By Ross Weener

Sports Editor

The women's basketball team dropped an very important game at Kalamazoo on Wednesday night, losing to the Hornets, 73-53. The loss which drops Calvin's record to 9-10 overall (4-5 MIAA) also takes them out of the top-four teams in the MIAA. Currently, the Knights sit a game back of fourth place Albion in the all important race for home court advantage for the playoffs. Only the top four teams host first round games.

In other games this year Calvin has been slow getting out of the gate, both on offense and defense. Wednesday night was no different as the Knights fell into a 6-0 hole right from the start. To the credit of Calvin they did bounce back and tie the game with a three-pointer from senior Kris Bohlman at 15 apiece. Kalamazoo was quick to respond as they fired of a run of 11-3 to quiet the Calvin rebellion. The Hornets were quick to take advantage of Calvin turnovers and sloppy offensive execution. The Knights entered halftime down by five 31-26, despite shooting 37 percent from the floor in the half.

``When we looked up at the scoreboard at halftime, we were very thankful to only be down five points,'' commented Calvin head coach Kim Gall. ``We did not shoot the ball well or play very good defense, so we felt five points was good.''

The second half turned into a nightmare for the Knights as they were outscored 42-27 over the course of the half. The Hornets held a double digit lead for all but 79 seconds of the 20 minute half, extending the lead to far as 20 points with 12:37 remaining in regulation. The Knights committed 16 turnovers in the second half on their way to a game total of 26.

``It wasn't an issue of enough effort,'' Gall noted. ``We just committed way to many mental and physical errors, and we aren't going to win ballgames that way.''

Calvin was led in defeat by freshman reserve Kristen McDonald, as she netted a 10 points and dished out three assists. The Knights 1-2-3 scoring punch of junior Tricia Dyk and sophomores Kim Wolthuis and Katie Corner, who all average close to nine points per game were held to 16 points combined.

Calvin finished the game with a dismal 36.4 percent from the floor, connecting on 20-55 shots, while Kalamazoo operated at a 49.2 percent clip, nailing 30-61 from the floor.

The loss put out the momentum that Calvin was building coming into the second half of the league season. With quality wins over Alma and Olivet, the Knights were starting to take shape.

``I think that we are starting to get our confidence up as a team,'' commented Gall. ``We feel good about both of those wins (Olivet and Alma) and hope to build off of them in the second half of the league season.''

After an being upset by Albion on the road, Gall still feels that Hope is the team to beat. ``Hope can hurt you in so many ways, they are deep at every position. Even without the MIAA leading scorer Amanda Kerkstra they still have a tough look.''

The Knights will return to action on Saturday, traveling to St. Mary's to take on the Belles in a 3 p.m. match up.