WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[sac]

Hope 6-0 vs Albion 6-0

Last year Albion beat Hope at Albion, one of Hope's 4 losses.  The win by Hope in DeVos was a game Hope dominated, but Albion never quit and made it a game in the end, it should be a good contest.

[oldknight]

Hope 6-0 vs Albion 6-0

Last year Albion beat Hope at Albion, one of Hope's 4 losses.  The win by Hope in DeVos was a game Hope dominated, but Albion never quit and made it a game in the end, it should be a good contest.

Albion's best player appears to be a player with whom I am familiar, Brittany Kemperman, who prepped at GR Catholic Center. She was a good high school player and a very accurate shooter but I'm pretty sure the Brits will be outmanned (or, outwomaned) tonight. Hope has 10 players as good (or better) than Kemperman. Other players of note for Albion are Guimond (6'2") and Till (6'0") who seem to carry the inside scoring load as well as rebounding. From Albion's season box it looks like the Brits beat teams largely on the strength of rebounding (45 to 30). Hope can throw talented big players at Albion in waves and the Brits are not likely to enjoy the fruits of a dominating rebounding margin. I don't anticipate a particularly close game. Hope by 20+.

[scottiedawg]

Margins of victory by the Women's Top 13.

(2) Howard Payne 36.2
(3) Hope 31.5
(7) UW Whitewater 28.7
(1) Mary Washington 28
(5) Kean 27.5
(4) Messiah 25.3
(12) Illinois Wesleyan 23.4
(13) Simpson 23
(6) NYU 21.4
(9) Southern Maine 18.7
(11) Thomas More 17
(8) DePauw 14.5
(10) McMurry 11.8

[sac]

Hope 75 Albion 63

Hope played one outstanding half and led by 19, then played one less than outstanding half and were beaten by 7.  Not much different than last years contest with Albion really.  The Brits are really young and play really hard, they sure didn't give up.  I thought Hope lost their edge with the big first half.

Hope was never threatened, I don't believe the lead ever reached less than 12 after the initial Hope burst.  Hope's indeed loaded, there are a LOT of nice pieces on the floor at all times.  I left feeling Albion is a really good team.

Carrie Snikkers in a Hope uniform is well...........its just going to be unfair .   She had an off night shooting, but 6-3 and can shoot 3's prettier than anyone else?   She had enough really good plays to make me say wow several times.

[gottaluvhoops]

Hope train is still rolling!

[hope1]

yes and i hope they keep it rolling all year long  it would be great

[AlwaysHope]

Hope beats North Central, 70 - 59.  Game was not that close, as Hope was up by 28 at one point in the second half.

Warsen is the only player in double figures with 10.  Everyone scores except for one player.  Have not seen the stats yet, but the Flying Dutch "D" created a large number of turnovers.

[hope1]

yes a lot of turnovers for both teams and a lot of shots missed

[oldknight]

Hope beats North Central, 70 - 59.  Game was not that close, as Hope was up by 28 at one point in the second half.

Warsen is the only player in double figures with 10.  Everyone scores except for one player.  Have not seen the stats yet, but the Flying Dutch "D" created a large number of turnovers.

According to the box Warsen got her 10 on only 3 shots (she went 6-8 from the line). Hope forced 36 turnovers, getting an amazing 24 steals. I see that Hope, after taking a commanding 60-32 lead, got outscored 27-10 the last 10 minutes of the game. Apparently boredom set in.

While I can respect what Morehouse has done with Hope's women in his tenure, I continue to think it was a mistake for him to carry 16 players on his varsity roster. He has 6 freshmen on his varsity and I see at least 2 who should have been placed on the JV team. He has several excellent varsity players--young ladies who could start at other schools--who are getting as little as 10-12 minutes in some games. In fact, only 3 players average more than 15 minutes per game (Boles leads with 20.1)and I wouldn't be surprised if some of these women aren't real happy about that. Eventually Hope will find a competitive opponent and game and when that happens we will see if the limited minutes his most important players are currently playing have prepared them properly for that type of game. I'm wondering about that myself.

