A month later, Hope College point guard Liz Ellis still is shaking her head after a dismal shooting performance in a Jan. 12 loss at Calvin College.
Ellis went just 3-for-20 from the field as the Flying Dutch, ranked No. 3 by the NCAA Division III coaches, lost their only game of the season. They get a second crack at their second-ranked rival today at DeVos Fieldhouse.
?There were points of the game where we didn?t have a good flow offensively, and I think I tried to do too much to create things,? Ellis said. ?I dribbled too much or took too many shots.?
Several times, Ellis had the ball at the top of the key with the shot clock winding down and she drove head-down to the basket. It is difficult to get those past Calvin All-American Carissa Verkaik (Holland Christian), who alters many shots she doesn?t block.
If Verkaik wasn?t the one in there, Julia Hilbrands and Breanna Verkaik are tall and good post defenders, too.
Hope has to have a different offensive game plan in the rematch, which tips off at 3 p.m. at DeVos Fieldhouse. Hope is 23-1 and 14-1 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
A win for the Flying Dutch will give them a tie with the Knights (22-1, 15-0 MIAA) for the league championship and force a coin toss to see who will host the MIAA Tournament.
?We put Liz in some terrible positions in that game,? Hope coach Brian Morehouse said. ?We asked her to bail us out with the shot clock running down several times. They know how good she is. They didn?t want her to beat them, so they challenged every shot. Those are big kids coming to challenge every shot.?
Ellis has struggled each game at Calvin?s Van Noord Arena ??and she isn?t alone. Hope struggles to hit outside shots in that building and has since it was built. The team?s leading scorer Courtney Kust went 1-for-10 in the loss.
On the flip side, Verkaik, the reigning Division III Player of the Year, hasn?t ever won at DeVos Fieldhouse in her four years.
?It is always great to play at home in front of your home fans,? Ellis said. ?They help us create a positive energy even when things are going wrong. We have a great community that always shows up. In reality, it shouldn?t change how we play, whether we are on the road or here. We are obviously a little more comfortable playing at home.?
It showed last season when Hope lost bad at Calvin, then rallied to stun their rival at home ? without starting center Meredith Kussmaul who was on the bench with a torn knee ligament.
Ellis doesn?t mind thinking about it in the same way.
?I don?t mind going into the game being an underdog,? she said. ?We have nothing to lose. They are not unbeatable. We are a great team when we play together.?
The guard play of Brittany Berry and Megan Kelley should allow Ellis to take the pressure off of herself and spread the ball around. Berry went 5-for-5 from 3-point range in Hope?s win at Saint Mary?s on Wednesday. Kelley had nine points and had her best offensive game of the year at Calvin with 13 points.
?I need to remember we have a great team.? Ellis said.
It doesn?t surprise Morehouse that Ellis felt so bad about the Calvin loss.
?She had a bad game as fall as the ball going in the basket, but she didn?t have a bad game,? he said. ?I didn?t worry one bit about her shooting. I told her she can think about that game and feel bad about it if she thinks about all the games where she put us on her back.?
Ellis, last season?s MIAA Defensive Player of the Year, is choosing to remember that even with her poor shooting, Hope was within five points of the No. 2 team in the nation.
?It actually did give me a little bit of confidence, looking back, that we were that close and didn?t play our best game,? she said. ?Everyone was saying we hung with them ??maybe they hung with us.?
We will find out today which team is better today.
If Ellis can shoot the ball well and the Flying Dutch continue their staunch defensive effort, they will keep Verkaik and the Knights from finding out what it is like to win at DeVos Fieldhouse.
? Contact Assistant Sports Editor Dan D?Addona at daniel.daddona@hollandsentinel.com or (616) 546-4276. Follow him on Facebook at Holland Sentinel Sports and Twitter @DanDAddona.
Source: http://www.hollandsentinel.com/sports/x898133224/Dan-DAddona-Liz-Ellis-Hope-College-womens-basketball-shooting-for-redemption-vs-Calvin-College
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