CSR (Women's Basketball Defeats Albion in MIAA Tournament Semifinals - To Host Hope in Final on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Van Noord Arena)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 24, 2011 (Part Two)
Women's Basketball Defeats Albion in MIAA Tournament Semifinals - To Host Hope
in Final on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Van Noord Arena
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 63, Albion 36
By Sports Information Student Assistant Andrew Knot
The Calvin women’s basketball team advanced to the MIAA championship game with
a 63-36 victory over Albion on Thursday.
Calvin (23-4) will face Hope (26-1) in the MIAA Tournament final on Saturday
at 3 p.m. with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA III
Tournament. Hope defeated Trine 66-47 in Thursday’s other semifinal game.
On Thursday night, Albion (14-13) opened the game strong, maintaining an early
lead and tying the game at 14. From there, however, the Knights would pull
away. Kelsey Irwin knocked down a crucial three and Calvin pulled away to own
a 33-18 advantage at halftime.
The second half was more of the same for the Knights, who also swept Albion in
the regular season. Sophomore Carissa Verkaik posted 23 points and eight
boards on 10-14 shooting. Ally Wolffis was also efficient from the field,
shooting 5-7. Courtney Kurncz had six points and four rebounds while Julia
Hilbrands grabbed six rebounds.
Coach John Ross, who wasn’t pleased with his team’s defensive performance
against Kalamazoo on Tuesday, saw notable improvement.
“Albion is a good offensive team. They run more defensive sets than anyone.
I’m really happy with our defensive effort,” said Ross.
He also noted Calvin’s depth as an advantage. Calvin played 14 players and
nine of them received very significant playing time.
NOTES: …Calvin will playing in the MIAA Tournament Championship game for the
13th time on Saturday…the Knights are 4-8 all-time in MIAA Tournament
Championship games…by grabbing eight rebounds Thursday, Verkaik boosted her
career total to 521 rebounds, moving her into 10th place on the Calvin career
rebounding list…she is the eighth individual in Calvin women’s basketball
history to score both 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds…Calvin is now 29-14
all-time in MIAA Tournament play.
Received on Thu Feb 24 23:47:30 2011