By Mark DeHaan
CRESTVIEW HILLS, KY - A quick turnaround saw the Calvin women's basketball team face Centre College Saturday afternoon less than a day after defeating host Thomas More in a thrilling overtime victory in the Julie Costello Memorial Classic. The Knights showed no signs of fatigue and dominated Centre, winning 76-48.
Calvin jumped out to an early 14-4 lead against the Colonels on a pair of triples from senior Kelsey Irwin.
Centre cut Calvin's advantage to 18-10, but that is as close as the Colonels would come the rest of the game as Calvin took advantage of its height in the post. Without a single player on Centre taller than 5'11", Calvin was able to utilize 6'2" senior Carissa Verkaik down on the block.
Calvin's lead was 34-19 at half time, with Irwin leading the Knights with nine points and Verkaik
chipping in eight.
In the second half, Calvin continued to expand its lead as each member of the team saw playing time. Freshman Abby Springer chipped in seven points off the bench in just six minutes of play, while senior
Heather DeKleine added five of her eight points in the second half.
The Knights cruised to the 76-48 final score on a team effort as five Knights scored at least seven points. Verkaik led the charge with 20 points, six rebounds and five blocks. Sophomore Kayla Engelhard added 14 points, while Irwin scored nine, DeKleine eight, and Springer seven. Senior Ally
Wolffis grabbed 12 rebounds for the Knights, five on the offensive glass.
The Colonels were led by Paige Baechle who scored 15 points. Chelsea Benham added nine points and seven rebounds.
Both Verkaik and Engelhard were named to the All-Tournament team, with Engelhard earning MVP honors for her combined 51 points in a pair of games against Thomas More and Centre.
"We had a lot of people step up and shoot well today, which was good to see," said head coach John Ross. "I think we did a great job defensively, especially in the first half, when we held them to 19 points. (Before Albion on Wednesday), we just need to get some rest after playing five games in nine days. Albion is one of the best coached teams in the country, we just have to be ready to play a really good team on Wednesday, and at their place, it is never an easy place to win."
Calvin moves to 4-1 on the year with the win, while the Colonels drop to 1-4.
The Knights now look forward to next Wednesday when they will open up their conference schedule away at Albion, with the tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m.