CKSR (Women's Basketball Defeats Saint Mary's 78-50 - To Face Hope in MIAA Tournament Finals Saturday)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 23, 2012

Women's Basketball Defeats Saint Mary's 78-50 - To Face Hope in MIAA
Tournament Finals Saturday

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 78, Saint Mary's 50
By Mark DeHaan

Calvin faced off against Saint Mary’s for the third time this season and
hosted the Belles for the second time in eight days Wednesday night. Thursday’s
MIAA Tournament semifinal game had more on the line than the previous two
meetings, though, as the winner would earn a berth in the MIAA Tournament
Championship game to be played Saturday night. Calvin stepped up to the
challenge with a 78-50 victory over the Belles. Calvin will face rival Hope
Saturday night in the MIAA Tournament Championship game at 7:30 p.m. at Van
Noord Arena. Doors to the arena will open at 6:30 p.m.
In their earlier match-ups, Calvin struggled to shake Saint Mary’s early on.
That would not be the case in this game as the Knights jumped out to an early
13-2 advantage.
The Belles responded with a 5-0 run to cut the Calvin lead to 13-7, but a
three-point shot by freshman Breanna Verkaik stifled the run and pushed
Calvin’s lead to 16-7.
Both teams played the game at a fast pace, leading to a number of turnovers
for both sides. While the Belles struggled to make the most of the Calvin
miscues, the Knights capitalized as they outscored Saint Mary’s 15-5 in the
points off turnover category in the first half.
Calvin continued to play strong defense as it closed out the half with a 40-21
lead. The Knights forced the Belles into 17 first half turnovers while holding
them to just 24.1% shooting from the field. Calvin, meanwhile, shot 53.6%
overall. Leading the Knights at halftime was freshman Kayla Engelhard with 10
points on 4-for-4 shooting, including 2-for-2 from three point range.
The Belles opened up the second half with a 9-4 run to cut Calvin’s lead to
44-30 before a pair of layups by junior Carissa Verkaik pushed the Knights
advantage to 48-30.
Saint Mary’s cut the lead to 48-34 minutes later, but that would be as close
as they would come as the Knights extended their lead to 20 with seven minutes
to go and wouldn’t look back.
Coming off the bench for Calvin, sophomore Shelby Sheehan scored seven quick
points for the Knights as all the players received minutes. Calvin’s largest
lead came with just over a minute remaining at 78-50, and that is where things
would stay as the Knights earned the victory and a berth in the MIAA
Championship game.
Calvin was led on offense by the elder Verkaik who scored 25 points. Junior
Ally Wolffis added 13 points while freshman Kayla Engelhard chipped in 12.
Junior Julia Hilbrands was strong in 17 minutes of play as she grabbed 11
rebounds to go with seven points. Calvin shot 47.6% from the field for the
game, including 33% from three-point range.
The Saint Mary’s Belles finish their season at 13-13 overall. Leading the
Belles against the Knights was senior Kelley Murphy with ten points and eight
rebounds. Senior Jessica Centa added ten points and seven rebounds, while the
final three seniors of Patsy Mahoney, Maggie Ronan, and Katie Sullivan added
six points, five points, and five points, respectively.
“We tried to prepare for (Saint Mary’s) the way we have the rest of the year,”
said Head Coach John Ross. “We prepared for it as another big game against
another good team.”
Calvin now hosts the MIAA Championship Saturday night against Hope, who won
the other semifinal 58-55 over Albion. The Knights only have one day to prepare
for the Flying Dutch, but this will be the third time these teams have faced
off.
“(Hope) is tough to prepare for, they defend extremely well,” said Ross. “They
present a lot of mismatch problems for us. The tough part is we have one short
practice to prepare for them. The positive thing is we used the bye week to
prepare for them. They’re really good, and we’re going to have to play the best
game we have played all year to beat them.”
General Admission tickets for the Saturday evening game at Van Noord Arena
will be sold at the Calvin Box Office on Friday, February 24, from 9:00am until
5:00pm. If available, tickets will also be sold at the door of the Arena
before the game on Saturday starting at 6:30pm.
Ticket Prices: General Admission tickets are FREE for MIAA students with
student ID. General Admission tickets are $3.00 for any college faculty/staff
and students, High School students and children, and $5.00 for all others.
There is no limit on the number of tickets to be purchased.
Received on Thu Feb 23 22:11:21 2012