CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR FEB. 15, 2017
Swimming and Diving MIAA Championships Day One Recap;
Women's Basketball Wraps Up Third Seed For MIAA Tournament With Win Over Albion;
Men's Basketball Secures Second Seed for MIAA Tournament With Win at Adrian
WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
HOLLAND, Mich. - The Knights started the four-day MIAA Championships with a victory in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Calvin sits in first place with 40 points after Wednesday night.
"The women got off to a great start with our first W," said head coach Dan Gelderloos. "We talked about how we didn't see anything flashy, but a lot of solid swims, we got the nerves out and will get better as we go."
The team of sophomore Madelyn Smith (Allegan, Mich./Allegan), sophomore Anna Serino (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney), sophomore Kendall Murphy (Modesto, Calif./home school), and junior Abby Van Harn (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) won the 800-yard freestyle with a time of 7:31.58. The time was the fastest-Calvin time of the year and is a NCAA B-Cut time. Hope was in second place with a school-record time of 7:39.15.
Hope is in second place at 34 points and in third place is Kalamazoo at 32 points.
The Knights return to action on Thursday for day-two of the MIAA Championships at the Holland Aquatic Center.
MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
HOLLAND, Mich. - The Calvin men's swimming & diving team stands in second place after the first day of the four-day MIAA Championships. The Knights have 34 points heading into Thursday.
"Today was a good start," said head coach Dan Gelderloos. "We talked about how we didn't see anything flashy, but a lot of solid swims, we got the nerves out and will get better as we go."
In the 800-yard freestyle relay, the Knights had a season-best performance with a time of 6:54.07. The team of junior Tanner Vincent (Novi, Mich./Novi), freshman Tim Randall (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian), junior Max DeYoung (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Eastern), and freshman Fear Churchwell (Athens, Ga./Clarke Central).
The Knights performed well on the 1-meter boards on Wednesday night. Calvin advanced two to the finals with a third-place finish by Michael Moentmann (Solon, Ohio/Solon) at 444.20 and senior Dirk Tanis (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) in eighth place at 379.05.
Albion is in first place with 40 points and Hope stands in third place at 32 points.
The Knights return to action on Thursday for day-two of the MIAA Championships at the Holland Aquatic Center.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 63, Albion 50
By Gina de Haan
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Calvin women's basketball team wrapped up its regular season on Wednesday evening when it welcomed the Albion Britons to Van Noord Arena. In the first meeting of the year between the two teams, the Knights took home a 63-58 win at Albion's Kresge Gymnasium.
The Knights' three seniors, Lauren Goldthorpe, Anna Timmer and Mackenzie Shelton, were honored prior to the contest.
Both teams had already secured a spot in the postseason MIAA Tournament, but seeding was on the line as the winning team would clinch the third seed.
The Knights earned the win in their final game of the season at Van Noord Arena, defeating Albion 63-50.
With the victory, the Knights finish their regular season 21-4 overall and 12-4 in conference and secure the No. 3 seed for the upcoming MIAA Tournament. Albion falls to 17-7 overall with a 10-5 league mark. The Britons will enter the conference tournament seeded fourth.
The Knights got off to a hot start behind back-to-back three-pointers from junior Ali Spayde (Lewis Center, Ohio/Worthington Christian HS). Albion would get one the board after Spayde's second triple, but Calvin continued to roll, going on another 6-0 run to force a Britons timeout. Calvin outscored the Britons 6-4 to close out the quarter, holding an 18-6 lead over the visitors.
Albion's Emily Bernas knocked down a three early in the second quarter to cut the Knights' lead to single digits. Calvin was held scoreless for over two minutes, until Lauren Goldthorpe (St. Ignace, Mich./Lasalle HS) answered with a three-pointer for her own.
With just over five minutes to play before halftime, the Knights would string together four consecutive points, their momentum interrupted only briefly by a Britons layup. After Albion's scoring possession, Spayde would drain her third three of the evening, a split second before the shot clock expired to give her team a 15-point advantage.
The Britons would hold the home team scoreless for the final 2:33 before halftime, closing out the second quarter with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to nine points (29-20).
In the first half, the Knights shot 57.1% (4-7) from behind the three-point arc while the Brits converted only one of 13 three-point attempts.
Albion began to chip away at the Knights' lead in the third quarter. The teams exchanged points early, but as the midpoint of the quarter neared, Albion's Evelyn Wischmeyer hit back-to-back jump shots and Olivia Savage capped off the 7-0 run with a three-pointer. The Brits reduced Calvin's lead to 38-34 with just under four minutes remaining in the quarter.
The Knights responded, scoring four straight points before the end of the quarter to earn a 42-34 advantage.
