The Grand Rapids Community College women’s basketball team got sweet revenge when it defeated Calvin College Junior Varsity 56-46 Monday night in the Ford Fieldhouse. The Raiders played Calvin JV last week and suffered a huge 46-73 loss, so GRCC came into last night’s game with something to prove.
Early in the game, both teams were going back and forth displaying good offense until halftime. Then the Raiders defensive intensity picked and halted Calvin’s offensive momentum.
Down the stretch in crunch time, the Raiders made all of the right plays, ultimately hold off the Knights by forcing Calvin to commit costly turnovers. Coach Glazier said he feels the team did more of the little things right throughout the game.
“We got a little lucky because they (Calvin College) missed some shots down the stretch,” Glazier said. “But we made free throws, and we did a better job at running our sets instead of us coming down and just going for the first option.”
Glazier had high praise for his team’s defensive performance this time around against Calvin.
“Tonight we played a thousand times better defensively this time around then we did against them last week,” Glazier said. “We held them to 27 points less than our last meeting against them.”
The starters haven’t been the only players contributing to the Raiders two-game win streak. For the past two games, the Raiders bench has outscored their opponents a combined 41-6.
“We talk about just being ready to play all the time,” Glazier said. “Anything can happen to one of our starters, and they all know that they have to be ready whenever their number is called.”
Sophomore Forward Makayla Beld led the way for the Raiders notching a double-double, scoring 15 points, and grabbing 12 rebounds. Teammate and Freshman Guard Ashley Bowen finished the game with 11 points.
The players felt good about their improvements playing against Calvin.
“We did better tonight than how we played against them last Monday,” Bowen said. “We played stronger and more confident. Towards the end we were stronger at taking care of the ball.”
Beld loved that the team got some revenge on Calvin following their last matchup.
“Going into this game we really wanted revenge because they played really well against us last week,” Beld said. “I think we just started really running through our plays more and finished shots more. Our intensity on defense was really important tonight, and that translated into our offense.”
The Raiders next game will be on Wed., Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m. against Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan.
