WBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[David Collinge]

I'll say hello, if I end up going.  Today's new layer of snow has given me pause, considering that my route to Gambier is mostly on county roads. 

[David Collinge]

Tuesday scores and updated standings:
OWU 74, Earlham 40
Kenyon 50, Wittenberg 41
Allegheny 60, Hiram 52
Wooster 66, Oberlin 63

Denison 11-0 (17-3)
OWU 8-3 (13-7)
Allegheny 7-4 (13-6)
Wittenberg 6-4 (9-9)...Tigers have a win over Scots
Wooster 6-4 (11-8)
Kenyon 6-5 (9-11)
Earlham 2-9 (3-17)
Hiram 1-9 (6-13)
Oberlin 1-10 (5-14)
Wabash DNP

Friday schedule:
Denison (11-0) at Oberlin (1-10)
OWU (8-3) at Wooster (6-4)
Allegheny (7-4) at Earlham (2-9)
Hiram (1-9) at Wittenberg (6-4)
Kenyon and Wabash are idle

Saturday schedule:
Wooster (6-4) at Denison (11-0)
Allegheny (7-4) at Wittenberg (6-4)
Oberlin (1-10) at Kenyon (6-5)
Hiram (1-9) at Earlham (2-9)
OWU and Wabash are idle

[David Collinge]

Here's how the NCAC teams stack up in the NCAA's overall statistics (through games of 1/28):

Scoring Offense: [no NCAC teams in top 50] (#1 DePauw 80.6)
Scoring Defense: #37 Denison 52.6 (Howard Payne 43.6)
Scoring Margin: [no NCAC teams in top 50] (Howard Payne +32.1)
Field Goal %: [no NCAC teams in top 50] (DePauw 48.8%)
Field Goal % Defense: [no NCAC teams in top 50] (Mary Washington 29.7%)
Free Throw %: #45 Ohio Wesleyan 72.0%; #49 Denison 71.8% (Bridgewater [Va.] 78.1%)
Rebound Margin: [no NCAC teams in top 50] (Johns Hopkins +13.6)
Three-pt. FG per game: #9 Kenyon 6.9; #13 Ohio Wesleyan 6.8; #31 Allegheny 6.3 (Illinois Wesleyan 9.4)
Three-pt. FG %: [no NCAC teams in top 50] (DePauw 41.8%)
Assists per game: [no NCAC teams in top 50] (DePauw 19.6)
Blocked Shots per game: #30 Denison 4.8; #42 Allegheny 4.3 (Simpson 8.4)
Steals per game: #38 Wittenberg 13.1 (Centenary [NJ] 18.1)
Turnovers per game: [no NCAC teams in top 50] (Thomas (Me.) 13.4)
Personal Fouls per game: #29 Denison 14.6 (Newbury 11.1)

[David Collinge]

Here's where the top NCAC players stand (if at all) in the NCAA rankings through 1/28:

Points per game: #48 Cassie Bedard, Hiram, 17.9 (Lindsay Ippel, Millikin, 25.6)
Rebounds per game: [no NCAC players in top 50] (Ashley Yeast, Monmouth [IL] 13.1)
Assists per game: [no NCAC players in top 50] (Symbri Tuttle, McMurry, 8.5)
Blocked Shots per game: #8 Jennifer Latronica, Allegheny, 3.0; #42 Kristin Sheffield, Denison, 2.2 (Ashley Katch, Simpson, 5.1)
Steals per game: [no NCAC players in top 50] (Imani Hafiz, Rutgers-Camden, 4.9)
Field Goal %: #9 Carly Loehrke, Wooster, 58.7% (Lindsay Ippel, Millikin, 64.7%)
Free Throw %: #44 Jessica Oram, Oberlin, 83.1% (Jody Trapp, Baruch, 94.6%)
Three-pt. Field Goal %: #32 Alisha Moreno, Kenyon 39.0% (Tracy Hartwig, Buena Vista, and Tori Huggins, Hendrix, 50.0%)
Three-pt. Field Goals per game: #18 Katie Kestler, Allegheny, 2.7; #39 Alisha Moreno, Kenyon, 2.4 (Melissa Beyruti, Kean, 3.7)

[pufin]

Thank you, David, for keeping things up to date here. I saw that the Wooster women won the other night, and also that they had a over-.500 NCAC record. I perused the not-so-up-to-date NCAC page for standings without much luck. Then I remembered: DC talks to himself on the NCAC women's page. I came here and found everything I was looking for.

