OLIVET – Calvin clinched a share of the MIAA regular season title with a 67-44 victory at Olivet Saturday afternoon. Ranked fifth nationally, Calvin improves to 22-1 overall and to 14-1 in the MIAA. The Knights can claim an outright title with a win over Saint Mary’s next Wednesday. The league title is Calvin’s 13th overall in women’s basketball which leads all MIAA schools.

Calvin overcame early foul trouble to roll out to a 44-22 halftime lead against the Comets. Calvin then stretched its lead to as many as 35 points in the second half to help seal the win.

Calvin’s inside tandem of juniors Carissa Verkaik and Julia Hilbrands powered the Knights to the win as Verkaik had 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting while Hillbrands was 6-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-4 at the free throw line for 16 points.

Junior Ally Wolffis also contributed seven points.

“Olivet has been playing good basketball lately so we feel very positive about this win,” said Calvin women’s basketball coach John Ross. “We are happy about winning a share of the MIAA (regular season) title but we know we still have work to do. We’ve got a very challenging opponent coming up next Wednesday when we host Saint Mary’s so we’ll have to be prepared.”

Calvin’s game against Saint Mary’s next Wednesday is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. at Van Noord Arena.

The Knights dropped an 83-70 loss to archrival and top-ranked Hope on Saturday, moving their record to 12-11 overall and 7-5 in conference.

The game was competitive in its early stages. Senior Brian Haverdink drilled a three from the top of the key to bring the score to 11-9 early. Sophomore Tyler Kruis followed that up on the defensive end with a baseline block of Hope’s Colton Overway. But Hope clawed back to take a marginal lead off an old-fashioned three point play from Nate Van Arendonk. But once again, Haverdink, playing in his final Calvin-Hope game, buried another three to put the Knights on top by two.

But Hope would mount a double-digit lead in not too long. After VanArendonk again converted three consecutive points to put the Dutchmen on top by 15. With less than four minutes to go in the half, Calvin found itself needing a spark.

That spark came in the form of 6’1” junior Bryan Powell. With two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the half, Powell intercepted pass from Hope’s Logan Neil and darted towards the basket. Nearing the hoop, Powell elevated over Neil for an electrifying, authoritative dunk. Powell’s fast break electrified the Calvin crowd, which had previously grown silent, and by halftime, the Knights had cut the deficit to eight.

The Dutchmen were able to stifle any remains of Calvin momentum after halftime. David Krombeen sank a triple three minutes into the half and Billy Seiler downed two threes in less than a minute. Soon, Hope’s lead was nineteen.

Calvin would respond at various points with runs. Kruis was efficient in the paint, scoring 11 second half points. But Hope’s defense was stifling, and Calvin couldn’t cut the lead to single digits.

“They did a good job of taking away our inside high-low game,” said Calvin Coach Kevin Vande Streek. “They forced us to take shots at the end of the shot clock.”

Kruis led the Knights in scoring with 17 points. He also contributed 6 rebounds. Powell was close behind with 16 points and junior Tom Snikkers led the way on the glass with 10 boards.

Hope was led in scoring by Nate Snuggerud with 25 points while David Krombeen had 20 points.

Calvin held a 43-29 rebounding advantage but the Knights shot just 36.9 percent from the floor while Hope connected on 52.8 percent of its attempts.

Calvin travels to Angola, IN to square off against Trine on Wednesday. Calvin is currently locked in a three-way tie for second place in the MIAA standings with Adrian and Trine as all three teams are 7-5 in league play. Albion is lurking close behind at 6-6 as four teams are vying for three available spots for the upcoming four-team league tournament. Hope has already clinched the top seed.

On the women’s side, sophomore Stephanie Bennett had a solid day, posting a time of 8.20 in the 60 meter dash and a time of 26.70 in the 200 meter dash. Freshman Kate Ardinger also had a strong time of 5:10.97 that was good for 10th place in the mile run.

Down by seven with three minutes in regulation, the Knights fought back to capture a thrilling 100-99 overtime victory over Alma on Wednesday. With the win, Calvin remains tied for second place in the MIAA standings with Adrian at 7-4 in league play.

The Knights opened up a lead early in the first half, going up nine in the game’s first six minutes. Matt DeBoer and Bryan Powell combined for 13 of Calvin’s first 23 points.

But the Scots, who lead the league in three-pointers made, soon caught fire and wouldn’t cool down. The Scots drained three triples in just over two minutes to give the Scots a single point advantage with seven minutes remaining in the first half.

Alma would only pull away from there.  The Scots went up by six with less than four minutes remaining, only to see Calvin cut the margin to two. But Alma responded with two more triples in the half’s final 32 seconds, including a buzzer-beating, baseline three-pointer from Cory Schneider to close out the half. The Knights trailed 51-43 at the break.

