WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

TUAngola · January 15, 2017, 08:26:57 PM

Showdown in Angola this Wednesday night when Hope visits Trine for first place in the MIAA.

Trine is playing very well, but Hope is extremely talented so this will be a test for the Thunder to see if we can hang with them. Trine absolutely destroyed Alma in the first half Saturday, then sorta lost interest the second half, plus Alma played better but it still was a 25-30 pt game. Besides the usual good play form Hayley Martin and Brandi Dawson, Trine is getting solid play off the bench led by Montana Martin. She is a big guard, 5'11 who can hit the 3 and also take it to the hole. Cassidy Williams has also played well for Trine, especially against Calvin where she carried us in OT.

Students are back in school Tuesday this week so the game atmosphere should be electric with the Blue Crew, band and cheerleaders in the house.

Roundball999 · January 16, 2017, 05:19:51 AM

Quote from: TUAngola on January 15, 2017, 08:26:57 PM
Showdown in Angola this Wednesday night when Hope visits Trine for first place in the MIAA.

Trine is playing very well, but Hope is extremely talented so this will be a test for the Thunder to see if we can hang with them. Trine absolutely destroyed Alma in the first half Saturday, then sorta lost interest the second half, plus Alma played better but it still was a 25-30 pt game. Besides the usual good play form Hayley Martin and Brandi Dawson, Trine is getting solid play off the bench led by Montana Martin. She is a big guard, 5'11 who can hit the 3 and also take it to the hole. Cassidy Williams has also played well for Trine, especially against Calvin where she carried us in OT.

Students are back in school Tuesday this week so the game atmosphere should be electric with the Blue Crew, band and cheerleaders in the house.

Massey has Trine winning by two, sounds about right to me. Actually, I might give them a slightly bigger edge playing on their home court. I think this is the game where Hope's relatively weak rebounding bites them and Trine is playing very well night after night.

realist · January 16, 2017, 04:18:51 PM

Quote from: KnightSlappy on January 13, 2017, 02:11:06 PM
Just listened to the podcast of last night's Hoopsville. Chuck Winkelman was delightful to listen to. He really seems to be enjoying his time at Calvin so far.

Hopefully in the not to distant future we can hear a new Calvin men's coach echo those sentiments.

TUAngola · January 18, 2017, 09:54:50 PM

Hope 76 Trine 65

Great effort by the Trine ladies, but just too much depth and shooting for Hope. Close game until the 4th quarter when Hope pulled away. Trine started to run out of gas, missed shots, hung their heads, and you can't do that against a Hope squad who is so well coached. I came away very impressed by Hope, I think they are a squad that is going to be hard to beat not only in the MIAA, but in the post season tournament.

Some game observations:

*Trine prides itself on defense, but Hope's offense is like a machine. Other than a few possessions in the 1st half, I thought we never made Hope uncomfortable running their offense. Actually I came away more impressed with Hope's defense. They forced a ton of turnovers by Trine. Not many post players can play like Trine's Haley Martin, but Buchanan is every bit as good as Martin. Her defense was really good, and you could tell that was a point of emphasis for Hope to try take Haley out of the game. And Buchanan can run the floor, she had a couple bunnies just from beating Martin down the court.

*Hope can shoot it, the difference tonight was 3pt shooting, not sure if that is the norm for them? And it's not just one girl, they all can shoot it if you give them an open look. They hit a lot of daggars in the 2nd half when you thought Trine would make a game of it.

*Best player on the court tonight was Brandi Dawson of Trine. Finished with game high 33 pts. She was pretty much unstoppable, but most of her offense was dribble drive to the bucket, or clear outs and let her create. But other than a solid performance off the bench by Ashley Elliott no one else on Trine stood out. We needed better games from Steers and Williams and they just didn't have it tonight. Too many drives to the basket that we couldn't finish.

*Great turnout of fans. The students filled up the entire lower west side of the stands, never seen that before, usually just half. I imagine close to or over 1000 at the game, even opened up the upper arena on the east side.

Disappointing result for the Trine ladies, hopefully this won't take away their confidence. Just came away very impressed with Hope. Talent wise players 1 thru 9 no other team can match that. Trine and Calvin has good talent, but it's the depth of Hope's team that sets them apart from the rest of the league.

Roundball999 · January 19, 2017, 05:33:41 AM

Similarly impressed by Trine. It was going to take Hope's "A" game to win and they had it tonight. As you said, Dawson was amazing but it was Hope's balance and depth that carried that day.

Yes, 3 point shooting is a key part of Hope's offense this year, they've fallen off a bit but earlier in the year they were in the top 3 nationally in team 3 point percentage. Just about everyone except Buchanan will shoot it. Even backup post will launch and a few.

Trine has a very solid team and I think will contend for tournament championship and/or at large NCAA bid. I just don't see them losing in the league again other than to Hope and perhaps Calvin. They are a tough out for anyone they play.

