Roj, I have not heard of an injury to Long, and I do not think her limited playing time last night was due to injury. 

Interesting stats on the Illinois Wesleyan thumping of Elmhurst last night.  IWU clearly came to play, and to clinch their top finish in the conference, while Elmhurst came out sluggish and turnover prone.  The lead was 15 at half, and in the mid 20s throughout the second half.  With about five minutes remaining, and down about 24, Elmhurst subbed in a lineup made up of entirely freshmen.  IWU responded by subbing its starters back in, and its last two starters didn't leave the game until around 30 seconds remaining, and up 29.  Heydorn ended up with 35 minutes, Solari 31, Dye 28 and Sheehan 27 minutes.
There were recent posts discussing whether IWU ran up the score against Augustana.  Perhaps against Elmhurst IWU was trying to make a statement against their first playoff foe?  Perhaps they were trying to reach the century mark in the game?  I suspect the first reason is a possibility, although it may also cause the opponent to come into the next contest fired up to play.  In any event, playing the starters deep into a blow out seems to be done at the expense of the bench players who would like to get onto the floor, and at the expense of getting experience to the younger team members.  And then there is the risk of injury to a starter during "garbage minutes" at a time when the team is getting ready for the playoffs.
Hoosier Titan, any thoughts?

A bittersweet day for Elmhurst--on Saturday they clinched the fourth spot in the CCIW tournament with North Central's loss to IWU, but let another game slip away in which the Bluejays led until the final minutes.  Millikin played very well as a team in the comeback, with the guards finding Ippel around the basket with some nice passes, rotating the ball well to find holes in Elmhurst's helpside defense, and knocking down the perimeter shot when Elmhurst tried to send too much help on Ippel.  Ippel uses her body very well to seal the post defender who is fronting her, and showed that she has great hands in catching the entry pass thrown over the top of the defense.  The inside-outside game that Millikin displayed on Saturday is very tough to defend, indeed.
Elmhurst has shown that they can play with any of the top three teams, though, and may be a dangerous foe in the tournament--they just have to put together a full 40 minutes of basketball.  I sensed that they shifted to a conservative mode offensively during the final few minutes when they still had the lead, and momentum then shifted to Millikin.  It also didn't help Elmhurst that their starting post, Brittany Bobruk, was in foul trouble for significant minutes in the second half, forcing them to play smaller, which put them at even more of a disadvantage against Ippel and Co.

Roj, you are right--a team like Carthage will be a tough call because no individual player's statistics stand out, and much of the success of Carthage is due to team defensive statistics that do not show up in the individual stats.  With respect to IWU, I also doubt all five starters will make it.  I haven't seen many of their games, but one could argue that three or four of them have better statistics in conference games and would be the more obvious choices.  Statistics don't tell the entire story about a player, but it is a starting point, particularly when there are so many good players in the conference.  I would think the teams at the top of the conference would earn more selections.  So, North Park will have difficulty getting two players into the top 15.

Anybody know the selection procedure?  Does the coach nominate their own players, or players from other teams?

Rog, that is an interesting combination when Sutton and Gentry play together on the floor for Elmhurst.  Sutton is not a prototypical shooting guard, but she can shoot from the perimeter and slash to the basket, plays much bigger than she is inside, and certainly holds her own in rebounding.  With her quickness, she creates match up problems for the other team's off guard.  Gentry is a prototypical point guard who looks to set up her teammates to score first, shoot second.  She handles the ball with confidence, and sees the floor well.
Didn't mean to overlook the others you mention--it was a well played game with many players contributing for both teams.

Not much action on the board, probably because there were few if any surprises last night.  I got out to see the Elmhurst victory over a short handed Carthage squad, 72-64, which was Carthage's third loss in their last four games.  Carthage probably blames a long bus ride in the snow for their slow start in the game, going down 15-0 in the first five minutes against Elmhurst's smothering full court press.  Carthage then made some runs of their own, and it was a four point game by halftime, and remained about that close for most of the second half.  Both teams shot pretty well from the field, in the 45-46% range, and although Carthage's free throw percentage was only just above 50%, there were not a lot of shooting fouls called so it was not a substantial factor in the loss.  Candace Sutton was in her explosive mode for Elmhurst, scoring 20 and at just over 5' tall pulling down 7 rebounds.  Lyndsie Long added 15 and 6 rebounds, and Kelsey Monroe had 15 points and 4 steals, and generally made life miserable for Carthage's guards with her stifling defense.  With starters Katie Jarger and Carlie Janowiak out with injuries, Carthage was led by Rosie Dorn with 13, Lisa Gartelos with 11 and 5 rebounds, and Heather Gilmore with 10 points and 7 assists.

Here's a nice article about Augie's freshman Strohmaier as she was finishing up her high school career at Genoa-Kingston.

