IWU moves up to #2 in the latest poll, garnering one first place vote.  NYU still top dog.  Wartburg drops down with their two recent losses.

IWU has defeated four top-25 teams:  #s 7, 15, 16, and 19.  An impressive run with a tough schedule to 13-0. 

Keep it rolling Titans, one game at a time.

IWU hosts Augie @The Shirk on Wednesday, 7 p.m.

'70

Quote from: RogK on January 05, 2025, 12:43:04 PMBoth 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.

For some reason, women are not able to take care of the ball as well as men.  The 50th ranked team in turnovers averages 14.4 (Penn St- Altoona, UW-Stevens Point) while the same for men is 11.1 (Rivier, Trinity (CT), UWRF). Why is that? I don't know.  Maybe RogK can take a shot at that??

So turnovers are much more prevalent in the ladies game.  But even accounting for my lowered expectations, turnovers by the Wheaton women have been their most obvious downfall.  And in my opinion, so many are unnecessary and can be coached (bounce passes, no cross-court passes to name just two).  The Thunder's most talented player is clearly Kate Oliver but she seems to be playing out of position as the primary ball handler (.65 asst:to).

Yes, turnover ratio is a key marker for a pressure team like IWU.  If you can't be at least +5 then you are exerting alot of energy for not much benefit. And if you turn it over 15+ times the maintaining that margin is tough.  IWU has been much better than all of that all season - just not on Saturday.

I agree about Oliver.  Great player.  Wheaton needs more around her and to use her differently.

IWU plays fast, with chaos and pressure all the time, so you'd expect some TOs, but they need that TO margin, and many steals to make it all work.  The last few games they have just been careless with the ball.  Coach Smith is very aware of this and is working on it.  Let's see on Wednesday night how it plays out. 

One game at a time . . . good to be back home @The Shirk.

'70

Quote from: GoPerry on January 07, 2025, 08:22:23 AM

Quote from: RogK on January 05, 2025, 12:43:04 PMBoth 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.

For some reason, women are not able to take care of the ball as well as men.  The 50th ranked team in turnovers averages 14.4 (Penn St- Altoona, UW-Stevens Point) while the same for men is 11.1 (Rivier, Trinity (CT), UWRF). Why is that? I don't know.  Maybe RogK can take a shot at that??

Anecdotally, I feel like traveling might get called more in women's games than they do in men's games, but I don't have the numbers to back that up (honestly just relying on memory for this). I know through NCC's stats program, when you input a turnover it prompts for what the turnover was; that said I don't know what all the possible choices are off the top of my head. And unfortunately, those comments don't make it through to the box scores/play-by-plays unless there's a more advanced option I'm not aware of.

Just for giggles, I went to look up turnover and steal numbers.

Team	Steals	Opp TO's	Percentage
IWU	166	282	58.9%
CRL	162	280	57.9%
ELM	153	265	57.7%
NCC	122	216	56.5%
WHE	126	231	54.5%
CAR	123	226	54.4%
MIL	86	173	49.7%
AUG	96	224	42.9%
NPU	99	226	42.3%

I'd imagine the range around most of D3 is pretty similar. And obviously this doesn't take into account bad passes forced by pressure defense, 10 second calls, etc. But I think it helps capture the idea of pressure defense and the havoc it can cause.

Shows how IWU plays and their particular formula for success in recent years -- a big TO margin and lots of steals (a la Sawyer White mainly, now increasingly Ava Bardic too) to make up for often weaker rebounding.  The rebounding has improved this year -- Huber, Powers and Knutson mostly.  IWU was even able to beat teams with bigs this year like UW Whitewater. 

I hope they can address the recent flurry of TOs. 

'70

IWU over Augie at The Shirk, 75-38. 

This one was almost over before it started, IWU up 28-7 after the first Q, and 46-15 at the half.

For AC:

Only one player in double figures, Melton 12

AC at 26%, 10% from three, 91% from the FT line

For IWU:

Palmer 11
Huber 11
Powers 9
Balli 9
Knutson 8
Lam 8
12 Players scoring

IWU winning the TO line tonight as they should -- IWU with 12, Augie with 29 TOs.

Augie had 5 steals, IWU with 19 steals, with 11 players having at least one, Sawyer White above her average in less than a half of play with 5 steals.

IWU had 76 shot attempts to Augie's 50.   You can see the story clearly.

IWU at 38%, 22% from three, 60% from the charity stripe.

Titans move to 14-0, 5-0 in league play.  IWU hosts North Central on Saturday, 2 p.m. 

Kate Palmer honored before the game for joining the IWU 1,000 point club.  She's the 24th Titan to achieve this level of career scoring.   Congratulations to Kate.

