CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 28, 2011
Women's Basketball Headed to NCAA III Tournament -- To Host Four-Team
Regional;
Carissa Verkaik Named MIAA Player of the Week in Women's Basketball
NCAA III WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT UPDATE
The Calvin women’s basketball team has been selected to host a four-team NCAA
III Tournament regional this Friday and Saturday (March 4 and 5) at Van Noord
Arena. Calvin (24-4) will face LaRoche (23-4) College (PA) in a first round
game while the University of Chicago (22-3) will face Hanover (25-1) College in
a Friday first round game.
Friday’s winning teams will play each other on Saturday in the regional final.
Game times for Friday and Saturday have not yet been announced. Calvin is
making its 12th appearance in the NCAA III Tournament in women’s basketball.
The Knights are 14-12 all-time in NCAA III Tournament play, having reached the
national quarterfinals in 2005 and 2007.
The tournament field features four conference champions. LaRoche College
enters the field as the champions of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate
Conference. The University of Chicago captured the championship of the
University Athletic Association, finishing ahead of defending national champion
Washington University (MO). Hanover College meanwhile captured the championship
of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Calvin shared the MIAA regular
season title with Hope and then gained the league's automatic bid to the NCAA
III Tournament with a 67-65 win over Hope in the MIAA Tournament Championship
game on Saturday.
Calvin and LaRoche College will be facing each other for the first time.
"We don't know much about LaRoche College at this point but one thing we do
know if that they were conference champions and won 24 games. Those two facts
right there state that they are a high quality team and will present a big
challenge for our team," said Calvin women's basketball coach John Ross who has
now led Calvin to the NCAA III Tournament five times in his eight years as head
coach. "We are very excited and honored to host a regional tournament this
weekend. This is a great opportunity for fans of women's college basketball to
see some great competition in West Michigan."
Calvin has hosted a four-team NCAA III sectional (Sweet 16) round tournament
on two occasions prior to this year but has never hosted a four-team (1st and
2nd) round regional tournament.
Calvin is one of two MIAA schools selected to host four-team regionals in
women's basketball this weekend as Hope will host a four-team regional in
Holland. Hope (26-2) will host teams from DePauw (26-3), Denison (28-0) and
Washington University (20-5).
This weekend will also prove to be a busy one for Alan and Odetta Ross, father
and mother of Calvin coach John Ross. One of their other sons - Mark Ross - is
an assistant coach with the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse women's basketball
team. Wisconsin-LaCrosse also received a bid to the NCAA III Tournament this
weekend and will compete in a regional tournament at Illinois Wesleyan.
MORE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
For the sixth time in her career and for the third time this year, Calvin
College sophomore Carissa Verkaik has been named MIAA Player of the Week in
women's basketball.
A sophomore from Holland (Holland Christian HS), Verkaik scored 29 points,
pulled down eight rebounds and blocked five shots in leading the Knights to a
67-65 victory over Hope in the championship game of the MIAA tournament. She
averaged 26.3 points per game during Calvin’s three-game tournament run,
connecting on 74 percent (32 of 43) of her field goal attempts, 67 percent (4
of 6) of her 3-point attempts and 92 percent (11 of 12) of her free throws. She
also averaged nine rebounds and 4.3 blocked shots per game during the
tournament.
Received on Mon Feb 28 15:54:42 2011
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