Box Score By Gina de Haan
On February 18th, the Calvin College women's basketball team defended its home court, claiming a 61-44 victory over rival Hope College. Ten days later, the Knights hosted the Flying Dutch for the second time this season, in the MIAA Tournament Final.
The Knights finished the regular season undefeated (27-0 overall, 16-0 MIAA), taking down the Flying Dutch by a score of 77-73 in a thrilling rivalry battle. With this victory, Calvin completes a 3-0 sweep over Hope, and punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
In mid-January, the Knights earned a 76-74 victory over Hope, the second-ever win by Calvin over Hope at the DeVos Fieldhouse. Senior Hannah Acre capitalized on a last-second three-point play to boost the Knights to victory in the first meeting of the season. The second time around, both teams struggled to get shots to fall; Calvin shot 36.9 percent, while Hope shot 24.6 overall. But with the help of a late second-half run, the Knights pulled away and came away with the win.
Saturday afternoon's contest marked the sixteenth MIAA Tournament matchup between the Calvin and Hope women's basketball teams, the sixth consecutive meeting between the two teams in the MIAA Tournament finals. Calvin now leads the forty-nine year spanning series 69-44.
Unlike the previous meeting between the two rival teams, the title game was fast-paced from the tip-off, with both teams scoring on their first possession of the game. First to score was senior center Rebekah Llorens of the Flying Dutch, who had averaged 19.7 points in Hope's three previous games. Calvin senior Hannah Acre answered Llorens, putting the Knights on the scoreboard with a made fast break layup.
Acre's bucket kicked off an early 8-0 Calvin run, in which senior Breanna Verkaik began to heat up, contributing five points towards the effort. The Knights now possessed an 8-2 lead over the Flying Dutch just minutes into the game.
After back-to-back buckets from Breanna Verkaik and a jumper by senior guard Kayla Engelhard, Calvin went ahead by a margin of nine points. These four points boosted Breanna Verkaik above the 1,000 point plateau, making her the fifteenth player in Calvin women's basketball history to accomplish this feat.
Hope scored the next eight points to cut the Knights' advantage to one point. Junior guard Autumn Anderson knocked down a three-point basket to complete the streak, making the score 14-13 with Calvin still holding on to the lead.
The momentum then shifted in Calvin's favor as junior guard Tiffany Karger answered Anderson with a three-pointer of her own, igniting a 12-0 Calvin run that would span the following four minutes. The Knights had earned back their lead, the difference in points now thirteen.
Calvin's next twelve points came by way of three-pointers from Breanna Verkaik (2), junior guard Kally Verkaik, and freshman guard Ali Spayde. Calvin led 38-22 with just under five minutes remaining in the half.
The Knights built their lead to seventeen points, but were outscored 11-3 by their visitors in the final 3:21 of the half.
Hope took advantage of Calvin's offensive lapse, bringing the point difference to single-digits by the time they entered the locker room at halftime, the score now 46-37.
At the break, Breanna Verkaik led all scorers with seventeen points (7-9 FG, 3-4 3-pointers). Sophomore guard Paris Madison led the Dutch with a career-high seven points off the bench.
The Knights defensive pressure forced eleven Hope turnovers, while they only gave the ball away five times.
Calvin shot an impressive 7-13 from behind the three-point arc.
Despite a sizeable Calvin lead at halftime, the Flying Dutch showed resilience and battled back, scoring the first seven points of the second half. The visitors cut Calvin's lead to two points just a minute-and-a-half into the latter part of the competition.
Rebekah Llorens went 1-2 from the line, and less than a minute later, Paris Madison earned a steal and capitalized on the following fast break. Junior forward Maura McAfee completed the run, adding a layup and two made free throws, the scoreboard now reading 46-44.
The Knights responded to Hope's momentum, scoring the next eleven points of the contest. The scoring streak was sparked by a fast break jumper in the paint by Abby Springer, and included a layup by Hannah Acre along with a key three-point play by Anna Timmer; seven of the eleven Calvin points came by way of free throws.
