Merry Christmas and all good wishes for happiness and good health in the New Year.

IWU'70

IWU goes to 11-0 with an amazing comeback win in OT over Trinity (TX), 94-91.  Trinity led the entire game, even up by as much as 16.  Titans clawed back after playing horribly in the first half.  It was 39-28 at the half and IWU had so so so many TOs.  Playing terribly.  Stupidly. 

But, a win is a win . . . and we'll surely take it, admire the comeback, admire the resilience.  IWU scored 65 points in the second half and OT.  Key treys by Bardic in regulation and key plays by Balli in OT, including a last second block of the Trinity trey attempt to tie the game at the end of OT.

You won't see this often, IWU losing the TO line 29-28. 

For Trinity:  (an excellent, scrappy team).

O Rourke 21
Timmons 20
Napoli 16
Minter 16

For IWU:

Bardic 19
Huber 18
Palmer 13 and 8, getting her into the 1,000 point career club at IWU
Powers 12 and 10

IWU wins the rebounding line 45-35, a key to the comeback win.

Trinity really played smart and hard . . . and deserved to win the game.

IWU now 11-0 on the season, with a tough East Texas Baptist team up next, tomorrow at 3 p.m.  The Titans sure better clean this up and play better, especially on ball security.  I give Trinity a lot of credit on defense, though many of the errors were self-inflicted today in the first half. 

A win is a win. An amazing comeback.  Tomorrow is another day . . . 

IWU'70

Not good for my high blood pressure. ETBU beat Wartburg. Should be a great game.

Yes, extremely exciting in TX.  I was screaming at the Titans for all their TOs and stupid plays. 

An addition:

Sarah Balli a career game:  18 and 9, some really key plays
Knutson 12 and 6

The IWU bench coming through tonight.

Six Titan players in double figures in this OT game win.

11-0 -- we'll take it.

IWU'70

The golf idiom "there are no pictures on the scorecard" also applies to NPI, as there are no pictures on NPI--just the result, and that's a win for IWU.

dawg, we'll take it for sure.  It was really ugly at times, but these Titans do know how to climb back and surely know how to put up lots of points when they need to.  Bardic was awesome from long-range and Balli really came through tonight, with key rebounds, buckets and that last block.  Powers and Palmer play so hard, keep at it no matter the score.  Exciting game for sure . . . but pretty harrowing for IWU fans. 

As you say, it's a win and the Titans go to 11-0, remain undefeated on the year.

Perhaps an even tougher test tomorrow vs. East Texas Baptist.



'70

In a low-scoring defensive affair, IWU goes to 12-0 on the year, winning over East Texas Baptist 66-57.  Not very pretty, but again a hard-fought win.

For ETB:
Hicks 15
Hurta 11
Matthews 10

For IWU:
Powers (on fire from three) 15
Bardic 15 and 6
Knutson 10 and 8 (a very solid game for her)
White 9 (with the clinching FTs)
Palmer 8 and 6

A pleasant trip to South Texas for the Titans, now 12-0, running the entire slate of perhaps one of the toughest schedules in the country.  Congrats to Coach Smith and all the Titans.  A great run so far. 

Some New Year rest and returning to CCIW @ Wheaton on January 4th. 

Happy New Year to all.

IWU'70

Quote from: iwu70 on December 28, 2024, 06:01:43 PMA pleasant trip to South Texas for the Titans, now 12-0, running the entire slate of perhaps one of the toughest schedules in the country.  Congrats to Coach Smith and all the Titans.  A great fun so far. 

While not the toughest schedule played so far, by far the best combo of difficult schedule and Winning%!!

Team	AVG Opponent Rank (Massey)	Wins	Losses
Loras	47.56	2	7
Puget Sound	64.67	0	6
Illinois Wesleyan	66.33	12	0
MN Morris	73.75	0	4
Concordia Moorhead	77.14	3	4
Redlands	79.33	5	4
Wisconsin Lutheran	79.78	4	5
Ohio Northern	80.25	4	4
Gustavus Adolphus	81.22	9	0
MIT	83.44	2	7
Trinity (Texas)	87.00	4	3
Tufts	89.11	6	3
Millikin	89.30	2	8
UW-La Crosse	92.30	7	3
DePauw	95.78	5	4
Baldwin Wallace	99.75	7	1
Simpson (Iowa)	100.55	5	6
Schreiner	103.00	1	6
Carroll	103.73	6	5
Cal Lutheran	103.86	4	3

It's been a great run at 12-0 for the Titans.   I think they've beaten four top 25 teams during this stretch.  One couldn't ask for more. So many offensive weapons and all that defensive pressure.

Now comes the tough CCIW race.

IWU'70

IWU 59
Wheaton 45

The game was closer than the 14 pt final until about 3 mins left in the game.  The Wheaton ladies had a chance but they really don't have the offensive talent to compete with the Titans.  Although they kept the turnovers under 20 (18), they were terribly outrebounded on the offensive glass (-13) and only abysmal shooting by IWU (22/67; 32.8%) kept the outcome in question.

The Thunder played a very difficult non-conference schedule and played decently well even in the losses to ranked teams.  Perhaps as a result, they might be able to stick around enough to keep games close against the better teams.  But they don't quite have what it takes to finish.  They could really use a reliable ball handler to run things.

NCC 83
Elmhurst 63

Don't know if she was back for their loss to Edgewood the other day, but Jocelyn Trotter played tonight and helped key a good Cardinal win where they led for basically the entire game.

Trotter: 16 pts, 6 reb
Biz Daly: 14 pts, 11 reb (though the 8 turnovers are a problem)
Megan McClure: 10 pts, 7 reb

Sierra Gibson: 12 pts
Kristin Bukata: 11 pts, 3 stl

GoPerry, got it right -- a kind of grind it out kind of affair.  IWU 59 WC 45.  IWU pulling away a bit in the 3Q.

For WC:

Richardson 12
Faberowski 10
Oliver 10

For IWU:

Huber a monster game:  21 and 15
Bardic 17

IWU really needs to clean up the TO situation, with 16 to WC 18.  Not enough margin.  IWU had 13 steals with White again leading the way with 4.

As GoPerry mentioned, both teams not shooting it well.

IWU 32%, 20% from three, and 59% from the FT line.
But WC also troubled:  36% 8% 1-12 from three, and 33% from the FT line. 
Maybe it was the tenacious defense, but maybe it was just a bad shooting night.

IWU goes to 13-0, 4-0 in CCIW play.

Down the line, IWU really needs to play better, and surely shoot it better and clean up the recent rash of TOs in this and other recent games.  Quite uncharacteristic of them with this many TOs. 

IWU hosts Augie at The Shirk this Wednesday, January 8th.

IWU'70

Addition:

Rebounds were 52-36 in IWU's favor. 

'70

Both teams were allowed to play feisty defense, which kept the score down to 22-22 at the half.
Reviewing the stats, I was surprised to see only 1 steal for Wheaton's Petra Trumbach; I thought she had 3 or so.
In regard to IWU turnovers, here is the range from their 13 games : 9 9 10 10 10 12 16 16 16 16 17 18 29. The 29 occurred in the OT game.

Hey Hey RogK, where you been? 

Yes, the IWU TO situation needs to be addressed, remedied bigtime.  They need to get back to those days of 10-12 TOs not the recent 18 or more.  They will pay the price at some point if they don't improve on ball security.  They need the TO margin to be in double digits to win games more easily.  Rebounding this year has improved, especially with Huber and Knutson. 

One game at a time . . . hosting Augie on Wednesday night at The Shirk.

'70