CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 21, 2015 (Part One)
Basketball Teams Claim Victories in Regular Season Finales
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 71, Albion 54
By Mark DeHaan
The Knights wrapped up their regular season at Albion on Saturday afternoon.
Using a strong offensive surge to open the second half, Calvin put Albion into a double-digit deficit from which the Britons could not recover. A total team effort, with five players scoring at least eight points, saw the Knights claim a 71-54 win to finish the regular season.
Just over three minutes into the contest, Calvin held a 7-5 lead after a triple from senior Tyler Dykstra.
The Britons tied up the game at 10-10, but the Knights responded with a 10-2 to build a 20-12 edge.
On multiple occasions in the remainder of the first half, Albion cut Calvin's lead to five points. But, the Britons got no closer the rest of the opening period, and the Knights took a 34-26 lead into halftime.
Jordan Brink led all Calvin scorers with nine points at half. As a team, the Knights shot 42.9% while the Britons hit 47.8% of their field goals. Individually for Albion, Zach Hurth had eight.
Out of the break, Calvin's offense jumped out to a quick start. The Knights out-scored the Britons 15-3 in the opening five minutes to build a double-digit lead at 49-29.
With 12:56 remaining in the contest, Calvin's advantage remained at 20 points at 54-34. The Britons then scored eight unanswered over the next three minutes to cut their deficit to 54-42.
The Knights re-upped their lead to 62-43 with 7:12 to go, a deficit which proved too large for Albion to overcome, and Calvin claimed a 71-54 win to close out its regular season.
The Knights finished at 48.2% from the field, holding Albion to just 35% shooting, including 28.6% in the second half. Calvin was 10-of-20 for 50% from three-point range. The Knights out-rebounded the Britons 39-36.
Austin Parks finished with 15 points to lead Calvin offensively. Senior Jordan Brink had nine while Dykstra, sophomore Michael Welch, and junior Jordan Daley each tallied eight. Dysktra also added seven rebounds and seven assists.
For Albion, Corey Wheeler scored 13 points while Zach Hurth finished with ten.
"It was a typical Calvin-Albion matchup - really physical, intense, a defensive struggle - I thought we did a really nice job grinding out possessions, and we came out of the locker room in the second half and made a bunch of shots in a row," said head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "I was disappointed Wednesday because I didn't think we were focused, but I thought we played like a conference champion today."
Calvin moves to 19-6 overall with the victory, finishing 12-2 in the MIAA. Albion falls to 12-13 overall and 5-9 in conference play.
The Knights now look forward to next week Thursday when they host the Scots of Alma for the first semi-final of the MIAA Tournament. The game will be played at Van Noord Arena, with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Hope College and Trine University will face off in the other semi-final. The game will be played at Trine on Thursday night, also tipping off at 7:30 p.m.
MIAA TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
1. Calvin (12-2)
2. Trine (10-4)
3. Hope (10-4)
4. Alma (9-5)
5. Adrian (6-8)
6. Albion (5-9)
7. Kalamazoo (2-12)
8. Olivet (2-12)
Thursday, Feb. 26 Games, 7:30pm: Doors open at 6:30pm at Calvin/Alma Game
#4 Alma AT #1 Calvin
#3 Hope AT #2 Trine
General Admission tickets for Thursday's Calvin/Alma game will be on sale at Calvin's website (www.calvin.edu/boxoffice<http://www.calvin.edu/boxoffice>), and at the Box Office Monday through Thursday, February 23 - 26, from 9:00am until 5:00pm. Tickets will also be sold at the Arena starting at 6:30pm on Thursday.
Ticket Prices: General Admission tickets are FREE for MIAA students with student ID. They are $5.00 for any college faculty/staff and students, High School students and children, and $7.00 for all others. Faculty and Staff may purchase a maximum of 2 tickets per ID with a maximum of 2 ID's at the MIAA Faculty/Staff price of $5.00. Additional tickets may be purchased at the full ticket price of $7.00. Calvin students may obtain 1 FREE ticket per student ID, with a maximum of 4 student ID's per person. There is no limit on the number of tickets to be purchased.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 85, Kalamazoo 71
By Gina de Haan
The Knights capped off the regular season with a win, defeating the Hornets 85-71, boosting their record to a perfect 25-0 with a 16-0 conference mark. With this victory, the Calvin women's basketball team finishes the first undefeated regular season in school history.
