photo by nathan vanderklippe Junior Kendra Toonstra puts up a fade away jumper in the Knight’s 72-56 win over Olivet on Tuesday.

On Tuesday night, the “second season” began for the Calvin women’s basketball team as the Knights posted a commanding 72-56 win over the Comets of Olivet College in the opening round of the MIAA tournament. With the win, Calvin advances to the MIAA tournament semi-finals for the ninth consecutive year.

While the Knights earned only the fourth seed in the conference tournament, the players are gaining confidence with each win. Coming on the heels of a 90-56 loss to Alma this past Saturday, Calvin’s win over Olivet was important according to Head Coach Kim Gall. “This was a good start to the tournament for us and a good confidence booster,” she said. “We had a tough second half against Alma, so we needed a game like this to boost our spirits, and our performance did just that.”

Calvin led 37-28 at halftime and then used a 16-4 second half-scoring run to take a 57-37 lead with 11:23 left to play. Calvin used eight points in the paint from junior Kendra Toonstra (Calvin Christian) in the run, along with three-pointers from freshman Kim Wolthuis (South Christian) and sophomore Tricia Dyk (Western Michigan Christian).

The Knights (13-12) coasted from that point on as Olivet (13-13) would get no closer than 13 points for the remainder of the game.

Toonstra finished the game with a season-high 17 points, connecting with her first eight field goal attempts of the game. Sophomore Jennifer Plakmeyer, a three-year high school teammate of Toonstra at Calvin Christian finished with 15 points and five assists.

Plakmeyer’s 15-point effort boosted her career total to 500 points. Dyk also came up with a strong all-around effort as she scored 11 points and came up with six rebounds, six steals, four assists and three blocks.

Olivet’s backcourt tandem of Amy Strouse and Melissa Young combined for 37 of Olivet’s 56 points, with Strouse scoring 19 and Young 18. Calvin’s low-post defense limited MIAA scoring champion, center Louisa Grill, to six points.

Calvin forced Olivet into 22 turnovers that led to 16 steals for the Knights. Calvin also shot 53.5 percent (8-15) from behind the three-point arc.

According to Toonstra, “When tournaments start, you have a clean slate. The regular season is behind you. It’s all about desire.”

Junior forward Kris Bohlman agrees with Toonstra and feels that the Knights are coming together and peaking as a team at just the right time. “We’re excited — we continue to improve each game,” she said. “Maybe the third time’s the charm.”

Last night the Knights met up with the Flying Dutchmen of Hope College in the semi-final round of the MIAA tournament.

At the time of press, the results of the game were unavailable.