By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin women hosted a rare Monday night conference game at Van Noord Arena against Trine University after it was postponed from Saturday. The Knights had no trouble diverging from their normal schedule, taking the early lead and never giving it up on their way to an 86-50 victory.
Senior Ally Wolffis got out to a strong start for the Knights, scoring their first four points. Trine senior Sydney Spragg, who had missed the first Calvin-Trine meeting and is the second leading scorer in the MIAA, responded with five of her own to give the Thunder the 5-4 lead two minutes in.
A 10-2 run then gave Calvin a 14-6 lead as the Knights utilized their height advantage in the post.
The teams then battled back and forth before Calvin began to pull away. Back-to-back three-points by seniors Kelsey Irwin and Logan Marsh with just over three minutes remaining gave the Knights strong momentum heading toward halftime. Over the final three and a half minutes, Calvin outscored Trine 13-1 to take a 41-20 lead into the break.
Senior Carissa Verkaik led all players with 13 points and seven rebounds while Wolffis added 11 points and five boards. Sophomore Kayla Engelhard tallied seven assists. Spragg struggled with foul trouble after her early five points, seeing limited action in the remainder of the first half and throughout much of the second.
Out of the break, it was all Knights. Eight quick points from sophomore Breanna Verkaik and eight points from senior Julia Hilbrands helped Calvin open up a 66-29 advantage.
The Knights coasted the rest of the way as all the players saw significant playing time en route to an 86-50 final score.
Carissa Verkaik led all scorers with 20 points while adding nine rebounds. Wolffis had 11 points and five boards while Breanna Verkaik and Hilbrands each finished with ten. Trine was led on offense by Kelsey Henselmeier who had 11 points while Kelcey Swisher added ten. Spragg finished with seven points.
"I was happy with the way we played. We had a really good last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half we played really well," said head coach John Ross. "We defended incredibly well as they only had two offensive rebounds. I was really happy and pleased with our play today."
The Knights now move to 12-0 in the MIAA and 19-1 overall, while Trine drops to 5-7 in conference and 11-10 overall. Calvin now has a quick turnaround before its next contest as the Knights travel down to Notre Dame, IN, Wednesday night to face the Belles of Saint Mary's. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.