By Gina de Haan
On Friday night, the Calvin women's basketball team welcomed Baldwin-Wallace to Van Noord Arena as the two teams matched up in the first round of the four-team NCAA III Regional.
Calvin entered the game with a 27-0 record, while Baldwin-Wallace was 22-6 prior to the contest.
The Knights and the Yellow Jackets had met four times in the NCAA III Tournament, including the game in which Baldwin-Wallace topped the Knights 76-72 in double-overtime in the Round of 16 in 2000.
Despite a second half surge by the visitors, Calvin used solid first half play along with teamwork to pull out an 80-66 NCAA III first round Tournament win. With this victory, Calvin matches the school record for wins in a season.
Backed by an energetic home crowd, the Knights came out strong; to start the first half, Calvin went on a 12-0 run. Senior forward Hannah Acre scored the first points of the contest off a pass from junior guard Abby Springer. This bucket kicked off a solo seven-point run by Acre. Acre converted on a three-point play and scored an additional bucket, forcing Baldwin-Wallace to call timeout to stop Calvin's increasing momentum. But following the break, senior forward, and the 2015 MIAA MVP, Breanna Verkaik hit a three-pointer to give her team a double-digit advantage. Acre scored once again to complete the run.
The Yellow Jackets scored the next seven points of the game, off of a three-point play by Allyson Helleis and two buckets by Audrey Smolik.
Baldwin-Wallace continued to chip away at Calvin's lead, outscoring the Knights 7-4 in the following four minutes, bringing the score to 16-14, still in favor of the Knights.
At the midpoint in the first half, Breanna Verkaik brought Calvin's lead back up to five with a made three-point bucket. Shari Mangas of Baldwin-Wallace answered with a triple of her own.
The Knights proceeded to go on another twelve point run, holding their visitors scoreless for over five minutes. Calvin now possessed a 14-point lead (31-17) with 4:57 left to play in the first half.
The two teams went back and forth in scoring for the remainder of the half and Calvin headed into the locker room with a 40-24 lead.
At the half, two Knights were already in double digits in points. Leading Calvin in scoring was Hannah Acre with 15 points. Breanna Verakaik followed with 15, shooting perfect from three-point range (3-3).
Mackenzie Colombo and Audrey Smolik led Baldwin-Wallace in scoring with seven points apiece.
The Knights shot 16-30 (53.3%) from the floor and 3-6 (50%) from three-point range, while the Yellow Jackets were 10-35 (28.6%) and 2-8 (25%).
The second half started off much more slowly than the first, with neither team scoring for 2:40. A triple by senior guard Shari Mangas, three jumpers by Smolik, and another by sophomore guard Sydney Clark minimized Baldwin-Wallace's deficit to five (40-35).
The Knights were 0-9 from the floor in the first five minutes of the half, and held scoreless by a resilient Yellow Jacket team.
Baldwin-Wallace went on to score back-to-back three-pointers, courtesy of Smolik and Mangas. The Yellow Jackets now led the Knights by a score of 41-40.
Hannah Acre quickly answered, scoring a much-needed two points for the Knights; Acre's transition bucket was the first of the half for Calvin.
Free throws by both teams tied the score at 43 with just under 13 minutes remaining in the contest. Smolik drained her third three-point basket of the game to break the tie, but senior guard Kayla Engelhard responded with a made jumper.
Midway through the second half, freshman guard Bre Luurtsema came up with a big offensive board and put the layup back for two. Calvin had a one-point lead for less than 10 seconds before Smolik's fourth triple made the score to 49-47 in favor of the Yellow Jackets.
Two good free throws from sophomore guard Anna Timmer tied the game at 49 with just under eight minutes to go. Timmer's two points were the first of yet another twelve consecutive for the Knights. Another pair of free throws for Timmer capped off the run, the score now 59-49 with Calvin leading.
Baldwin-Wallace continued to be successful from behind the three-point arc, keeping them alive, while the Knights stuck to their dribble-drive offense and capitalized on their numerous free throw opportunities.
"If you look at the free throw difference, 25-9, and that's obviously the difference in the game right there," said Baldwin-Wallace head coach Cheri Harrer after the game.
The teams continued to go back-and-forth in scoring. Despite four made three-pointers by the Yellow Jackets in the final 6:51 of the game, Calvin's guards stepped up in the final minutes. With just under five minutes left on the clock, Calvin head coach John Ross called timeout, the scoreboard now reading 66-60. The Knights finished out the contest by outscoring Baldwin-Wallace 14-6.
Calvin head coach John Ross credited Baldwin-Wallace for its lockdown defense and shooting efficiency. "I'm really pleased with our players and how we hung in there after going down. We were able to bounce back," said Ross.
The Knights put forth a well-balanced scoring effort. Hannah Acre led the Knights, finishing with a career-high 22 points.
"I really owe it to the guards," said Calvin high-scorer Acre. "I really just owe it to my teammates and our focus coming out from the beginning"
Breanna Verkaik followed Acre with 19 points while Anna Timmer scored 16, going 6-9 from the floor and 4-4 from the line. Kally Verkaik had a strong all-around game with 10 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a critical second half block.
"I think a lot of it is just unselfishness from all of us and we really do well with moving the ball around and finding the open person," said Breanna Verkaik.
"Calvin's a very good team. They're undefeated for a reason," said Baldwin-Wallace head coach Cheri Harrer. "They're so balanced. They can hit threes and take you inside."
Audrey Smolik, OAC player of the year candidate, and Shari Mangas came in with 25 and 17 points respectively, each hitting five triples. Claire Lemmon also contributed seven points and 11 boards.
"They [Smolik and Mangas] obviously weren't ready to be finished and they did everything they could do to help keep us playing," said Coach Harrer.
"That was hard. Especially when you're pressing you're bound to give up some open threes, and when they're going at it that makes things tough. We had to stay focused mentally," noted Coach Ross.
The Yellow Jackets made 9-16 (56.3%) attempted three-pointers in the second half.
"The first half we didn't play very well, and the second half we came out and showed what BW basketball is about, but it wasn't enough," noted Shari Mangas. "Against a great team like Calvin you have to put a full 40 minutes together."
In the first game of the evening, UW-Oshkosh defeated North Central 87-82. Despite the fast-paced game played by North Central, the Titans held a 45-41 lead at halftime. In the latter half, North Central showed resilience, using its high-pressure offense and defense to take a 60-59 lead with 10:27 left in the contest off a three-pointer by senior guard Maryssa Cladis. The lead changed hands numerous times during the remainder of the game. Although the Titans earned a ten-point lead at one point, the Cardinals hit two consecutive triples to cut the deficit to four with just over one minute on the clock. However, UW-Oshkosh held strong and advanced themself to the second round of the NCAA III Tournament.
Calvin and UW-Oshkosh will meet in the second round of the NCAA III Tournament on Saturday night at Van Noord Arena. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.