Olivet College women’s basketball team to host Calvin in MIAA Tournament semifinals

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College women's basketball team will host Calvin College in the semifinals of the 2014 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament Thursday, Feb. 27, at The Cutler Event Center in Olivet.

THE MATCHUP: Calvin (18-7, 12-4 MIAA) vs. Olivet (22-3, 14-2 MIAA)
DATE/TIME: Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
VENUE: The Cutler Event Center; Olivet, Mich.
TICKETS: All tickets are general admission and available ONLY at the door. MIAA students are free with ID, MIAA faculty/staff with ID are $5 each, and all others are $7 each. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS: http://olivetcomets.com/sports/wbkb/livestats/
LIVE VIDEO: http://olivetcomets.com/sports/wbkb/livevideo/
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.wocrfm.com

MIAA TOURNAMENT: The Comets are the No. 2 seed, while the Knights are the No. 3 seed. The other semifinal features No. 1 seed Hope College hosting No. 4 seed Adrian College. The winners of the two semifinal games will play in the tournament championship game Saturday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. and played at the highest remaining seed.

SEASON SERIES: Olivet won both regular season meetings. On Jan. 4, 2014, the Comets beat Calvin, 77-73, at The Cutler Event Center in Olivet, and on Feb. 15, 2014, Olivet won the second meeting, 82-67, at the Van Noord Arena in Grand Rapids.

OLIVET HEAD COACH NICOLE BURFORD: Nicole Burford is in her fourth season as the head coach of the Olivet College women's basketball program and is only the third coach in school history to post a winning season. She was an assistant coach for three years before earning the promotion to head coach. Burford earned a bachelor's degree from Oberlin (Ohio) College.

CALVIN HEAD COACH JOHN ROSS:  John Ross is in his 10th season as the head coach of the Calvin College women's basketball program and has a win-loss record of 225-55. During his tenure, the Knights have won four MIAA regular season titles, made six trips to the NCAA DIII National Championships and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament three times. Ross earned a bachelor's degree from University of Wis.-Oshkosh in 1990 and a master's degree from Eastern Illinois University in 1994.

SCHOOL RECORD: The Comets broke the single-season school record for overall wins (22) and wins in MIAA play (14). In addition, Olivet is currently riding a school-record 11-game home winning streak.

BEST MIAA FINISH: The second-place finish in the final MIAA regular season standings is the best in school history.

CAPTAINS: The 2013-14 team captains are seniors Kelsey Campbell, of Olivet, Chelsea Ciba, of Olivet, and Heather Lauwers, of Ortonville.

RECORD BREAKER PART I: Junior Stefanie Lang, of Valparaiso, Ind., has broken four single-season school records – points (394), rebounds (335), field goals made (204) and blocks (44).

RECORD BREAKER PART II: Campbell has broken her own single-season assists record. During the 2011-12 season, she had 135 assists, and last season, she had 136. This season, Campbell broke the record, again, in the 15th game of the season and currently has 228 assists.

MIAA SCORING CHAMPION: Lang became the first Olivet women's basketball player since Audrey Graham in 2006 to be the MIAA scoring champion. Lang averaged 18.7 points in 16 MIAA games. She also led the league in rebounding at 12.9 rebounds per game.

ASSISTS LEADER: In just the 16 MIAA games, Campbell ranks first in total assists (133) and assists per game (8.31). The 133 assists is a single-season MIAA record. Furthermore, Campbell broke the MIAA career record with 315 assists in 48 games.

NCAA LEADERS: Campbell is first among all NCAA DIII women's basketball players and second among all NCAA basketball players (all three divisions and both genders) in assists at 9.1 per game. Lang leads all DIII players with 21 double-doubles, and is sixth in rebounding.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: In this week's rankings, Olivet is ranked No. 18 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll and No. 19 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. The Comets were eighth in the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Region rankings, released Feb. 19. Another set of regional rankings will be released Wednesday afternoon.