ALMA, Mich. - Today the Calvin women's basketball team traveled to take on Alma in an MIAA showdown. After a nail-biting loss to Hope last weekend the Knights bounced back when they defeated the Scots 70-55.

After today's game the Knights improved to 15-6 overall while moving to 9-3 in MIAA play while Alma fell to 10-11 overall and 6-6 in MIAA.

In the first quarter the Scots got rolling early as they held a lead for the majority of the first ten minutes. After shooting 57.1 percent from the field while holding Calvin to a 42.9 shooting percentage, Alma went into the second quarter with a 22-15 lead.

As the Knights set out to make a comeback, the first basket of the second quarter came from freshman Lydia Sall (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) who knocked down a shot from the elbow. Two possessions later Chloe Wiegers (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) threaded the needle in between two Alma defenders to find Hannah Sall (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) under the basket for an easy two points. Anna Fernandez (Plymouth, Mich./Plymouth Christian), Sally Merrill (Hamilton, Mich./Hamilton) and Lauren Vanderstelt (Plainwell, Mich./Plainwell) all chipped in on the second quarter scoring as the Knights slowly climbed back.

On defense, Cavin held the Scots to just ten points in the second quarter and when sophomore RyAnn Rohrer (Ludington, Mich./Ludinton) converted on three-point play with under a minute left, the Knights had their first lead of the game. Alma found a way to score on its next possession but thanks to a layup from Vanderstelt before the buzzer Calvin headed into halftime with a 33-32 lead.

As the second half got underway the Knights kept things rolling on offense and looked to stretch their lead. Calvin out-rebounded Alma this quarter 12-9 with 6 of them being defensive rebounds which allowed the Knights to extend plays. One of those extended plays came off a Fernandez defensive rebound before she kicked it out to Sami DeKuiper (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) who hit a three with just under two-and-a-half minutes left in the quarter. A minute later freshman Hannah Sall drove into the lane and dumped the ball off to Merrill for her second basket of the evening to extend the Knights lead to ten.

In the fourth quarter the Knights continued to put pressure on the Scots as they continued to score relentlessly. By the time the final buzzer sounded the Knights had finished off a dominating performance and they left Alma with a 70-55 lead. 

Calvin finished up their night with a 43.3 shooting percentage while holding Alma to a 38.3 shooting percentage. The Knights outscored the Scots in the paint 34-30 while the bench also had another stand out night by contributing 28 points in total.

Fernandez and Rohrer led the way for the Knights as they both finished with 13 points while Vanderstelt had a career high night with 12 points. Junior Valerie Dirkse (Vienna, Va./Marshall) was close behind the leaders as she scored 11 points.

COACHES COMMENT: "Great response from our team tonight against a determined Alma team," said Mark Christner. "Our balance really showed as the forty minutes went on. This group is 8-1 on the road. They have created a super toughness about them. Really fun to coach and watch."

UP NEXT: Calvin will be back in action on Saturday, Feb 3rd when they welcome Adrian to Van Noord Arena for a 1PM tipoff.