CSR (Calvin Sports Report for Feb. 26, 2011)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 26, 2011
 
Women's Basketball Captures MIAA Tournament Title On Last-Second Shot;
Men's Basketball Defeated by Hope in MIAA Tournament Final;
Women's Tennis Nipped by Coe College;
Track and Field Teams Claim First Place at MIAA Indoor Invitational
 
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

By Sports Information Student Assistant Derek Neice

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -In a thrilling game that literally went down to the final
shot at the buzzer, the Calvin Knights stole away the MIAA conference
championship Saturday afternoon against rival Hope on a three point shot as
time expired, winning by a score of 67-65.
Leading significantly by 20 points early on in the second half, the Knights
lost a lot of that built up momentum as time wound on and the Dutch slowly but
surely climbed back into the game. After a go-ahead score by Hope with 9
seconds to play, junior Jill Thomas (Grand Rapids, MI) got open and hit the
winning shot as the clock ran out.
“We’re not going to face a better team,” Calvin coach John Ross said in the
postgame press conference. “It gives us a lot of confidence for next week.”
The Knights shot 48.9 percent from the field and 60 percent from three-point
range in the game and were led by sophomore Carissa Verkaik (Holland, MI), who
scored a stellar 29 points on 10 of 14 shooting with an additional 8 rebounds
and 5 blocks. Thomas scored 11 points for Calvin, with 9 of those coming from
beyond the arc on 3 of 4 shooting from three-point range. Junior Courtney
Kurncz (St. Johns, MI), who hit a big three to give the Knights a narrow lead
in the waning moments of the game and who assisted Thomas on the winning shot,
also put out a great all-around effort with 12 points, 6 boards, 5 assists, and
4 steals.
As a team, the Knights outrebounded the Dutch 35-35 and were a very solid 14
of 16 from the free throw line.
Hope was led by senior Carrie Snikkers (Jenison, MI) with 22 points and 5
rebounds and sophomore Meredith Kussmaul (Hartland, MI) off the bench with 14
points and 4 rebounds.
“It was a game of high emotions and low emotions,” Thomas said. “It was about
staying positive and staying together, that was our main focus. With the
personnel we have this year, to be able to come together and pull off a game
like that is huge.”
Verkaik added, “With Jill we all know she can shoot it and when we give her
the ball she’s going to take care of it.”
In the first half both teams played great defense and held each other to a
very limited amount of offensive opportunities. With Hope leading 15-13 at 7
minutes left in the first half, Calvin then swung the pendulum towards the
Knights in a big way by going on a huge 14-0 run leading up to the break.
In the second frame Calvin got right back to business with a big 13-2 run to
open the half, including three makes from beyond the arc. Leading 45-25 with
over 17 minutes to play, the Dutch then began their methodical comeback,
starting with a big 14-2 run that brought them within 10 points.
Thereafter the Dutch used an additional 15-5 run to knot things up at 54-54.
With just over five minutes left, each possession became more and more critical
to both teams as they tried to gain momentum back again.
Hope took the lead 60-59 with three-and-a-half minutes to go on a jumper by
sophomore Liz Ellis (Grand Rapids, MI), and the Dutch led again 63-61 when
Kurncz hit her big three to retake the lead with barely over a minute to go.
A turnover on Hope’s subsequent possession gave the Knights the ball with a
mere 11 second to play, but Kurncz couldn’t find anyone on the inbound pass
from the baseline and the Dutch regained possession. A smooth pass and lay-in
by senior Erika Bruinsma (Grand Rapids, MI) gave Hope the lead again 65-64 with
only 9 seconds to go. Thomas then took things into her own hands in the next
seconds and the Knights took down the reigning MIAA Tournament champions.
“I think it gives us more confidence and it makes us believe in ourselves
more,” Verkaik said. “Hope is a good team and we all know it, and so for to
come here and beat them again on our home court proves to us again that we can
play.”
In taking the loss, Hope coach Brian Morehouse said it well for his team after
the game. “We all have disappointment in our lives, and how you handle it is
what develops your character.”
The win pushes Calvin to 24-4 on the year and drops Hope to 26-2, marking the
second time this year the Knights have defeated Hope at home in the Van Noord
Arena, giving Calvin the edge on the season series over the third ranked team
in the nation. Also significant is that the Knights now gain the automatic bid
to the NCAA III Tournament over Hope.