Both squads came out of the locker room in prime offensive form. Tyler Kruis got the first two of his 11 second half points off a reverse layup three minutes into the half. But Alma consistently had an answer for the Knights’ offense. On the next Scots’ possession, Schneider knocked down another of his seven threes on the evening.

From there, the Scots’ lead would fluctuate between two and four points.  With seven minutes to go, Lance Jongekrig hit a three to extend Alma’s lead to seven. Minutes later, Tom Snikkers scored four consecutive points for the Knights to cut the deficit to three, but four unanswered points from the Scots returned the margin to seven with three minutes to play.

That’s when the Knights’ three leading scorers took over. Snikkers drilled a three-pointer. DeBoer hit a jumper in the paint. And Bryan Powell converted a layup to cut the lead to two with two minutes to play. After an Alma turnover, Snikkers connected on a runner to tie the game at 86 with 1:47 on the clock.

Each team would then trade scoreless possessions before the Scots got the ball back with 48 seconds to play.  Alma drained the shot clock down to five seconds and Greg Silverthorn knocked down a leaning 18-footer to give the Scots a two point lead with nine seconds to go on the game clock.

On the ensuing possession, Powell drove to the right wing and found DeBoer on the baseline. DeBoer then patiently executed his right-handed hook and squared the game at 88 with just three seconds remaining. Afterwards, Schneider’s buzzer-beating halfcourt heave fell short and the game went into overtime.

In overtime, the Knights drew first blood after Powell crossed his man over, beat him with a pump fake, and sank a mid-range jumper.  Snikkers followed that up with a spin move and a fade away jumper off the glass. Minutes later, with the Knights on top by five, Jongekrig hit another triple to cut Calvin’s lead to two. DeBoer then answered with a jump stop hook shot to put Calvin put on top by four. Once again, Jongekrig hit a three. After Calvin failed to score on its offensive possession, the Scots missed a late three to seal a Calvin victory at 100-99.

“The win is what we needed. I’m glad we persevered and fought through,” said Coach Kevin Vande Streek after the game.

Four Knights finished in double figures. Snikkers had 26 points and 11 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double. DeBoer had 22 points and seven rebounds. Powell had 21 points and Kruis had 16 points and nine rebounds. Alma’s Cory Schneider led all scorers with 27 points.

With his 26-point effort, Snikkers boosted his career scoring total to 1,026 points, moving past Dan Aultman, Bill Wolterstorff and Matt Veltema and into 18th place on the Calvin career scoring list.

The Knights face archrival Hope on Saturday in the Van Noord Arena.

Coming off its first loss of the season, Calvin looked to rebound as it hosted the Hornets of Kalamazoo. Calvin did just that, handing Kalamazoo a 72-38 defeat. Calvin is now 21-1 overall and 13-1 in the MIAA.

The Knights jumped out of the gates to a 5-1 lead on a three-point shot by senior Jill Thomas. Kalamazoo responded with a 5-0 run to take the 6-5 lead on a three-point shot of their own. In their meeting earlier this year, the Hornets did not hold the lead at any point in the game.

Kalamazoo held the one point advantage for the next few minutes before an ‘and-1’ by junior Julia Hilbrands kicked Calvin into gear. Hilbrand’s three-point play started a 14-2 Knights run that saw their lead built to 20-9. During that stretch, Hilbrand scored nine points to fuel the run.

The Hornets cut the Calvin lead to 23-16 with ten minutes remaining, but another extended run fueled by Hilbrands saw Calvin extend its lead to 37-18. Hilbrands scored five points on the run to go along with two boards and a blocked shot.

At the half, the Knights held a 37-25 advantage, with Hilbrands scoring 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting and grabbing five rebounds. Calvin shot 13-for-31 from the field and 8-of-11 from the free throw line as a team in the first half. The Hornets were led by sophomore and leading scorer Nicole Antoine with nine points.

Calvin extended its lead early in the second half, holding Kalamazoo scoreless over the first five minutes while scoring twelve straight points to build a 49-24 advantage.

With all their players seeing significant minutes, Calvin built its lead to 72-38 by the final buzzer, earning the emphatic win.

The win was the 200th for Head Coach John Ross, all of which have come at Calvin College. Ross started at Calvin in the fall of 2003 after working as an assistant at Earlham College in Indiana for four years. In nine years as Calvin’s head coach, Ross is now 200-47.

“It would have been a lot nicer to have (the 200th win) on Saturday, and it was a struggle,” said Ross. “Early on, we didn’t execute our defensive principles properly, and we came out second half and executed those really, really well. The 200 wins, its nothing that I did, it just goes to the great people that we have had in our program in my nine years here.”

Hilbrands ended the game with 18 points and six rebounds to lead the Knights offensively. Junior Carissa Verkaik added nine points and eight rebounds while junior Ally Wolffis also chipped in nine points.

