In a thrilling MIAA Semifinal game between Calvin and Hope Thursday night at the Dow Center in Holland, MI, the Knights came out victorious, winning 74-68. The victory was Calvin's first of the year over the nationally-ranked Flying Dutch as Hope had won the two regular season meetings by scores of 60-50 and 67-50.
Calvin (21-4) advances to the MIAA Championship game at Albion on Saturday with a 3:00 tip-off time. The winner will receive the MIAA's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament. Albion (24-3) advanced to Saturday's title tilt with a 73-63 win over Alma in Thursday's other semifinal.
Saturday's championship game will feature of rematch of last year's MIAA Tournament final which Albion won by a 49-45 score.
Calvin will be making its ninth appearance in the MIAA Tournament Championship game with the Knights 3-5 in MIAA Tournament finals.
On Thursday night, senior Kristen McDonald played a huge part in the win over Hope (23-4, 15-3 MIAA). McDonald had only 8 points combined in the previous Calvin-Hope meetings this year, but Thursday night, she scored 40 points, including 5 three-pointers out of a total of 11 field goals, and added 13 out of 16 free throws.
With her career-high 40 points, McDonald established a new MIAA Tournament record, which was set at 34 points in 1997 by Melissa Van Damme of Alma. McDonald also is in a five-way tie for the Tournament record of 16 free-throw attempts in a game. Also, McDonald ties the Calvin single-game record for points, which was first achieved by Eileen Boonstra in 1980 in a February 23, 1980 game with Kalamazoo.
Calvin succeeded in slowing down the pace of the game, which was initially fast paced with many turnovers for both teams. Calvin led 4-3 with 15:23 left in the first half, but Hope held Calvin at 4 as it scored 6 points in under two minutes.
Hope continued to hold the lead until Calvin went on a 4-0 run around the 5:45 mark, led by a jumper by sophomore Lisa Winkle.
In the last four minutes of the first half, Clavin allowed only 3 points while scoring 7, two made free throws by senior Lisa Nanninga, a jumper by McDonald, who also closed of the half with a 3-pointer, bringing the Knights to a 21-18 lead that would give them momentum going into the second half.
Indeed, Calvin took that momentum as Winkle sunk a jumper and McDonald made three 3-pointers in the first two minutes, helping the Knights to a 10 point lead, 32-22.
However, led by senior Adelynn Vilmann, Hope battled back, getting within three at the 14:21 mark, and again at 12:58. Calvin would not allow Hope to get within four points for the rest of the game.
Though the Knights led by 13 points with 7:18 left in the game, Hope did not give in and showed much heart, bringing themselves within four points, with back-to-back jumpers by Julie Henderson. With just under 3:00 to go, Hope was only down by four at 63-59.
Hope would get no closer however as McDonald hit a clutch jumper at the 2:53 mark to put the Knights up by six. Calvin would then connect on nine of 12 attempts from the free throw line in the final two minutes to seal the win. Junior Sarah Winkle also came up with a clutch play in the closing minutes as she kept alive a Calvin possession by tipping a loose ball off a missed shot attempt out to senior Rita Ouwinga.
McDonald was fouled moments later and swished two free throws to give Calvin a 67-60 lead.
For Hope, Vilmann had 19 points and 9 rebounds, followed by sophomore Julie Henderson with 9, Ellen Wood with 8 points and 8 rebounds, and sophomore Sarah Jurik and junior Bria Ebels also contributing 8 points a piece.
In addition to her 40-point effort, McDonald also had 4 assists to bring her season total to 151 which is a new Calvin single-season record, eclipsing the previous record fo 148 set by Amy Bierling during the 1983-84 season. McDonald also now had 347 career assists and is now in second place on the Calvin career list as she moved past Mindi Andringa and Cheryl Essenburg on Thursday night.
McDonald was one of three Calvin players to notch double-digits in scoring as Lisa Winkle had 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks, and senior Lisa Nanninga 10 points and 2 blocks.
**More Calvin MIAA Tournament Notes**
*In 13 MIAA Tournament appearances, Calvin now has a won-loss record of 18-9.
*Calvin and Albion have met five times in MIAA Tournament play with Albion winning three of the five meetings including the last three.
Newspaper Box Score CAL-W vs HOP-W 02-24-05 7:30 p.m. at Hope College, Dow Center At Hope College, Dow Center CAL-W 74, HOP-W 68 CAL-W (21-4(13-3)) Kristen McDonald 11-16 13-16 40; Lisa Winkle 3-11 4-4 10; Lisa Nanninga 3-4 4-4 10; Rita Ouwinga 2-5 1-2 6; Lesa Holleman 1-1 2-2 4; Charis Larson 1-2 0-0 2; Erica Boonstra 1-2 0-0 2; Lindsey Peuler 0-2 0-0 0; Sarah Winkle 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-44 24-28 74. HOP-W (23-4(14-2)) Adelynn Vilmann 5-9 9-10 19; Julie Henderson 3-9 3-3 9; Bria Ebels 4-8 0-1 8; Sarah Jurik 3-9 1-2 8; Ellen Wood 4-8 0-0 8; Jordyn Boles 2-10 1-2 6; Megan Noll 2-5 1-2 5; Linda Ebels 2-4 1-2 5; Jennie IntVeld 0-0 0-0 0; Ashley Plowman 0-0 0-0 0; Stacy Warsen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-62 16-22 68. CAL-W......................... 21 53 - 74 HOP-W......................... 18 50 - 68 3-point goals-CAL-W 6-11 (Kristen McDonald 5-9; Rita Ouwinga 1-1; Lindsey Peuler 0-1), HOP-W 2-15 (Jordyn Boles 1-4; Sarah Jurik 1-5; Bria Ebels 0-2; Megan Noll 0-1; Julie Henderson 0-3). Fouled out--CAL-W-Lisa Winkle, HOP-W-Julie Henderson; Adelynn Vilmann. Rebounds-CAL-W 27 (Lisa Winkle 8), HOP-W 37 (Adelynn Vilmann 9). Assists-CAL-W 14 (Lesa Holleman 4; Kristen McDonald 4), HOP-W 11 (Julie Henderson 4). Total fouls-CAL-W 20, HOP-W 24. A-900