RICHARDSON, Tx. – The Calvin women's basketball team picked a huge road win over No. 8 Wisconsin-Eau Claire on the campus of University of Texas-Dallas with a score of 61-49 on Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday's game was part of the UT-Dallas Comet Classic. It also marked the fifth opponent ranked in the Top 10 of the D3hoops.com national poll that the Knights (8-4) have played this season.
Wednesday's game started with the Knights getting hot in the early minutes of the first quarter. Junior Sara Nealy hit a three-pointer to make it a 10-4 Calvin lead early on.
Calvin continued to add points to its lead as the Knights ended the first quarter on an 11-7 run. The run was capped off by a layup from freshman Allie Mayes, that gave the Knights a 21-11 advantage going into the second quarter.
The Blugolds (9-2) tried to gain momentum, but the Knights had the answers in the second quarter. A jumper by junior Leah Harris midway through the quarter pushed Calvin into a 14-point advantage at 30-16 with all things clicking for the Knights. UW-Eau Claire started to pick it up just before halftime as it went on an 8-4 run to make the score 35-24 heading into halftime.
Senior Gabby Timmer led the Knights in scoring at halftime with 13 points while Nealy ended the first half with 8 points. Calvin shot 14-36 (38.9%) from the field and 5-8 (62.5%) from the three-point line. Calvin outrebounded the Blugolds 24-21 in the first half as well.
The Knights maintained their lead throughout third quarter, and a layup by Harris gave Calvin a 41-29 advantage with 5:17 left in the third. UW-Eau Claire wasn't going anywhere as it quickly rattled off an 8-0 run to trail 41-37. It became a close contest at the end of the quarter as the Blugolds hit a jumper to make 45-41 going into the final quarter of play.
Calvin came storming back in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter by going on a 9-0 run capped off by a Timmer layup to make it 54-41. The deficit was too much to overcome for the Blugolds as the Knights made their free throws down the stretch and secured the 61-49 win.
The win is the first by the Calvin women's basketball team over a top-25 opponent since 2017 when it beat No. 14 Hope in the MIAA Tournament semifinals. It also marked Calvin's first win over a top-10 opponent since 2016 when it beat No. 3 Hope in the MIAA Tournament regular season finale.
Timmer finished with her 30th career double-double with 25 points and 12 rebounds. She moves into 6th place on the Calvin career scoring list where she currently has a career total of 1,303 points. Nealy had a career high with 13 points on the afternoon and Harris finished with 11 points and 3 assists.
Ellie Clayton and Jessie Ruden led UW-Eau Claire with 14 points apiece. The Bluegolds were 5 of 20 (.250) from three-point range and 19 of 60 (.317) from the field overall.
COACHES COMMENTS: "Hats off to our team today," said head coach Mark Christner. "They were determined, and they played within themselves defensively for forty minutes. Our rebounding was consistent, and we made big shots in the second half. A great win for our program."
UP NEXT: The Knights will take on Austin College at 1 p.m. (CST) at UT-Dallas on Thursday December 30.