In a meeting of nationally-ranked teams Saturday night at Hope's DeVos Fieldhouse, Calvin topped the second-ranked Flying Dutch 60-57 to snap Hope's 44-game win streak. It also marked the first-ever loss by a Hope basketball team at the DeVos Fieldhouse. Heading into Saturday night's game, the Hope women had posted a 19-0 record at the facility while the Hope men's basketball team had recorded a 25-0 mark in the building.
Ranked 11th in the latest D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, Calvin (13-1 overall, 7-0 MIAA) also moves into sole possession of first place in the MIAA standings, one game ahead of Hope (14-1 overall, 6-1 MIAA).
A year ago, Calvin dropped all three meetings against eventual national champion Hope with all three defeats coming by double-digit margins.
"This was a great win for our team confidence but it is also just one game," cautioned fourth-year Calvin women's basketball coach John Ross. "It puts us in first place in our league which is where we want to be but we also have another big game coming up against Olivet on Wednesday. Olivet has a very talented team so we'll need to regain our focus quickly."
After controlling play for most of the first half, Saturday's Calvin-Hope women's basketball game turned into a nailbiter with the Knights pulling out the big stops down the stretch.
With just over a minute to play and the game tied at 54, Hope had a chance to take a lead but misfired on a shot and Calvin sophomore guard Kelly Trewhella was able to sneak in from the backside to grab a rebound. After a Calvin timeout, Trewhella was able to get free near the right elbow and sank a 15-foot jumper off a feed from junior Nikki Zimmerman to put the Knights up 56-54 with 49 seconds remaining. Hope then misfired on a shot from in close and Zimmerman was able to corral the loose and was quickly fouled. Zimmerman fouled by sinking both free throws and then added two more with nine seconds left on the clock to give the Knights a 60-54 advantage. Hope countered with a long three-pointer by junior Jordyn Boles with two seconds left on the clock but Calvin was able to run off the remaining time on a long inbounds pass to sophomore Kristi Brummel.
"I think our defense really set the tone for this game and I also thought we did a very good job on the boards," said Ross. "When you can play strong defense and win the rebounding battle, you usually have a good chance to win the game."
Hope entered the game ranked fifth nationally in rebound margin (12.2) but Calvin was able to outrebound the Flying Dutch 41-39 on Saturday night. Calvin turned the ball over 19 times but committed just six turnovers in the second half including just one turnover inside the final four minutes of play.
Calvin took a 20-7 lead with just 6:33 left in the first half but Hope countered with a 12-6 run to trail just 26-19 at the break.
The Flying Dutch continued to chip away into the Calvin margin and took their first lead of the game at 34-33 on a pair of free throws by junior Stacy Warsen at the 12:19 mark of the second half. The lead then changed hands three times over the next five minutes with Calvin then building a 52-46 advantage on a jumper by Marcia Harris with just over five minutes left to play. Hope came back with an 8-2 run however capped by a jumper by senior Ellen Wood that tied that score at 54 with 1:45 left, setting up a frantic final minute of play.
Calvin was led in scoring by senior Lisa Winkle who scored 13 points and grabbed 14 rebounds along with four blocked shots to notch her 37th collegiate double-double including her seventh double-double of the year. Harris added 12 points and seven rebounds while Zimmerman had 11 points, four boards and three assists. Freshman Allison Griswold chipped in with nine points including a pair of timely three-point shots. Junior Rachael Willett also hauled down seven rebounds including six on the defensive glass.
Hope was led in scoring by junior Lindsay Lange who tossed in 15 points off the bench while Wood had 13 points and eight rebounds. Calvin shot just 36.7 percent overall but held Hope to 34.5 percent shooting including just 29.6 percent shooting in the first half. Hope also turned the ball over 21 times including 14 times in the first half.
Saturday's game marked the 89th meeting between Calvin and Hope in women's basketball with Calvin now holding a 60-29 series lead.