CALVIN/HOPE PHOTO GALLERY BY DAVE DEKORNE:
http://www.calvin.edu/gallery/110226hopew
VIDEO OF JILL THOMAS GAME-WINNING THREE PREPARED BY CALVIN STUDENT ASSISTANT
MIKE ZAAGMAN: http://vimeo.com/20420089
MEN'S BASKETBALL
By Sports Information Student Assistant Andrew Knot
The Calvin’s men’s basketball season came to an end on Saturday night, losing
72-67 to Hope in the MIAA championship game. The game was held at Hope’s DeVos
Fieldhouse.
Calvin never held a lead in the game, and allowed the Dutch to widen their
lead through periodic scoring runs. The first of which came just three minutes
into the game. Hope’s Ty Tanis, who finished the game 5-7 from beyond the arc,
cashed in on two consecutive three’s to give the Dutch an early six point
advantage. Soon thereafter, Will Bowser knocked down another triple, making
the score 15-6 and forcing a Calvin timeout.
From there, Calvin would cut the lead to five, but struggled to do anything
past that. Freshman Tyler Kruis threw down a slam to cut the lead to 22-17 and
senior Trent Salo hit a late triple to make the deficit five points. But Hope
always had an answer, Chris Ray hit a lay-up to respond to Kruis’ dunk and Nate
Dickerson drained a fall-away jumper at the buzzer to keep Hope’s halftime lead
at seven.
In the second half, Calvin struggled to cut the lead below double digits until
late in the game. With a minute to play, senior Brent Schuster hit a three to
cut the deficit to six and junior Brian Haverdink turned a Jordan Brink steal
into two points, tightening the score to 68-65. But Calvin’s next offensive
possession was inefficient, and Hope connected on its free throws to finish the
game at 72-67.
“Their mental determination was better than ours,” said Coach Kevin Vande
Streek after the game. “I thought they did the dictating, particularly in the
first half. “
The game concludes Calvin’s season. Sophomore Tom Snikkers led the Knights
with 20 points and senior Danny Rodts led Calvin on the boards with eight
rebounds.
In the contest, freshman Jordan Brink connected on a pair of free throws to
finish the year 52-of-56 at the line for a new Calvin single-season record of
92.9 percent (minimum 50 free throw attempts). The old record had been 92.0
percent shared by Greg Broene (1973-74) and Matt Veltema (2009-10).
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Coe 5, Calvin 4
WHEATON, IL - The Calvin women’s tennis team dropped a tight 5-4 decision to
Coe College Saturday afternoon in a match played on a neutral court. With the
loss, the Knights are 0-2 on the year.
Calvin opened the match by winning two of the three doubles points with the
No. 1 doubles tandem of seniors Melissa Oosterhouse (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids
Christian HS) and Kaitlin Spoelhof (Holland/Holland Christian HS) winning 9-7
and the No. 2 doubles team of senior Michelle Busscher (Whitehall/Western
Michigan Christian HS) winning 9-7. The doubles round gave Calvin an early 2-1
lead but the Knights were able to pick up only two of the remaining four
singles points.
Oosterhouse was a 7-5, 6-4 winner at No. 1 singles while Spoelhof won 6-1, 6-3
at No. 2 singles.
Calvin returns to action on March 4 when it hosts Davenport at 4 p.m. at the
Huizenga Tennis and Track Center.
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
ANGOLA, IN - The Calvin men's and women's track and field teams had a standout
Saturday of performances at the MIAA Indoor Track and Field Invitational Hosted
by Trine University. The Calvin men finished in first place with 188.50 points
while the Calvin women's team took first place with 226.16 points. A full recap
will be sent out tomorrow.
MEET RESULTS:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/mens/track/Results/2011/2011MIAAIndoorInviteResults.htm
Received on Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:53:39 -0500