SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Tonight, the Calvin women's basketball team kicked off its MIAA schedule in style with a 61-57 victory over the Belles of Saint Mary's. This is the third victory in a row for the Knights as they move to a 4-3 overall record and move above a .500 record for the first time this season.
 
In the first quarter, junior RyAnn Rohrer (Ludington, Mich./Ludington) got out to a hot start as she was responsible for Calvin's first three buckets. Fellow junior Hannah Sall (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) also came alive as she recorded back-to-back baskets down low while senior Emma Witte (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) chipped in a jumper of her own. However, on the other end of the floor, the Belles were rolling on offense as they went on to outscore the Knights 18-13 after ten minutes of play.
 
Looking to make up ground, senior Anna Fernandez (Plymouth, Mich./Plymouth Christian Academy) gave Calvin the offensive spark it was looking for when she buried three straight shots from behind the arc to start the second quarter. The rest of the Knights followed her lead as they outscored the Belles 17-11 in the second and headed into halftime with a slim 30-29 lead.
 
As the second half got underway, it was a battle of free throws as both teams found their way to the charity stripe several times. Calvin went 8-12 from the charity stripe in the quarter while Saint Mary's shot 10-14 in the third quarter where the lead was traded back and forth between the two sides. With just under three minutes left to play in the third, sophomore Jamie Custer (Galena, Ohio/Worthington Christian) found a wide-open Sami DeKuiper (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) who nailed a timely shot from behind the arc to put the Knights back in the driver's seat.
 
From that point forward Calvin didn't look back as it retained the lead throughout the rest of the game and went on to pick up the 61-57 win. The Knights outrebounded the Belles 38-34 while also dominating down low with 32 of their points coming in the paint.
 
Rohrer finished the game as Calvin's leading scorer with 17 points and 11 rebounds while Frenandez was close behind with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Witte and Hannah Sall each finished with 6 points while junior Chloe Wiegers (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) chipped in a team high 5 steals on the defensive end.
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "I thought St Mary's was everything we thought they would be," said head coach Mark Christner. "Solid group that plays hard. Our team needs to figure out how to adjust during the game to how the game is officiated. The free throw situation has to be better. I thought Ashley Raredon gave us a big lift on the offensive rebound to get us even, Sami made a big shot to put us ahead and I thought we did a nice job executing defensively down the stretch. It's a Picasso like every win but we need to play more consistently moving forward."
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Saturday, December 6th when they welcome the Maroon of Chicago to Van Noord Arena for a 5 PM tip off.