The two teams went back-and-forth in scoring while Hope slowly chipped away at Calvin's lead. With 10:48 left to play, senior guard Brittany Berry drained a three, a record 219th of her career, cutting Hope's deficit to 62-54 and bringing Calvin's lead back to single digits. The Flying Dutch held the Knights scoreless for nearly six minutes during middle portion of the second half.
Sophomore guard Anna Timmer ended Calvin's scoring drought with a three-pointer, but was soon answered by Tyra Smith who sunk a triple for the Dutch. Calvin now held a 65-59 advantage over Hope.
With 2:30 left on the clock, Maura McAfee scored in the paint, cutting Calvin's lead to three points (70-67) and causing Calvin head coach John Ross to call timeout.
Following the break, Kally Verkaik found Breanna Verkaik with a back-door pass that led to two points for the Knights. Seconds later, Hope's Tyra Smith was fouled and knocked down both her free throws to bring the difference back to three with a minute-and-a-half remaining, Calvin ahead 72-69.
In the final minute of the game, both teams were scrambling, but neither could get a shot to fall. With twenty seconds left to play, Autumn Anderson was fouled and went on to make both free throws, cutting Calvin's lead to one.
But the Knights also proved to be clutch from the line, making 5-6 of their free throws in the final sixteen seconds of the game.
Perhaps the play of the game came with thirteen seconds left, the score 73-71. Kayla Engelhard missed the second of free throws and Maura McAfee came down with the rebound, the Dutch now looking to tie the score on the final possession of the game. But Abby Springer came up with a crucial steal for her team, passing the ball off to Hannah Acre who was quickly fouled. Acre proceeded to sink both free throws to put the Knights up by four. With eleven seconds left, the game was over.
"It just all came down to focus in the end," said Acre when asked about her high-pressure free throw situation. "I knew this was my moment to help the team out and I just wanted to do that for them."
The MIAA Tournament title is Calvin's seventh overall and its first since 2012. The win was also Calvin's third victory of the year over Hope, marking the first time since the 1998-99 season that Calvin has defeated Hope three times in a season.
The newest 1,000-point club member, Breanna Verkaik led all scorers with twenty-one points. Hannah Acre scored thirteen points while Anna Timmer had eleven.
Kally Verkaik had a solid all-around game, finishing with ten points, nine rebounds, five assists, five steals, and three blocks.
Kally ultimately credits her personal success to her team; "I just played the hardest I could for my teammates, and we all worked really well together."
Kayla Engelhard dished out five assists while Bre Luurtsema snagged seven boards.
Along with her key steal late in the game, Abby Springer contributed nine points and four assists.
Springer also was fantastic at the point of Calvin's full-court press. Calvin head coach John Ross commented, "She's so quick and so fit and will cause havoc for a lot of players. Abby's a gamer and a great player."
Three Hope players had career highs in scoring Saturday afternoon; all three players came off the bench. Tyra Smith led the Flying Dutch with sixteen points, Kamara Sudberry finished with ten, and Paris Madison had nine. Maura McAfee contributed fourteen points and grabbed thirteen rebounds.
Hope's bench scored forty-one points, while Calvin's substitutes contributed nineteen.
"I think the game lived up to its billing," Hope head coach Brian Morehouse said. "I think they particularly shot the ball well from three the first half, that was a huge key to the game. In the second half, quite honestly, you can't defend free throws and they shot twenty-one free throws. It's really hard to guard them when they're standing alone at the free throw line."
The Knights shot 53.8% (7-13) from three-point range in the first half and 76.2% from the free throw line (76.2%) in the second.
"Hope made some significant changes with some different personnel, and it was really effective for them," Coach John Ross, "We just found a way to stay alive and we're just excited that we won and to be playing next week."
Breanna Verkaik described Saturday as a "big day" as her team became MIAA champions, along with the scoring of her 1,000th career point. "I am just so excited to see what this team can do. We have been playing with so much heart; it's been so much fun, and I don't want it to end. So we're just going to keep trekking and I'm looking forward to a long tournament run."
With the win, sixth-ranked Calvin (27-0) gains the MIAA's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament next week. Calvin will find out its first round opponent on March 2 when the selection show takes place at 2:30 p.m.