The Brits came out strong in the fourth quarter, claiming a quick four points. However, the Knights' offense pushed back behind the efforts of Spayde and Anna Timmer (Caledonia, Mich./South Christian HS). With just over six minutes left to play, the Knights maintaining a four-point lead, Spayde drained a key three-pointer to make the score 47-40. Albion's Oreyana Curry responded with four straight points, but Calvin responded once again. Timmer capitalized on a three-point play and Spayde hit her fifth three of the contest to make the score 53-44 with 6:14 left on the clock.
Albion would score eight points in the final three minutes of play, but the Knights went 8-10 from the free throw line in the final minutes to roll to a 63-50 victory.
Spayde led all players with 26 points, including five three-point field goals. Bre Luurtsema (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian HS) finished with 12 points and eight boards while Timmer posted eight points and snagged 19 rebounds. Goldthorpe contributed with nine points. Nicole Meyer grabbed 11 rebounds in the winning effort.
Albion was led by Emily Bernas and Oreyana Curry who finished with 18 and 12 points, respectively.
The Knights will compete in the MIAA Tournament as the third seed next week Friday, February 24. The location and opponent will be determined following Saturday league action.
MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-15-17 GAMES
Hope 14-1
Trine 14-1
Calvin 12-4
Albion 10-5
Adrian 7-8
Alma 6-9
Kalamazoo 3-12
Olivet 1-14
Saint Mary's 1-14
MORE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin senior Anna Timmer was the subject of a Fox-17 television feature Wednesday night. The daughter of parents (Jim and Kathy Timmer) who played men's and women's basketball respectively at Calvin in the 1980s has a unique legacy twist. The feature story can be found online at: http://fox17online.com/2017/02/14/anna-timmer-leaves-her-own-legacy-at-calvin/
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 83, Adrian 58
ADRIAN, Mich. - Calvin clinched the second seed for the upcoming MIAA Tournament in convincing fashion, defeating the Adrian Bulldogs 83-58 Wednesday night.
Calvin improves to 14-10 overall and 9-4 in the MIAA. The Knights are in sole possession of second place in the MIAA standings, one game ahead of third place Trine with one game left to play in the MIAA regular season. The Knights hold a direct head-to-head tiebreaker over Trine however, having swept the regular season series from the Thunder this year.
Junior point guard Tony Canonie (South Haven, Mich./South Haven HS) poured in a career-high 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting including 3-of-3 from three-point range. Canonie also dished out six assists and collected three steals while committing only two turnovers.
Calvin led 36-27 at halftime and opened the second half on a 15-4 scoring run to put the game out of reach.
The Knights shot 57.4 percent from the field including 70 percent (7-of-10) from three-point range in the win.
"We have not had a lot of sustained offensive runs this season but tonight we did and it felt good," said Calvin men's basketball coach Kevin Vande Streek. "It definitely makes things much easier and our entire team was able to contribute to this win."
Calvin had 12 different players enter the scorebook with at least one point. The Knights received 37 bench points including senior Nick Kronemeyer (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton HS) with 11 points and senior Michael Welch (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore HS) with 10 points. Senior Cam Denney (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell HS) had nine points, four assists and four rebounds. Junior Michael Wilks (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) and sophomore Austin Bykerk (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) added eight points apiece.
Isiah Crofford led Adrian with 17 points.
Canonie however was the player who stole the show on Wednesday with a career-best evening. "This game was a lot of fun for Tony and the great thing about tonight is that his teammates were extremely excited for him. Tony is a very unselfish player. A pass-first, shoot second kind of guy so to see him have a game like tonight was terrific."
Vande Streek was also pleased with his team's focus heading into Wednesday's road contest. "We knew Adrian has taken a lot of teams to the last possession both home and away so we had to be ready," said Vande Streek. "I was proud of our guys for being ready to play and being focused. We had a very good start to the game and we kept the momentum going from there."
Calvin will now prepare for a rivalry contest at Hope on Saturday in a game that will serve as the regular season finale for both teams. Saturday's game at Hope's DeVos Fieldhouse is set to begin at 3 p.m.
MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 2-15-17 GAMES
Hope 13-0
Calvin 9-4
Trine 8-5
Alma 7-6
Albion 7-6
Olivet 5-8
Kalamazoo 2-11
Adrian 1-12
MORE MEN'S BASKETBALL
This past weekend, Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek posted his 500th collegiate victory. Mive.com followed with a feature story on Vande Streek as well as a follow-up with commentary from each of his MIAA collegeagues.
The feature story can be found online at: http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2017/02/calvin_coach_kevin_vande_stree.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
The follow-up story with comments from his MIAA colleagues can be found online at: http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2017/02/miaa_coaches_weigh_in_on_500th.html
Received on Thu Feb 16 00:26:08 2017
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