CKSR (Women's Basketball Edges Hope In Rivalry Thriller/Men's Basketball Holds Off Kalamazoo/Swimming and Diving Teams Split at Kalamazoo)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR JANUARY 17, 2015

Women's Basketball Edges Hope in Rivalry Thriller;
Men's Basketball Holds Off Kalamazoo;
Swimming and Diving Teams Split at Kalamazoo

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 76, Hope 74
by Mark DeHaan

HOLLAND - The Calvin women's basketball team traveled to Holland on Saturday to play Hope College in a battle for first place in the MIAA. Both teams were undefeated in conference play with identical 6-0 records.
Overall, the Knights came in at 13-0 while Hope was 14-1.

A pair of lead changes in the final ten seconds of the contest provided for an exciting finish, and on a layup from senior Hannah Acre, Calvin won for just the second time all-time at DeVos Fieldhouse, also keeping its undefeated season intact with a 78-76 victory.

The Flying Dutch opened with a quick-strike offense, including a pair of three-pointers, to claim an early 8-0 lead.

The Knights responded with ten straight points, with four points apiece from seniors Kayla Engelhard and Hannah Acre, to erase the deficit and take a 10-8 lead.

Midway through the opening half, the game was tied 22-22.

Calvin's defense then stepped up, holding Hope to just three field goals in the final ten minutes of the first half. The Knights offense, meanwhile, continued their strong play to outscore the Flying Dutch 17-7 in that span to give Calvin a 39-29 lead at halftime.

Senior Breanna Verkaik led Calvin with 11 points at the half while Mandy Traversa had eight for Hope.

The Knights forced the Flying Dutch into 13 first half turnovers.

Out of the break, the Calvin offense was flat and went nearly four minutes without scoring a basket, allowing Hope to close the gap to 39-36.

With 14:40 to go, a three from Traversa tied up the ball game at 39-39, forcing a timeout from Calvin head coach John Ross.

The Knights were able to hold Hope off for the time being, and on back-to-back triples from freshman Ali Spayde with 10:44 remaining, Calvin built its lead back up to 54-46.

The Knights advantage then stood at 64-57 with 7:24 to go, but an 8-0 run by the Flying Dutch gave Hope its first lead of the second half at 65-64.

The game continued to be close, and with 2:24 to go, the score was 73-73. A jumper from Engelhard put Calvin ahead 75-73 with just over two minutes to play.

With 0:09 remaining, and with the ball in Hope's possession, Flying Dutch guard Brittany Berry made a driving layup, drawing a foul in the process. Berry then made the free-throw to give Hope a 76-75 lead.

With the ball in Calvin's hands, senior Breanna Verkaik made her way along the baseline to draw a pair of defenders, then dishing the ball off to Acre who was open under the basket.

With a spinning left-hand shot, Acre also made a shot and drew a foul, then completing the three-point play to put Calvin ahead 78-76.

Hope had one more chance with less than two seconds remaining, but was unable to get a shot off as Calvin handed Hope just its fifth loss ever at DeVos Fieldhouse, compared to 146 Flying Dutch victories.

The Knights shot 45.7% for the game while Hope hit 46.4%. Calvin forced the Flying Dutch into 22 turnovers for the game, also out-rebounding the home team 39-37.

Individually, Acre had 16 points and six boards for Calvin. Verkaik added 15 points and eight rebounds and Engelhard added a near triple-double with 12 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists.

For Hope, Maura McAfee led all scorers with 19 points. Rebekah Llorens scored 16 while Traversa had 15 and Barry had 14.

"Real proud of how our team competed and responded all game - this is an impossible place to win at," said Calvin head coach John Ross. "We would get up, then they would get up - it was a seesaw, and we kept fighting and fighting. It was a heavyweight (fight) of hopefully two of the best Division III teams in the country."

"You expected that it would be close," said Hope head coach Brian Morehouse. "I thought in the second half we responded and played a lot tougher."

Calvin now sits alone atop the MIAA at 7-0 and 14-0 overall, while Hope falls to 14-2 and 6-1 in conference play.

The Knights now look forward to Wednesday when they travel to Kalamazoo for an 8:00 p.m. league contest.

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 62, Kalamazoo 60

The Calvin men's basketball team remained on top of the MIAA standings but not without a scare on Saturday afternoon as the Knights escaped Van Noord Arena with a 62-60 victory over Kalamazoo College. With the win, Calvin improves to 11-4 overall and to 4-0 in the MIAA, remaining one game ahead of 3-1 Adrian and Trine.

Kalamazoo (6-9 overall, 1-3 MIAA) had a chance to tie or take the lead in the final seconds but a two-point attempt was off the mark with two seconds remaining and Calvin's senior Jordan Brink was able to corral the rebound to ensure the win.

Calvin jumped out to a 25-14 first half lead but the Hornets came roaring back with a 20-6 run to close out the half to take a 34-31 lead into halftime.

