GRAND RAPIDS - The Calvin women's basketball team jumped out to a big early lead and cruised to a 70-29 win over Kalamazoo on Wednesday at Van Noord Arena.

Calvin (13-3, 6-2 MIAA) dominated the opening quarter, shooting 57.1 percent on the way to a 29-7 lead after the first period of play.

Leah Harris (Frisco, Texas/Lone Star) paced the Knights as they built their lead with eight points in the quarter, while Sydney Cleary (Middleville, Mich./South Christian) and Gabby Timmer (Caledonia, Mich./South Christian) added six and five points, respectively.

The Knights continued their dominance in the second quarter, out-scoring Kalamazoo (0-17, 0-8 MIAA) in the second quarter and building a 45-12 halftime lead.

Calvin was able to rest starters for much of the second half, allowing young players to get valuable minutes. Alyssa Karner (Holland, Mich./West Ottawa) was one of the players to take advantage with seven of her career-high 13 points in the second half as the Knights finished off the win.

The Calvin defense led the way, holding the Hornets to 15.1 percent shooting overall and 0-5 from beyond the three-point arc. The Knights also forced 19 turnovers and turned them into 20 points on the other end.

Karner and Harris led the offense with 13 points apiece. Valerie Dirkse (Vienna, Va./Marshall) led all players with 10 rebounds. Timmer finished with four blocks and four assists to go with her nine points.

COACH'S COMMENT: "I thought our group did a really nice job trying to communicate defensively," Calvin head women's basketball coach Mark Christner said. "I thought we executed some stuff there that we wanted to do. Our biggest thing was we wanted to respect our opponent, which we do with Kalamazoo, and we wanted to respect how we play and the game. I thought we did that."

NEXT UP: Calvin women's basketball returns to action on Saturday, January 21, when it travels to Saint Mary's (Ind.) for a game scheduled to start at 3:00 PM.