ALMA, Mich- Tonight the Calvin women's basketball team traveled to Alma and returned with a 77-68 win over the Scots.

Coupled with Albion's 63-62 win over Trine Wednesday, Calvin moves into a three-way tie for first place in the MIAA standings with Hope and Trine as all three teams are 9-2 in league play.

In its win at Alma, Calvin outshot the Scots 45.7% to 40.6% and the Knights' swarming defense forced the Scots to make 16 turnovers on the night. 

Right out of the gate both teams battled for the lead. After Alma scored the first bucket of the game Calvin had a response for everything and after the first quarter the Scots were ahead 13-10. 

The fight for the advantage intensified in the second quarter as both teams continued to exchange points. The Knights shot an impressive 50% from behind the arc which gave them the slight 34-33 advantage over Alma at halftime. Senior Sydney Cleary (Middleville, Mich./ South Christian) finished the half with 14 points while fellow seniors Gabby Timmer (Caledonia, Mich./ South Christian) and Leah Harris (Frisco, Texas/ Lone Star) both had 7 points.

In the third quarter the Knights outscored Alma 18-14 giving them the slight 5-point advantage heading into the final ten minutes. Calvin's offense continued to have its way with Alma's defense and led by as many as 9 points in the fourth quarter. However, down the final stretch the Scots were able to get some timely steals to bring them within 5 points with less than a minute left in the game. Alma quickly fouled Cleary who was able to sink a free throw and twenty seconds later Timmer tacked on a free throw of her own. With less than thirty seconds left in the game sophomore Valerie Dirkse (Vienna, Va./ Marshall) came up with a key block and followed it up with a defensive steal on the next possession allowing the Knights to close out the game with a 77-68 win.

Cleary was the key in the Calvin success as she finished the game with a season high 25 points including a season high six 3-pointers, and six assists. Harris finished with 20 points while Timmer had 18. Dirkse also contributed 8 points in the victory.

COACHES COMMENTS: "Big performance for our team tonight," said head coach Mark Christner. "Our seniors did a great job of leading the way and we received key contributions from our young player off the bench. Sydney [Cleary] has had a great year shooting and making plays for her teammates. I trust her and she has done a great job with Leah [Harris] and Sara [Nealy] leading this team. Gabby [Timmer] is such a tough match that when Syd is shooting it well, we are tough to beat. Road wins are road wins, Alma made us pay for every small mistake we made and that happens sometimes. We have challenged our team to stay present and reap the value and reap the value of staying present. That's our goal coming down the stretch."

UP NEXT: The Knight will take the court next this Saturday, Feb. 4 as they welcome Olivet to Van Noord Arena. Tip-off is set for 1PM.