Calvin came out in all pink uniforms in honor of breast cancer awareness and
defeated Alma 74-48 to put the Knights in position to clinch a share of the
conference title. Sophomore center
 
Carissa Verkaik (Holland, MI) also put herself in great position to break the
career 1,000 point plateau with a stellar night as she poured in 31 points and
added 7 rebounds, 7 blocks, and 5 steals. Verkaik needs only 18 more points to
become the 13th player in Calvin history to accomplish the feat.
“Verkaik did a great job tonight but lots of credit needs to go to the players
finding her,” Calvin Coach John Ross said after the game. “It’s always great
to be unselfish and to get more assists than turnovers, and it’s also really
great to get the win and stay in the conference race.”
In the first half Calvin got out to an early lead, and the Knights never let
Alma get any kind of foothold in the game. The Knights shot an incredible 63.6
percent from the floor in the first half and 50.0 percent for the game as
Calvin nabbed their 20th win of the season, making it Calvin’s 12th 20-win
season ever and the 6th under Coach Ross during his 8-year tenure.

Aside from Verkaik’s 31 points, no other Calvin player reached double digits
in scoring.
 
Sophomores Julia Hilbrands (Grand Rapids, MI) and Ally Wolffis (Muskegon, MI)
both added 8 points, and sophomore Kelsey Irwin (Fraser, MI) and Jill Thomas
(Grand Rapids, MI) also chipped in 6 apiece. The Knights played extremely good
defense in holding the Scots to only 31.5 percent shooting for the game and
less than 50 points overall.
“Defense is definitely our number one focus in practice,” Ross said. “We
stayed focused and did a great job on that side of the ball.”
Now at 14-1 in the conference and 20-4 overall, Calvin has only one more game
to win to guarantee at least a share of the conference title with rival Hope.
The Knights travel to Trine on Saturday for the final regular season game of
the year.

“Trine is always a tough place to win and they’re well-coached,” Ross said of
Saturday’s contest. “We’re going to have to come ready to play.”
That game is set to begin at 3 p.m.
 

OTHER MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCORES WEDNESDAY
 
Albion 64, Kalamazoo 51
Hope 82, Olivet 43
Saint Mary's 73, Adrian 52
 
MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-16-11 GAMES
 
Calvin 14-1
Hope 14-1
Albion 11-4
Saint Mary's 10-5
Olivet 5-10
Trine 5-10
Kalamazoo 4-11
Adrian 4-12
Alma 1-14
Received on Thu Feb 17 00:13:20 2011