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Calvin women defeat St. Mary's
by Ted Fackler
Sports Assistant Editor
FILE PHOTO
Calvin Basketball drops St. Mary on her head: 64-50.
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Victory simply requires doing what needs to be done. That’s a mantra easier said than done, right? Not for the Calvin women’s basketball team. They made winning look easy this Wednesday against a weary St. Mary’s team, downing them 64-50 in front of the Fieldhouse crowd. Coming off a two-game losing skid to respectable teams, immediacy took over the Calvin squad. Something needed to happen, possibly a shock of electricity to their game. And for the Calvin women, that shock came early, and never ended, as Calvin jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, despite a shaky first few possessions.
The tip-off went to Calvin, and the ball immediately flew out of bounds. Turnover. Yet once Calvin got the turnovers out of their system (3 in the first 5 possessions) they began to click, passing and shooting the ball beautifully. Sophomore forward Lisa Nanninga made the first basket of the game, exhibiting smooth under the basket techniques. Down 7-0 and sensing an early demise, St. Mary’s called multiple timeouts attempting to stipple Calvin’s game, yet to no avail. Calvin continued to cruise, due to a depth of talent that ultimately saw twelve Calvin uniforms entering the scoring column.
Sophomore guard Kristen McDonald and senior forward Emily Beard proved their leadership on the court, displaying a talent for the quick breakaway. Leading 18-8, Kristen McDonald striped the ball from an unassuming blue jersey, sprinting the opposite direction down the court, laying the ball up for two. And 1. While Nanninga, McDonald, and Beard dominated the offensive realm, it was the defensive play of Katherine Pettinga, Andrea McDonald and Tricia Dyk that put St. Mary’s on their heels, causing them to shoot a pitiful 30 percent from the field in the first half. This landed St. Mary as the victim of a first half stomping of 34-20.
Entering the second twenty minutes of play, Calvin continued to dominate, stretching the lead to 22 points before a later St. Mary’s resurgence. Due to an improved shooting performance by St. Mary (39.3%), they climbed to within 14 points late in the game. But it was too little too late. The Calvin work horse had been out of the gates for some time, and there was no stopping it.
Emily Beard finished the game with 12 points, complimented by Kristen McDonald’s 10 point effort. Lisa Nanninga and Lesa Holleman added a fire off the bench, scoring 8 points apiece, part of a 28-point display put on by the reserves. Tricia Dyk contributed six points, four assists and three steals, fueling the defense alongside Katherine Pettinga’s three points, five rebounds, three steals and three assists. Dominating the boards was Andrea McDonald, pulling down six rebounds while on offense swatting away three shots.
The Knights left Wednesday’s game sporting an 11-5 record, with losses in conference coming only to Hope, Albion and K-Zoo. Come early February, the Knights are scheduled to meet back to back with Albion and Hope, two key games that could drastically move Calvin up in the standings. But for now they’re taking things day by day, game by game, which means they’re preparing for Alma tomorrow at the Fieldhouse. Alma currently holds a 3-2 league record, a stumbling block to Calvin’s 2-3 standing. With a victory tomorrow, Calvin would hold a firm third place in the MIAA. The game is at 3 p.m. Come cheer on the girls as they continue to light up the baskets, hopefully putting on another display of 52.3 percent shooting like they did on Wednesday.
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