CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR MARCH 7, 2015
Women's Basketball Rolls Over UW-Oshkosh to Punch Sweet 16 Ticket;
Men's Basketball Falls to Mount Union in Second Round of NCAAs;
Men's Lacrosse Drops Decision at Muskingum
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 91, UW-0shkosh 71
By Gina de Haan
The Calvin women's basketball team set a new school record for wins in a season by defeating University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 91-71 Saturday evening, earning its 29th victory on the year. With this win, the Knights advance to the Round of 16 in the NCAA III Tournament. Calvin will take on DePauw University in a Round of 16 game next Friday night at a site to be determined.
On Friday night, under the direction of head coach John Ross, the Calvin women's basketball team defeated the Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets on Friday night by a score of 80-66.
This victory allowed the Knights to advance to the second round of the NCAA III Tournament where they would match up against the Titans of UW-Oshkosh, Coach Ross' alma mater where he earned his undergraduate degree and played on the school's men's tennis team. Prior to coaching at Calvin, Ross served one year as a volunteer assistant coach with the women's basketball team at UW-Oshkosh.
The Titans defeated North Central 87-82 in the first of the two games on Friday night.
This contest served as the fourth meeting between Calvin and UW-Oshkosh in a series that dates back to the 1973-74 season and sees Calvin holding a 2-1 series lead.
Similar to Friday night's game, the Knight came out of the gate strong. Although it was Alex Richard of Oshkosh who scored the first bucket of the game, Calvin's senior guard Kayla Engelhard soon took over. Engelhard scored the Knights' first nine points, scoring on all four shots she took (4-4 FG, 1-1 3-point). Senior Breanna Verkaik contributed to the effort, hitting a three-point basket to put the Knights up 12-4 at the 16:28 mark. UW-Oshkosh then called a timeout in an attempt to halt Calvin's early momentum.
The Titans got into rhythm, reducing Calvin's lead to two points, but a bucket from Breanna Verkaik, six consecutive points by senior forward Hannah Acre, plus another made jumper by Engelhard brought the Knights' lead back to eight (26-18).
The Knights slowly built their lead for the remainder of the half, giving themselves a 14-point advantage with just under four minutes to play in the half off a triple by Engelhard. After a layup by Breanna Verkaik in the final seconds of the half, Calvin held a 45-35 lead over the visiting Titans heading into the break.
Englehard racked up 16 points in the first half, also dishing out eight assists.
The Knights went 20-33 from the floor (60.6%) and 4-6 from three-point range. Calvin scored 15 of its first half points off of UW-Oshkosh's nine turnovers.
In the second half, the Knights outscored the Titans by ten once again.
The two teams went back-and-forth in scoring for the first five minutes. At the 15:00 mark, Breanna Verkaik was fouled and knocked down both her free throws to give her team a 54-43 advantage. Engelhard and sophomore forward Anna Timmer proceeded to score two points apiece. The Titan's Marissa Selner scored in the paint, but ten seconds later Breanna Verkaik drained a three. The scoreboard now read 61-45 in Calvin's favor with 13:18 remaining in the contest,
With the midpoint of the second half approaching and the score 64-49, the Knights made their move and pulled away. Timmer hit junior guard Abby Springer in stride with a chest pass. Junior guard Kally Verkaik followed, scoring in the paint off a pass from her sister Breanna. Despite a Titan timeout, the Verkaik sisters connected once again, but this time it was Breanna who finished down low, the assist courtesy Kally. Timmer then converted on a three-point play to put the Knights up by 24 (73-49), Calvin's largest lead of the game, with just under ten minutes of play left.
The Titans outscored the Knights 22-18 in the remainder of the contest, but it was not enough to compensate for Calvin's demanding lead.
UW-Oshkosh ended its season with an overall record of 23-7, while the Knights maintain their perfect record, improving to 29-0 on the year, and moving themselves one step closer to the NCAA III Finals.
"They're a really good team who's undefeated for a reason," said UW-Oshkosh head coach Brad Fischer, the third consecutive coach who made note of this accomplishment of Calvin's.
Kayla Engelhard led all players with 28 points and nine assists. Breanna Verkaik came in with 18 points and three blocks. Anna Timmer was one rebound away from a double-double, finishing with 16 points and nine boards. Hannah Acre had another solid tournament game, contributing 14 points in the victory. Kally Verkaik had eight point, four assists, and two blocks while Abby Springer dished out five assists.
As a team, the Knights had 29 assists.
Taylor Schmidt led UW-Oshkosh with 16 points. Marissa Selner finished with 12 and Katelyn Kuehl 10.
Calvin advances to the Round of 16 for the fourth time under the direction of head coach John Ross. Calvin's game against DePauw next Friday will feature the third meeting between the two teams in NCAA III Tournament competition. Calvin defeated DePauw in a 2005 NCAA III Tournament second round game while DePauw defeated Calvin in the 2007 NCAA III Quarterfinals.