Kalamazoo then kept the lead until the Knights tied it at 42 with 14:45 remaining then finally took the lead at 47-45 on a layin by junior Jordan Daley with 11:42 remaining. Calvin widened its advantage to five at 53-48 on a free throw by sophomore Brad Visser and to 55-5 on a pair charity tosses by senior Daniel Stout.

Free throws would prove to be Calvin's undoing in Saturday's contest however as the Knights were just 15-of-31 from the line, allowing Kalamazoo to remain in the game.
A free throw by Calvin senior Jordan Brink gave the Knights a 56-50 lead but the Kalamazoo answered with back-to-back buckets to close to within 56-54.

A triple by Kalamazoo put the Hornets within a point at 58-57 but Brink answered with a triple of his own to give Calvin a 61-57 advantage. Kalamazoo answered right back with a three-pointer with 1:13 remaining, setting up a frantic finish.

With 57 seconds remaining, Brink was able to sink a free throw to put the Knights up 62-60 but then missed his second attempt. The rebound deflected off a Kalamazoo defender however, giving the Knights the ball back.

Calvin then worked the ball around for a shot but misfired with 21 seconds remaining, allowing Kalamazoo to set up for a game-tying or potential go-ahead basket.

Calvin then buckled down on defense and forced the Hornets into an off-balance shot, allowing the Knights to close out the win.

"To Kalamazoo's credit they came out hard and went right after us," said Calvin men's basketball coach Kevin Vande Streek. "We did not have our 'A' game today but Kalamazoo deserves some of the credit for that. The difference for us is that we played much better defense in the second half and made a few big plays on offense to win the game. It was not our best effort by any means but at the same time, I don't want to take anything away from Kalamazoo. They played great."

Calvin was led in scoring by Brink who tallied 19 points while Daley had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Visser also tossed in 10 points off the bench while Austin Parks contributed eight.

Kalamazoo was led in scoring by Adam Dykema with 14 points while Josh Miller had 12 points.

Kalamazoo shot 42.9 percent from the field while Calvin shot 38.5 percent from the floor. Calvin was 7 of 28 (.250) from three-point range while Kalamazoo was 2 of 9 (.355).

Calvin will travel to Trine on Wednesday night for a 7:30 p.m. contest.

MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING

KALAMAZOO - The Calvin men's swimming and diving rolled to a 134-103 victory at Kalamazoo College Friday night.

Calvin took first place in seven events led by junior Aaron Venema (Grand Haven/Grand Haven HS) who claimed wins in the 200 freestyle (1:46.04) and 500 freestyle (4:52.88).

Junior Caleb Meindertsma (Annandale, VA/Trinity Christian HS) won the 1,000 freestyle in a time of 10:17.77 while freshman Tanner Vincent (Novi/Novi HS) won the 200 IM (2:00.77).

Other individual wins came from junior Mitch Schroder (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) in the 100 freestyle (48.01) and freshman Skyler Fish (Ionia/Ionia HS) in the 200 backstroke (2:00.48).

Calvin's 200 medley relay team of Fish, Holstege, junior Brett Stoughton (Centerville, IN/Centerville HS) and senior Alex Baumann (Holland/Holland Christian HS) also won in a time of 1:37.35.

Calvin is back in action next Saturday when it hosts Hope in a dual meet at 1 p.m. on Senior Day.

WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING

KALAMAZOO - The Calvin women's swimming and diving team suffered a narrow 124-119 dual meet decision on Friday night at Kalamazoo College.

The meet came down to the final event of the evening - the 200 freestyle relay - and Kalamazoo's 200 freestyle relay squad was able to take first in a time of 1:38.75, just ahead of Calvin's time of 1:39.45.

Kalamazoo used first place power to win the dual meet as the Hornets took first place in eight of a possible 13 events. Only five places (9-4-3-2-1) are scored in dual meet competitions, placing less importance on depth and more importance on first place strength.

Calvin was able to take first place in three individual swimming events. Freshman Abby VanHarn (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) won the 200 freestyle (1:59.46), senior Erika Waugh (Berne, IN/South Adams HS) won the 200 backstroke (2:13.05) and senior Lexi Scott (Dexter/Dexter HS) won the 200 breaststroke (2:31.90).

Calvin was able to climb back into the dual meet partly through the strength of its diving group. In the one-meter diving competition, freshman Sarah Bradley (Wheaton, IL/Wheaton North HS) won the one-meter competition (262.26) while freshman Nicole Langerak (Jenison/Jenison HS) was third (235.60). In the three-meter competition, Langerak took first (264.05), Bradley was third (203.40) and senior Rebecca Mumby (Spring Lake/Spring Lake HS) fourth (201.90).

Both Bradley and Langerak have now qualified for the upcoming NCAA III Diving Regionals at the University of Chicago on February 27 and 28.

Calvin is back in action next Saturday when it hosts Hope in a dual meet at 1 p.m. on Senior Day.
Received on Sat Jan 17 23:50:34 2015