CKSR (Women's Basketball Clips Cardinals / Men's Basketball Falls to Whitworth / Abby Van Harn Featured in Swimming World Magazine)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR DEC. 30, 2017

Women's Basketball Clips Cardinals;
Men's Basketball Falls to Whitworth;
Abby Van Harn Featured in Swimming World Magazine

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 71, Otterbein 58

WESTERVILLE, Ohio - The Calvin women's basketball team closed the Otterbein Smoky Ballenger Classic with a 71-58 victory over the host Cardinals. Saturday marked the final non-conference game of the regular season for Calvin; the Knights won five of their final six non-conference games. The victory propels Calvin to 7-5 on the year and Otterbein falls to 6-5 on the year.
"Today was a gritty, road win over an OAC team," said head coach Chuck Winkelman. "We need to continue to improve our ball and player movement on offense. Improved communication on defense is a must moving forward."
Calvin opened the game on a 6-2 run in the first two minutes. The Cardinals cut the Calvin lead to 6-5, but a layup from senior Bre Luurtsema (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) started a 10-2 run for Calvin. Sophomore Kara Minderhoud (Grand Rapids, Mich./Covenant Christian) scored five of the 10 Calvin points in the run. Otterbein responded with a 9-0 run to tie the game at 16 and the two teams finished tied at 18 after the first 10 minutes.
Neither team was able to get much separation in the second quarter. Calvin pushed the lead up to 35-28 with five-straight points from Kara Minderhoud. The Cardinals rode a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 35-34. Bre Luurtsema snapped the run with a basket before time expired in the half.
The Knights started the third quarter with a 7-0 run in the first three minutes. Senior Ali Spayde (Lewis Center, Ohio/Worthington Christian) recorded five of the seven Calvin points in the run. The Cardinals responded once again and used a 10-2 run to cut the Calvin lead to 46-44. The Knights closed the quarter on an 8-0 run, anchored by four-straight free throws from junior Rachel Warners (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian). Calvin led after 30 minutes, 56-46.
Bre Luurtsema started the scoring in the fourth quarter, scoring three points, the old-fashioned way. The Knights had a five-minute scoring drought that ended with a free throw from Rachel Warners to give Calvin a 60-52 lead. The Knights made their final nine free throws of the night to secure the victory.
Ali Spayde led all players with 23 points on the evening. She also notched eight rebounds. Spayde moves into ninth place on Calvin career scoring list with 1,202 points, moving past Eileen Boonstra.
Kara Minderhoud shattered her career-best with 21 points on Saturday. She also finished five rebounds.
Bre Luurtsema recorded her 23rd career double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds.
Calvin dominated the glass, outrebounding the Cardinals, 39-26.
The Knights return to action in 2018 when they host Adrian at Van Noord Arena on Jan. 3.

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Whitworth 88, Calvin 58

SPOKANE, Wash. - For one half of play, Calvin stood toe-to-toe with the No. 7 ranked Pirates of Whitworth University.

Calvin led Whitworth 32-31 at halftime.

Whitworth opened the second half with a surge of energy however, outscoring the Knights 26-8 over the first eight minutes and never looked back from there.

Whitworth (10-1) went 9-of-14 from three-point range in the second half and shot 65.6 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes of play to pull away for the win.

Whitworth's Kyle Roach was the catalyst, scoring 21 second half points, en route to finishing with a game-high 25 points.

Calvin was led in defeat by sophomore Derrick DeVries (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) who dropped in 15 points. Senior Tony Canonie (South Haven, Mich./South Haven HS) had eight points and five assists. Junior Austin Bykerk (Jenison, Mich./Unity Christian HS) had seven points and six rebounds with unior Jason Walter (Coloma, Mich./Coloma HS) adding seven points and four boards.

Saturday's game marked Calvin's fourth contest of the year against a top-10 nationally-ranked opponent as it had previously faced No. 2 Augustana, No. 1 Cornerstone (NAIA) and No. 8 Wisconsin-Oshkosh during its challenging non-conference slate.

Calvin (4-7) will now prepare to open its conference schedule next Wednesday when it travels to Adrian (9-2) for a 7:30 p.m. game.

WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING

Calvin College senior Abby Van Harn is the subject of a Swimming World Magazine story published earlier this week.
A five-time NCAA III All-American and the 2017 MIAA Most Valuable Swimmer, Van Harn is off to a blazing start to her senior campaign as she holds some of the top times in Division III in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events. Along the way she has helped the Calvin women's swimming and diving team move up to 12th in the latest set of College Swim Coaches Association of America Division III Top 25 rankings.
A Dean's List student majoring in kinesiology, Van Harn has also used her classroom knowledge to help with her strength training as an athlete. The Swimming World Magazine story authored by Dan D'Adonna goes indepth into Van Harn's journey as a swimmer and into strength training.
To read the story, visit the Swimming World website at: https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/289750-2/
Received on Sun Dec 31 00:02:33 2017