'70

Millikin 80
NCC 69

The Cardinals were only down 3 at half, but a 26-12 third quarter advantage for the Big Blue more or less sealed the deal.

Biz Daly: 18 pts, 4 reb
Josylin Simmons-Doxie: 11 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast
Jocelyn Trotter: 9 pts, 7 reb
Grace Keiffer: 8 pts, 7 reb

Emily Brenneisen: 26 pts
Kyleigh Block: 20 pts
Emily White: 12 pts, 8 reb, 6 ast

IWU goes to 15-0 with an 80-75 win over NCC @ The Shirk. 

IWU led by 12 going into the 4th Q, but NCC didn't give up and made a run, winning the 4th Q by a score of 26-19.

For NCC:

Daly 19 and 10
Trotter 16 and 10
Simmons-Doxie 13 with 7 assists
Hartwig 12

NCC at 44%, 24% from three, and 73% FTs.

For IWU:

Huber 23
Palmer 16 and 10
Knutson 10
White 9 with 5 assists
Powers 9 boards
Bardic 4 steals and 6 assists

IWU at 45%, 21% from three, and 73% from the FT line.

IWU winning steals 13-8 and winning the TO line 16 - 20. 

A tough win . . . but getting it done again.  15-0 sounds pretty nice.

IWU hosts Carthage on Wednesday night @The Shirk, 7 p.m.

'70

Congrats to Lauren Huber on league Player of the Week honors, her second time this season, and her seventh time overall during her distinguished Titan career.  Now over 1,500 points.  Remarkable.  For her size, one of the best rebounders you will see at the D3 level.

IWU'70

Not exactly the most well-played game by either team, but a win is a win.  IWU going to 16-0, with a 63-42 win over Carthage @The Shirk. 

Again, over by the 1st Q and with IWU up by 20+ by halftime.

For CC:

Green 10

34%, 30% from three, 100% only 2-2 from the FT line

For IWU:

Huber 15 and 7
Palmer 10 and 7
Bardic 9
Knutson 8
Powers 8


Winning the TO line 9 - 24
Winning the steals line 13-5

A typical IWU win with pressure and speed.  Running the floor very well.  Not the best night from the 3-point line.

40%, 26% from three, 70%  7-10 from the charity stripe.  Everyone on the IWU bench gets some minutes.

IWU moves to 16-0, 7-0 on the year.

IWU'70

Wheaton 66
NCC 52

And it probably shouldn't have been this close. Wheaton missed a fair number of layups, but the Cardinals turned the ball over 20 times. NCC had managed to pull within 6 at a couple points late, but multiple times in the second half the Thunder would struggle to find a shot, get one off late in the shot clock and it would fall.

Kate Oliver: 24 pts, 8 reb, 4 ast
Annika Richardson: 23 pts, 11 reb
Alyssa Faberowski: 6 pts, 7 reb, 4 stl

Megan McClure: 9 pts, 6 reb
Ameli Sanchez: 9 pts
Jocelyn Trotter: 8 pts, 7 reb, 5 stl

It looks like the CCIW regular season comes down to IWU and Carroll, with a big game at The Shirk coming up in a few weeks.  IWU is cruising . . . with good depth, many weapons, and all that pressure defense.  One game at a time . . .

IWU'70

Q-cast episodes with IWU's top 8...

Kate Palmer 11/29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqjtQeu8ckQ&t=583s

Ava Bardic 12/2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8qF6aGmPL8&t=810s

Lauren Huber 12/8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrdF84HOrPo&t=1538s

Sawyer White 12/22
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W535rr8lX8&t=1125s

Mallory Powers 1/3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WheaoOUcIp0&t=537s

Sara Balli 1/5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diBsKBCcbYA&t=1140s

Caite Knutson 1/12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64cxR1LjRzo&t=82s

Laura Mahlum 1/20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0YSivwUG_8&t=1320s

Thanks, Q . . . a great line-up. 

IWU at #2 in the latest poll, one of five teams still undefeated in D3 women's hoops so far this season.  Key remaining CCIW game is Carroll at home.

#1 NYU has four games upcoming against Wash U and Chicago -- a tough stretch for them.  They are pretty much blowing out everyone so far.  No close games at all. 

IWU at Millikin on Wednesday, 7 p.m.

IWU'70

IWU goes to 17-0 with a win in Decatur over the Big Blue tonight, 81-60.

For MU:

Tellis 14
Block 8
Hay 8

27 TOs, shooting 38%, 40% from three, and 67% from the FT line.

For IWU:
Powers 21 and 10
Huber 19 and 7
Palmer 12
Bardic 8
Knutson 8 and 7

IWU with 12 steals, 52 points in the paint, shooting 52%, 36% from three, and 67% from the line.

Another good road win.

IWU'70