Although Calvin clinched the MIAA crown on Wednesday night with a 61-44 victory over rival Hope College, Kalamazoo was playing hard for a win in order to hold its third place position in the conference standings.
In a fast-paced first half, shots were falling early for both the Knights and the Hornets. Just five seconds into the contest, Kally Verkaik knocked down a three-point basket. But Kalamazoo's Hannah Maness quickly answered, hitting a three-pointer of her own to tie the game. The Knights took back the lead off of a layup by Hannah Acre. Kally Verkaik earned a steal and capitalized down low, making the score 7-3. However, a three-pointer from Kalamazoo's Emily Lindsay would cut the Knights' lead back to one with 18:19 remaining in the firs half.
The two teams would go back-and-forth in scoring, but with the midpoint of the first half approaching, the Knights began to pull away. A layup by Kalamazoo's Perri Nicholson brought the score to 18-17 still in Calvin's favor, but Anna Timmer responded with a made layup of her own. Ali Spayde added to the Knights' effort, hitting a three-pointer to extend Calvin's lead to six. A pair of free throws by Tiffany Karger and a jumper by Breanna Verkaik made the score 27-19. A steal in the backcourt and a jumper by Kayla Engelhard put the Knights ahead by double digits with 8:44 remaining in the first half.
The Knights continued to roll and headed into the locker room with a 50-30 lead, their largest of the first half.
In the first half of the contest, Calvin shot 17-31 from the floor (54.8%), 4-10 from three-point range (40%), and went 12-12 from the free throw line.
Although the Hornets outscored the Knights 41-35 in the second half, their efforts weren't enough to overcome Calvin's sizeable lead.
The Knights made 52.7% of their field goals while Kalamazoo scored only 39.7% of its shots from the floor.
Anna Timmer led Calvin in scoring and rebounding, finishing with 14 points and eight rebounds. Breanna Verkaik followed, with 13 points. Ali Spayde had nine second-half points, finishing with a total of 12; Kayla Engelhard also contributed 12 points. Kally Verkaik and Hannah Acre grabbed five rebounds apiece; Verkaik added 10 points and Acre eight. Calvin's bench contributed 42, nearly half of the Knights' total points.
Emily Lindsay of Kalamazoo led all players in scoring with a career-high 23 points, while Querubin Dubois chipped in 15 points and seven boards.
"Kalamazoo has a great team this year - probably the best team they have had since I have been at Calvin," said Calvin head women's basketball coach John Ross. "This was our third game of the week so there is always concern about energy level but to our credit, we matched Kalamazoo's intensity and kept it going for 40 minutes. Now we have to put the regular season in the past and focus on tournament basketball. We know that we will need to raise our intensity that much more because it is tournament time."
Calvin will host Olivet College (14-11, 9-7 MIAA) in the MIAA Tournament semifinal game next week Wednesday, February 25. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Van Noord Arena.
MIAA TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
1. Calvin (16-0)
2. Hope (14-2)
3. Kalamazoo (10-6)
4. Olivet (9-7)
5. Trine (9-7)
6. Albion (7-9)
7. Adrian (4-12)
8. Alma (2-14)
9. Saint Mary's (1-15)
Wednesday, February 25 Games, 7:30pm: Doors at Calvin/Olivet game open at 6:30pm
#4 Olivet at #1 Calvin
#3 Kalamazoo at #2 Hope
General Admission tickets for Wednesday's game will be on sale at Calvin's website (www.calvin.edu/boxoffice<http://www.calvin.edu/boxoffice>), and at the Box Office Monday through Wednesday, February 23 - 25 from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Tickets will also be sold at the Arena starting at 6:30pm on Wednesday.
Ticket Prices: General Admission tickets are FREE for MIAA students with student ID. They are $5.00 for any college faculty/staff and students, High School students and children, and $7.00 for all others. There is no limit on the number of tickets to be purchased.
Received on Sat Feb 21 22:34:15 2015
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Sat Feb 21 2015 - 22:34:15 EST