OLIVET - The third-ranked Calvin women's basketball team put on a dominating first half performance - en route to an 84-47 victory over an on-the-rise Olivet squad Saturday afternoon at the Cutler Events Center.

Calvin (8-1 overall, 4-0 MIAA) led 45-14 at halftime and never looked back in cruising to the win. The 14 points allowed marked Calvin's best defensive performance in a half this year and marked the fourth time this season that the Knights have held the opposition under 20 points in the first half.

On the offensive end. Calvin shot 48.7 percent from the floor through the first half of play led by senior Carissa Verkaik who tallied 19 first half points including 12 of Calvin's first 21. A preseason All-America selection, Carissa Verkaik finished the game with 24 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots, connecting on 9-of-18 from the floor and 3-of-5 from three-point range. Senior Julia Hilbrands  came off the bench to drop in 10 points and grab six rebounds while sophomore Maria DeKuiper had nine points in a reserve role.

Calvin had 13 of its 14 players enter the scoring column as the Knights shot 51.4 percent overall including (7 of 16) 43.6 percent from three-point range. Meanwhile Olivet (7-3 overall, 3-2 MIAA) shot just 30.6 percent from the floor including just 22.7 percent in the first half.

Sydney Radde led Olivet with 13 points while Chelsea Ciba had 12. Calvin held a 42-31 rebounding edge and forced the Comets into 24 turnovers.

"Our team was ready to play right from the outset and that was important because Olivet is much improved this year," said Calvin women's basketball coach John Ross who is now 215-49 in 10 years at the helm of the Knights. "Olivet has size with a couple of transfer players and they are very athletic. We knew we had to be ready to play at a high level and I thought our players did that, particularly on defense."

Calvin will now prepare for a tournament at Colorado College on December 28 and 29 in Colorado Springs. Calvin will face host Colorado College on December 28 at 6 p.m. (MT) and then meet Concordia (Wisc) on December 29 at 3 p.m. (MT). The Knights then swing back into conference play on January 5 when it travels to Trine for a 3 p.m. contest.