Calvin, even with their losses from graduation and players who chose not to play, could offer that kind of competition. The Lady Knights, though not as deep or talented as Hope, do have some tough minded, blue collar players who could pull an upset on Hope. I'm wondering how Hope would react to a gut-check, rivalry game that challenges them. Every good team needs consistency to get over the hump of a 25+ game schedule and we don't know if Hope has developed that yet because their best players don't play enough.

[pointlem]

Interesting observations, OldKnight.

So far, Hope's women have been so vastly superior to most teams they've played that one has to presume that practice provides the needed challenge.  One benefit of the second five being so nearly equal to the first five is that both groups face tough competition and a hard workout most practice days, I'd guess.  (Game day may be something of a let up.)

Today, the Hope women put in the five players who hadn't yet played with just under 10 minutes to go and the score 60 to 32.  Meanwhile the North Central coach seemed not to go to the end of her bench, and in fact was playing her first five for the game's final minutes, during which the margin shrunk.  So, yes, the final score does not tell the story.

Several times in the last few minutes I was impressed with the athleticism of Erika Bruinsma, who was comfortably able, though 6' 1", to dribble through traffic.  I expect to see a lot more from her the next three years.

Even on an off-shooting day, with lots of missed layups and only 1 3-point shot, Hope's women (like its men) thrive on its defense.  I see Philly Green was only credited with one steal, but her intense defense seemed to lead to a lot of turnovers and steals by others.

[hope1]

also  it was nice to see  jordyn  get her 1000  points  at home yesterday  maybe they will have some close game this week friday and saturday it would be nice to see a close game 

[Trailer Dog]

.....Even on an off-shooting day, with lots of missed layups and only 1 3-point shot, Hope's women (like its men) thrive on its defense.  I see Philly Green was only credited with one steal, but her intense defense seemed to lead to a lot of turnovers and steals by others.

Another reason the Dutch will win it all this winter.

[sac]

 A former Knight made the notables today.

http://www.d3hoops.com/notables.php

[sac]

Albion 78, Calvin 51    whoa!

[oldknight]

Albion drowned and battered Calvin tonight using a rain of Brit 3's and a hail of Lady Knight turnovers. Albion methodically pulled into a 12 point lead at half and simply did more of the same in the second. Albion is a young club and displayed a balanced inside-out game that didn't show up at DeVos earlier this month. After so-so shooting in the first half the Knights shot miserably in the second. Calvin did OK on the boards but got beat to all the loose balls. But the big problem for Calvin was the turnovers, committing many silly ones that led to fast breaks and easy shots for the Brits. John Ross tried to pull all the strings, using up all his time outs by the 14:48 mark of the second half, but to no avail. It didn't help Calvin that Kristi Brummel never got on the floor and I have no idea why.

Since Albion got swamped in the first half against Hope earlier this month I think this young Brit team has made improvement and is the only possible speed bump for the Hope women on the way to their league title. Albion has enough size and good shooting to give Hope a game at Kresge. I imagine the Albion women have circled January 19 on their calendar and would like some payback that Saturday.

One sidenote about Calvin's lone freshmen on the varsity roster--Kacy Cryderman. I was very interested in her last name because a Paul Cryderman played for Albion during the Mark Veenstra years. Paul was an excellent player and a two-time All-Conference selection, a great rebounder and defender for the Brits, the prototype of a Mike Turner hoopster. It only took about three times up and down the court for me to realize that Kacy was a similar type player from the distaff side. She ran the court well, played strong and unintimidated and showed that she is a very good 6'1" female athlete. During the course of the game two guys sitting in front of me were talking about her so I inquired about her pedigree and--lo and behold--she is Paul Cryderman's daughter. According to Paul's former roomie at Albion, the Brits never showed much interest in her as a prepster but John Ross did so she's at Knollcrest now. I find this be even stranger and more interesting than if a Hope alum had his daughter playing at Calvin.