Knights, Britons prove more than a match for Scots

JOEL RENDER

Staff Writer

The Alma College Lady Scots basketball team had a difficult time last week falling to Calvin and Albion by narrow margins. Last Thursday, in a game postponed due to the weather, the Calvin Knights defeated the Alma College Lady Scots 63-52. Despite the 11 point margin of loss, Coach Charlie Goffnet said, “We played hard and competed well for most of the game.”

By halftime, the Knights led 28-26 despite some shooting troubles and mental mistakes by Alma. During the first half, the Lady Scots shot only 35% from the field. They also committed nearly double digit turnovers and had six shots blocked. The second half was as tough a battle as the first was for both teams. The score was tied with nine minutes to go and then Calvin made a couple of three pointers that Alma was unable to recover from.

Still, the Lady Scots have got to be proud of the effort that they did make against the team with the second best record in the MIAA. Not surprisingly, Alma was led by their senior star, Karen Hall (04). Hall tallied 15 points on 4 of 11 shooting from the floor. Her 7 of 8 from the free throw line contributed to the big advantage that Alma had at the charity stripe. Hall’s 7 boards led the team as well.

The rest of the scoring was well spread out amongst the rest of the team. Ashley Borcherding (06) scored nine points, Rondi Lounds (05) had eight, and Michelle Dettling (05) and Katey Peacock (06) both contributed 7 in the loss. Coach Goffnet identified both the turnover differential and the bench scoring disadvantage as possible reasons for the loss. The Lady Scots committed 19 turnovers in the game were outscored by the Calvin bench 26-6.

Going into Alma’s home game on Saturday against Albion, Coach Goffnet said, “We need to pull this game off if we are going to make third place in the conference.” He also emphasized the depth of Albion and the difficulty that presents for any of their opponents. No doubt he preached that to his players and the result was only one Albion played in double figures. Unfortunately, that player made 7 shots from beyond the arc and scored a very impressive 34 points against the Lady Scots. In the end, Alma fell to the Albion Britons 65-53 in front of a crowd of 300.

At first, Alma appeared to be overmatched. At the half they were down 36-21, but in the second half Alma showed its true colors outscoring the Britons 32-29. Yet again, Alma was led by Karen Hall who shot 9 for 14 from the field and was a perfect 4 for 4 from the line for a total of 22 points. She also led all players with 11 rebounds. Seven of them were on the offensive glass. On the bright side, the Lady Scots minimized their turnovers, which has often been a big problem. They also forced the Britons into 11 turnovers.

With these two losses, Alma sits in fifth place at four wins and five losses, but that might only be temporary. Sitting directly above them is Kalamazoo College with a record of 5-4. Alma plays a non-league game against Tri-State University tomorrow evening. Then they will return home to host Olivet, who only has one win in the division so far. Kalamazoo hosts Albion and then travels to take on Calvin. A win by Alma against Olivet and two losses by Kalamazoo would catapult Alma into fourth place. Whether that scenario plays out as Coach Goffnet and the rest of the Lady Scots want, still remains to be seen.

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