Leading Kalamazoo on offense was Antoine, who finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Querubin Dubois chipped in six points and eight rebounds for the Hornets.

“Julia was great tonight, and she’s really playing well. That was really good because we really needed to pick it up,” said Ross. “Kalamazoo did a great job of shutting some of other players down, and Julia stepped it up.”

The win puts Calvin at 21-1 and 13-1 in the MIAA, a game ahead of second place Hope. Kalamazoo drops to 4-18 overall and 2-11 in conference.

The Knights now look forward to Saturday when they will travel to Olivet for a 3 p.m. contest.

Sophomore Andrew Krafft once again dominated on the diving boards, establishing a new school records on the one meter board for six dives. On the one-meter board, Krafft took first place with a score of 363.90, breaking his previous record by nearly 20 points. It marked the third time this year that Krafft has reset the Calvin one-meter record. Krafft also won the three-meter board with a total of 354.75 points.

Junior Matthias Bares was also a double-winner for Calvin, winning the 1,000 freestyle (10:11.51) and 500 freestyle (4:57.03).

Other individual winners for the Calvin men included senior Ross Battoclette in the 200 freestyle (1:46.00), junior Mark Rushlow in the 100 freestyle (48.58) and senior Greg Gorham in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.82).  Calvin’s 200 medley relay team of junior Stephen Kraft, Gorham, sophomore Peter Johnson and Rushlow also won with a time of 1:36.94.

In the women’s meet on Saturday, sophomore Margaret Rechel was a double-winner, taking first place in both the 100 freestyle (55.61) and 50 freestyle (25.29).  Other individual winners included senior Bridget Scott in the 1,000 freestyle (10:57.55), freshman Kathryn Wrobel in the 200 freestyle (1:58.38), junior Stephanie Fox in the 200 IM (2:14.00), junior Samantha Klaasen on the one-meter diving board (281.39) and senior Rachel Bos in the 100 butterfly (1:03.47). In the 200 medley relay, Calvin’s quartet of freshman Erika Waugh, junior Elizabeth Counsell, junior Rachel Colasurdo and Fox won with a time of 1:53.12.

Both teams will now prepare for the upcoming MIAA Championships slated to be held February 16-18 at the Holland Aquatic Center.

Calvin’s bid for an undefeated season ended in Holland on Saturday with a 59-55 loss to rival Hope. 

Unlike January’s game in Grand Rapids, Calvin couldn’t get out to a hot start on Saturday. The suffocating Dutch defense forced fourteen Calvin turnovers and the Knights fell down by a score of 8-4 early.

But Calvin was able to fight back.  Point guard Kirstin Tripp, steady on the ball all day, knocked down a triple at the top of the arc and Jill Thomas found Breanna Verkaik at the top of the key, where she drilled another three to put the Knights on top 16-10. But Hope was able to chip away at Calvin’s lead and take a 26-24 advantage into halftime.

The Flying Dutch started the second half even hotter than the first. Hope opened up a ten point advantage just minutes into the half.  With twelve minutes remaining, the Knights trailed by eleven points. 

Calvin’s comeback attempt came off the hands of Thomas.  She hit a three off a skip pass from Carissa Verkaik.  On the ensuing offensive possession, Verkaik found Thomas yet again, this time in transition, beyond the arc.  Thomas sank the triple to cut the deficit to two.  Tripp would bury another three ball minutes later to shrink the score to 44-43.

With five minutes remaining, the rivals were square at 45.  Julia Hilbrands then gave the Knights their first lead since the first half at 47-45.  But Hope would answer with a barrage of three point plays. Liz Ellis made a three to put the Dutch back on top at 48-47 and, in the next possession, Maddie Burnett scored her first points on an and-one lay-up to give Hope a four-point lead.

From there, Calvin and Hope would trade points. Freshman Kayla Engelhard was crucial in creating offense off the dribble, but the Dutch were clutch at the free throw line.  With fourteen seconds remaining, the Knights had a chance to tie, Engelhard got to the lane but was unable to convert on a shot in traffic, effectively putting a lid on the result.

Carissa Verkaik led the Knights in scoring and rebounding with fifteen points and eight rebounds. Courtney Kust and Allie Cerone each had thirteen points for the Dutch, while Rebekah Llorens contributed a double-double off the bench.

Calvin Coach John Ross credited Hope for their efforts in the victory.

“Hope played really, really, good defense like they typically do. There were some really good players out there,” he said. “Hope is a good team and I give their team credit for making things very difficult for us today.”

Carissa Verkaik remained adamant that the Knights would recover from the loss.

“We’re not done yet. I think this game was a good heads-up for us,” she said.

Carissa Verkaik led Calvin in the scoring column with 15 points to go with eight rebounds while Engelhard had 10 points.  Courtney Kust and Allie Cerone had 13 points apiece to lead Hope.