Women's basketball: Olivet travels to play Calvin in MIAA Tournament semifinals

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College women's basketball team travels to play Calvin College in the semifinals of the 2015 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Van Noord Arena in Grand Rapids.

THE MATCHUP: Olivet (14-11, 9-7 MIAA) vs. Calvin (25-0, 16-0 MIAA)
DATE/TIME: Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
VENUE: Van Noord Arena; Grand Rapids, Mich.
TICKETS: All tickets are general admission and available at the door or online at http://www.calvin.edu/offices-services/box-office/. MIAA students are free with ID, MIAA faculty/staff with ID are $5 each, and all others are $7 each.
LIVE STATS: http://www.calvin.edu/scoreboard
LIVE VIDEO: http://new.livestream.com/calvin-college
LIVE AUDIO: http://www.wocrfm.com

MIAA TOURNAMENT: The Comets are the No. 4 seed, while the Knights are the No. 1 seed. The other semifinal features No. 2 seed Hope College hosting No. 3 seed Kalamazoo College. The winners of the two semifinal games will play in the tournament championship game Saturday, Feb. 28, at 3 p.m. and played at the highest remaining seed.

SEASON SERIES: Calvin won both regular season meetings. On Jan. 3, 2015, the Knights beat Olivet, 83-73, at The Cutler Event Center in Olivet, and on Feb. 4, 2015, Calvin won the second meeting, 91-68, at the Van Noord Arena in Grand Rapids.

OLIVET HEAD COACH NICOLE BURFORD: Nicole Burford has led Olivet to a 64-63 record in five seasons as the head coach of the women's basketball program and is only the third coach in school history to post a winning season. The 64 wins are the most by a women's basketball coach in school history. Burford was an assistant coach for three years before earning the promotion to head coach. She earned a bachelor's degree from Oberlin (Ohio) College in 2005 and master's degree from Western Michigan University in 2007.

CALVIN HEAD COACH JOHN ROSS:  John Ross is in his 12th season as the head coach of the Calvin College women's basketball program and has a win-loss record of 274-60. During his tenure, the Knights have won five 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.

CAPTAINS: The 2014-15 team captains are seniors Stefanie Lang, of Valparaiso, Indiana, and Carli Reid, of Lansing, and juniors Dallas Austin, of St. Johns, and Leighann Thilo, of Onondaga.

MIAA SCORING CHAMPION: Lang became the first Olivet women's basketball player to repeat as the MIAA scoring champion. Lang averaged 17.9 points in 16 MIAA games. She also led the league in rebounding at 13.1 rebounds per game.

MIAA RANKINGS: Counting all 25 games played, Lang is first among all league players in scoring (18.1 ppg), rebounding (12.5 rpg), second in blocks (47) and seventh in field goal percentage (.471). Reid is fourth in field goal percentage (.540), ninth in rebounding (6.3 rpg) and 14th in scoring (11.4 ppg).

PASSING THE BALL: Thilo has dished out 101 total assists to rank second in the MIAA. She needs one more assist to move into the top 10 for a single-season at Olivet.  

BLOCKS LEADER: Lang has broken Olivet's single-season record for blocked shots with 47. She also holds the Comet career record for blocks with 107.

CAREER RANKINGS: Lang ranks second all-time at Olivet in scoring (1,196 points), field goals made (494) and field goals attempted (992), and third in rebounds (762). She needs to only make two more baskets to become the career leader for field goals made.

MORE LANG: Lang's 1,196 career points rank ninth among all basketball players, regardless of gender, to ever don a Comet uniform, with it being the most by a player to play only three years at Olivet. She and Michael McClary are the only basketball players in school history to achieve totals of at least 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 100 blocks.

NCAA RANKINGS: Lang is tied for fifth among all NCAA Division III women's basketball players with 19 double-doubles and is in the top 20 in rebounding.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Lang has collected 42 double-doubles in her career in a Comet uniform.

DÉJÀ VU: Last season, Olivet won both regular season meetings against Calvin before the Knights stunned the Comets in the semifinals of the MIAA Tournament. This season, can Olivet pull the upset and beat Calvin in the semifinals after the Knights won the two regular season match-ups?

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Calvin is ranked No. 6 according to both the D3hoops.com Top 25 and the USA Today Division III Women's Basketball Coaches polls.