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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.- Today the 21st ranked Calvin women's basketball team welcomed Olivet to Van Noord Arena for a MIAA conference showdown. The Knights asserted their dominance over the Comets and came out with an 89-37 win to claim their 10th consecutive victory.
The Knights were locked in on both sides of the ball. On offense, they dominated the paint, outscoring Olivet 38-14 from down low. They swarmed on defense and held the Comets to a 28.6 shooting percentage. Calvin also racked up 18 steals which contributed to the 31 points that they scored off turnovers.
The Knights took a while to get their offense going until the end of the first quarter when they went on a 12-4 scoring run. Calvin used this momentum to pile onto their lead in the second quarter as they shot an impressive 61.1 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from behind the arc. Going into the half the Knights led 51-18 with Leah Harris (Frisco, Texas/Lone Star) leading the way with 14 points.
Heading into the second half with a comfortable lead the Knights were able to see what some of the younger players could do. With just under two minutes in the third quarter freshman Adelaide Douglass (Mattawan, Mich./Mattawan) kicked the ball out to freshman Sami DeKuiper (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) for a big three pointer. Douglass was also able to pick off some points of her own from free throws as well as a layup through heavy traffic.
The Knights continued their impressive shooting performance as they shot 50 percent from the field. Calvin's scoring was spread across the board as 16 different players got on the score sheet and the bench contributed 43 points on their way to victory.
Senior Sydney Cleary (Middleville, Mich./South Christian) led all players with 16 points while senior Gabby Timmer (Caledonia, Mich./South Christian) had 8 points. Sophomore Emma Witte (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) also chipped in 8 points as well as 4 steals.
COACHES COMMENTS: "I thought that defensively we did a really nice job," said head coach Mark Christner. "We really wanted to continue with ball pressure throughout the game and we executed that. We haven't had a lot of games this year with a score like this so our seniors have had to carry us but our bench players have been putting in a lot of work in practice so it was nice to see them get some extended minutes as well today. Really good effort and a really strong performance today up and down."
UP NEXT: The Knights travel to Holland, Mich. on Wednesday, Feb. 8 where they will take on Hope at 7:30PM. Both teams are part of the three-way tie for first place in the MIAA.