DePauw defeated Maryville (Tenn.) 76-53 Friday night shooting 51 percent from the floor and hitting 13 three-pointers.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Mount Union 81, Calvin 69
By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin Knights men's basketball team played the host Purple Raiders of Mount Union on Saturday evening to battle for a berth in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
Calvin defeated Oswego State 78-69 on Friday evening to advance while the Purple Raiders defeated Neumann College 87-59 to move on to the second round.
On Saturday, it was host Mount Union proving to be too much for the Knights.
Behind strong three-point shooting, Mount Union jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half. The Knights cut the deficit to three early in the second half, but the Purple Raiders answered every
Calvin run with a big three to hold the Knights at bay. Mount Union then claimed an 81-69 win.
Mount Union got off to a strong shooting start, putting the Knights into an early deficit. Guard Nate Jacubec scored the opening five points of the game for the Purple Raiders, and with 13:16 to go in the first, Mount Union was up 15-5.
Seven straight for Calvin, with four coming from junior Jordan Daley, cut Calvin's deficit to three at 15-12.
Over the next six-plus minutes, a 22-6 Mount Union run saw the hosts build their largest lead of the game at 37-18 with 4:14 remaining in the first half.
As time ticked away in the first, Calvin fought back. The Knights closed out the opening period on a 12-1 run to cut Mount Union's lead to 38-30 at the break.
At halftime, Daley led all scorers with 12 points. Guard Kyle Scelza had eight for Mount Union. The Purple Raiders shot 51.7% from the field in the opening half, while Calvin hit just 35.5% of its shots, including 26.7% from three-point range.
Out of the break, the Knights got within three as they opened the second period with a 5-0 run.
Mount Union responded with a 14-4 run to push its lead to 52-39.
The Knights answered back, closing the gap to 57-52 behind six points from Daley six from sophomore Cam Denney, and a three from junior Austin Parks.
Three straight triples from the Purple Raiders then put Mount Union back ahead by double-digits at 66-52 with 7:13 to go.
In the remaining time, Calvin got to within single-digits on just one occasion.
The Purple Raiders hit 7-of-8 free-throws in the final two minutes to close out an 81-69 win.
Calvin shot 41.3% for the game, but just 10-of-33 for 30.3% from three-point range. On the other side, Mount Union hit 51.9% of its field goals, including 14-of-30 for 46.7% from beyond the arc.
"One of the trademarks of this team has been great resiliency," said head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "We've had times where we've been down late and games and won, we've never quit. It wasn't a perfect game but the team played really hard. They certainly weren't intimidated, they didn't play poorly, the other team was just a little better than us today."
Individually, Daley led Calvin with 21 points, adding six rebounds. Parks added 17 points while Denney finished with 11.
For Mount Union, Jacubec scored 19 and Scelza added 16, with each guard tallying four three-pointers.
"Calvin was in the Sweet Sixteen last year, they had a lot of seniors and they're unbelievably well-coached," said Mount Union head coach Mike Fuline. "We got them off the three point line, challenged everything, and really battled inside."
The game ends the careers of four Knights: Jordan Brink, Tyler Dykstra, TJ Huizenga, and Dan Stout.
"They're such high character guys and are four of the nicest young men that you will ever meet," said Vande Streek regarding his seniors. "Never a stitch of problem - good in the class room, on the floor, with younger players - real high character group and we'll really miss them."
Calvin's season concludes with a 22-7 record.
MEN'S LACROSSE
Muskingum 15, Calvin 7
NEW CONCORD, OH - The Calvin men's lacrosse team battled gamely but dropped a 15-7 decision at Muskingum University Saturday morning.
Calvin (1-2) trailed 5-3 at halftime and then quickly tied the score at five with early third quarter goals by sophomore Joel Schaefer and freshman Nate Ray.
Muskingum (2-1 answered with eight unanswered goals however to build a commanding 13-5 lead.
Senior Jonathon VanderLaan (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) came up with a pair of fourth quarter goals to break the Muskingum scoring streak but the Knight comeback ended there.
Calvin trailed 3-1 after one quarter of play but was outscored by the host Muskies 10-2 over the final two periods.
"We came out and played very well for one half," said Calvin head lacrosse coach Kyle Hofstaedter. "We opened the third quarter well but then we had too many turnovers and penalties and Muskingum took advantage of those opportunities."
Schaefer led Calvin with three goals while VanderLaan and Ray had two goals apiece for the Knights. Freshman Tyson Butler was a table-setter for the Knights with four assists. VanderLaan also had a team-best five ground balls.
Sophomore Jake Hortsman was also strong in the faceoff circle, winning 7 of 9 faceoffs for the Knights.
Sophomore goalkeeper Mitchell Alexander tallied eight saves for the Knights. Calvin did hold a 35-34 shots at goal advantage.
Calvin returns to action next Wednesday when it travels to Wheaton Academy (Wheaton, Illinois) to take on the University of Dubuque.
Received on Sun Mar 8 00:08:14 2015
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