TUAngola · January 25, 2017, 10:47:55 PM

Wow, I see Hope lost at Albion. That is very surprising, seeing the way they played at Trine I would have thought they would cruise thru the MIAA. Box score shows they had a bad shooting night, especially from 3. Albion is a dangerous team, they've played everyone tight and won the games they should win. Trine gets them at home this Saturday in what is going to be a huge game for both teams.

Speaking of Trine, after a slow start, the girls ramped it up and played well in cruising past Saint Mary's at home. Dawson seemed "uninspired" tonight, not a good one for her, but everyone else did ok.

Saint Mary's just doesn't have the talent and are lacking quickness and size. Heart wrenching sequence for them early in the 4th quarter as 2 of their girls went down with what looked like knee injuries not more than 1 minute apart. It was very sad, never want to see anyone get hurt. My thoughts and prayers go out the girls and team.

Roundball999 · January 26, 2017, 05:33:37 AM

Sad to hear about the injuries to the St Mary's girls, hope they are not too serious.

Not too surprised about the Hope women. Albion is good and their gym is a tough place to play. Hope doesn't dominate the boards as they have in recent years and they are giving up quite a few more points too. They have been one of the nation's top three point shooting teams this year but if they have an off night as they did last night, their rebounding and defense is less likely to bail them out this year.

So there is still a race in the MIAA!

bballforever · January 26, 2017, 07:25:31 AM

Wow - what a great performance by Albion. Another tough place to play. It is also great to see the parity in MIAA. Hope and Trine tied and it looks like Calvin barely beat Alma. If Hope had a tough shooting night, Calvin looks like had an even tougher shooting night.

You got to love it. Big next week for Calvin, plays both Hope and Trine so they will have their chance.

bballforever · January 30, 2017, 08:21:29 AM

I did not see Lurtsema from Calvin in box score. Is she hurt? Will she be back for Hope this week?

That would be a miss, she is tough on floor

TUAngola · January 30, 2017, 07:17:18 PM

Another big week for post season tournament seeding. Calvin has Hope Wednesday and Trine on Saturday, a sweep by Calvin would put them in a 3way tie for first with Hope and Trine. I will have to root for Calvin Wednesday and then see if the Trine gals can get a big road win Saturday, which would put them in 1st place alone in the conference.

Trine with a suffocating defensive performance last Saturday afternoon against Albion. Held them to single digit scoring in each of the first 3 quarters. Cassidy Williams really keys their defense, when she gets after it the whole team ramps it up. Very few open looks for Albion. Turnovers led to runout layups by the Trine women. Just a solid overall performance against a confident Albion squad who had knocked off Hope earlier in the week. Only negative from the game is a couple key bench players for Trine, Montana Martin and Tashayla Sutorius came down with ankle injuries in the 2nd half, not sure of the severity of either. Good news is Trine has a very bad Illinois Tech team visiting Wednesday night so I'm sure they won't be needed, but to beat Calvin the depth of Trine needs to come thru.

bballforever · February 01, 2017, 01:57:39 PM

My two favorite Hope/Calvin women's game memories are the two with the last second shots for the Calvin wins.

One took them to the Tourney and one was a long awaited win at DeVos.

Go Kinghts!!!

Roundball999 · February 01, 2017, 02:15:32 PM

Quote from: bballforever on February 01, 2017, 01:57:39 PM
My two favorite Hope/Calvin women's game memories are the two with the last second shots for the Calvin wins.

One took them to the Tourney and one was a long awaited win at DeVos.

Go Kinghts!!!

I'm thinking this one is a tossup, maybe slight edge to the Knights. Hope won the first game easily, but that was at Devos and early in the season under a new Knights coach. Also, Liz Perkins had a career game on offense for the Dutch, was one of their best defenders, but is now lost to an ACL surgery. Hope has been a strong 3-point shooting team this year but as the Albion loss showed, if the Dutch have an off night from behind the arc then I think the Knights can walk away with it.

TUAngola · February 01, 2017, 05:29:49 PM

Illinois Tech game at Trine tonight has been cancelled and won't be made up. Per the article on Trine's athletics website Illinois Tech doesn't have enough healthy players to fill out a roster and have not made the trip to Angola. So the gals get more time to prepare for Calvin Saturday. I am hoping they don't get off to a sluggish start by not having a midweek game, so won't be surprised if Calvin has a strong start to Saturday's game.

jspiii · February 01, 2017, 09:20:04 PM

Not impressed with Calvin's high camera angle or fuzzy picture.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · February 02, 2017, 07:07:26 AM

Quote from: jspiii on February 01, 2017, 09:20:04 PM
Not impressed with Calvin's high camera angle or fuzzy picture.

Could be worse, I tried to get the final score from the game at Cazenovia last night (since they didn't post it), but their camera angle not only has the scoreboard covered by the backboard, but it also cuts off the corner of the court, so half of one team's offense is invisible during play.