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2007/02/06/sports/sports01.txt

Rog, I wish I had seen more of their games last year so that I could compare the two squads.  It seems like Coach Forbes has transformed the team into one that focuses on hustle and defense.  Both Long and Bobruk were good players last year, and they are evolving into top notch players in the conference.  Candace Sutton can be very explosive at times.  I know Illinois Wesleyan got alot of pre-season press about their freshman class, but I don't believe any team in the conference plays as many freshman as Elmhurst.  Kelsey Monroe has stepped up as a solid starter, and usually defends the opponents top perimeter scorer.   She also has appeared on the conference leaders list in various categories (free throw percentage, steals, three point percentage, etc.).  Claire Gentry comes off the bench early and plays with alot of poise, and leads the conference in assist to turnover ratio.  Christine Randick has been playing well lately, and has been putting up some points.  Sarah Halbrader is a deadly three point shooter, and has had some nice scoring games.  There are others who play decent minutes, as well--Charnelle Harris and Anna Randazzo are both fast and very athletic, and show promise.  I think Coach Forbes and her staff have done a nice job putting together her experienced players with the youngsters, and they are all starting to jell together.

Elmhurst dominated North Central last night from start to finish, jumping out to a 15-2 early lead, and was up by 16 at half.  They built the lead up to 25 in the second half, and emptied the bench with about five minutes remaining.  Lyndsie Long had her usual outstanding game, scoring 19 on 7 of 11 shooting, and Brittany Bobruk turned in a double double with 16 points and 11 rebounds despite having to sit early due to foul trouble.  For North Central, Brianne Parra came off the bench to score 18, and Barb Williams had 13 before fouling out with about eight minutes remaining.  Elmhurst clearly came to play; they shot over 50 percent for the game, played well in transition, and capitalized on NC's 19 turnovers with 33 points.  This was a big game for the Bluejays, giving them a two game lead for the fourth playoff spot with the season winding down.

Got to see Carthage take sole possession of first place last night, although Elmhurst made it a game in what is becoming a typical comeback effort after falling behind by double digits in the second half.  Carthage pulled ahead by 14 with under 14 minutes remaining, but Elmhurst turned up the pressure defense and cut the lead to one with four minutes remaining.  Elmhurst could never get over the top, though, and it remained a three point game through the final buzzer.  Carthage did a nice job taking advantage of their size inside by controlling the boards, outscoring Elmhurst in the paint, and getting second chance points.  Elmhurst had the edge in forcing turnovers and points off turnovers.  Freshman Monroe led the scoring for Elmhurst with 19, while Long had her usual steady game with 16, and Bobruk 13.  Carthage has many weapons, though, and had four of five starters in double figures, led by a nice shooting effort by Janowiak with 16.  It turned out to be a game of size against speed, and it was fun to watch.

RogK, not sure how you cover so many games at once--I have trouble keeping up with just Elmhurst.  The Bluejays were down 18 with only nine minutes remaining, and I think--although I haven't seen the actual stats yet--they were down 16 with five minutes to go.  North Central's stifling defense, which contributed to Elmhurst's poor shooting for the first two thirds of the game, began to result in fouls the last third.  So, some of the second half margin was made up by Elmhurst at the free throw line with the clock stopped.  Elmhurst just seemed to turn up the intensity, getting loose balls and rebounds they weren't getting earlier in the game, and started knocking down shots.  Before that, North Central dominated most of the game, taking advantage of their size advantage in the post, and their guards handled Elmhurst's press well.  The Cardinals seem to have a nice team, and deep into the second half it looked like they were well on their way to a blow out.  It was unbelievable watching the Elmhurst comeback in the last five minutes.

I got to see the game at Elmhurst last night.  What an exciting finish for a team that hadn't beaten Wheaton since 1989.  Elmhurst was down 9 with under 6 minutes remaining, and mounted a furious comeback with a trapping press that forced Wheaton into 27 turnovers for the game.  With about 25 seconds remaining and Elmhurst down 58-57, Elmhurst freshman Kelsey Monroe grabbed a defensive rebound, drew a foul as she pushed the ball up the floor, and knocked down the two free throws to give Elmhurst a one point lead.  Elmhurst then had two nice defensive stops to close out the win.  Their defense helped them overcome a poor shooting performance--Elmhurst sophomore Lyndsie Long had five steals, Monroe four, and junior Brittany Bobruk three.  Long had a stellar game with a double-double, 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Bobruk led the scoring with 15.  Wheaton sophomore Sarah Jones had another nice game with 12 points and 5 rebounds, and sophomore post Carissa Bacon did well inside with 10 points and 5 rebounds.

I got a chance to see the Elmhurst victory (78-69) over Benedictine last night.  The Bluejays have an interesting mix of young talent--they start one freshman, and regularly play four or five more freshmen off the bench.  Their leading scorer, Long, is only a sophomore.  Although their record is 4-7, they have been competitive in most of their games against some good teams.  They may be a team to watch over the next couple of years.