Even though I can contribute nothing of substance here, know that what you write is read and appreciated.

[David Collinge]

Friday scores and updated standings:
Denison 82, Oberlin 66
Wooster 62, OWU 57
Allegheny 60, Earlham 57
Wittenberg 67, Hiram 31
Kenyon and Wabash are idle

Denison 12-0 (18-3)
OWU 8-4 (13-8)...Bishops and Gators split their season series
Allegheny 8-4 (14-6)
Wittenberg 7-4 (10-9)...Tigers have a win over Scots
Wooster 7-4 (12-8)
Kenyon 6-5 (9-11)
Earlham 2-10 (3-18)
Hiram 1-10 (6-14)
Oberlin 1-11 (5-15)
Wabash DNP

Saturday schedule:
Wooster (7-4) at Denison (12-0)
Allegheny (8-4) at Wittenberg (7-4)
Oberlin (1-11) at Kenyon (6-5)
Hiram (1-10) at Earlham (2-10)
OWU and Wabash are idle

[jscwittfan]

As always, great work DC.  Given all the games last night, and the fact that the NCAC only updates stats Sunday and Thursday, I shall be using this as my game notes today in regards to conference standings.

[David Collinge]

Well, given that, I guess I should be able to decide who is in second place and who is in third, since you're playing one of them tonight.  But I can't remember if the tiebreaker is "best win" or "worst loss."  If it is "best win," then OWU is second, having beaten #4 Wittenberg Jan. 20 while Allegheny lost to your Tigers Jan. 6.  If it is "worst loss," then Allegheny is second, as they lost to #1 Denison, #2/3 OWU, #4 Witt, and #5 Wooster, while OWU has losses to #1 Denison, #2/3 Allegheny, #5 Wooster, and #6 Kenyon.

But I think the tiebreaker is "best win," which breaks OWU's way right now.

A couple of big games tonight, at least on paper.  Wooster can really move into contention by beating Denison, but that's a longshot.  Kenyon should win easily and move into a tie with Wooster...and the Ladies swept the Scots.  An Allegheny win puts them back in 2nd, dropping Witt into a 3-way tie with Wooster and Kenyon, assuming the predictable results, and the tiebreakers establish that order as Kenyon-Witt-Woo.  If Witt wins, they move into a 2nd place tie with OWU, with the Bishops owning the tiebreaker, and the Gators falling back to 4th (assuming Wooster loses; if Wooster wins, they'd be in a 3-way tie with Witt and OWU for 2nd, and as each of teams is 1-1 against the others--Witt beat Woo, Woo beat OWU, OWU beat Witt--the tiebreaker would actually favor the Scots by virtue of the win over DU that makes all this possible.)

And of course Hiram plays Earlham in the Battle For Seventh.  Hiram won in Ohio a month ago by 12; I'm sure Earlham has been looking forward to the rematch.

[jscwittfan]

Denison can clinch the top seed with a win today, right?

[David Collinge]

I guess that's right; they're up 4 with 4 to play.  I suppose they may have already clinched the top seed via possible tie-breakers with OWU/Allegheny/Witt/Wooster (the only teams that could end up at 12-4, which is DU's worst-case scenario), but I'm much too lazy to run those possibilities with Oberlin still ahead on DU's schedule. 

[David Collinge]

Saturday scores and updated standings:
Denison 81, Wooster 48
Wittenberg 71, Allegheny 47
Kenyon 75, Oberlin 57
Earlham 71, Hiram 45
OWU and Wabash are idle

Denison 13-0 (19-3)
OWU 8-4 (13-8)...Bishops have a win over Tigers
Wittenberg 8-4 (11-9)
Allegheny 8-5 (14-7)
Kenyon 7-5 (10-11)...Ladies swept the Scots
Wooster 7-5 (12-9)
Earlham 3-10 (4-18)
Hiram 1-11 (6-15)
Oberlin 1-12 (5-16)
Wabash DNP

Wednesday schedule:
Kenyon (7-5) at Ohio Wesleyan (8-4)
Wittenberg (8-4) at Earlham (3-10)
Allegheny (8-5) at Wooster (7-5)
Oberlin (1-12) at Hiram (1-11)
Denison and Wabash are idle

[David Collinge]

Congratulations to the Denison Big Red, who today have secured the conference regular season championship for the first time in NCAC history.   

[jscwittfan]

Congrats to Denison as well.  I wouldn't be surprised if one of their players got POTW to sort of honor the team's accomplishment, but I would hope that Katie Gregorevich from Witt gets it: in 3 games this week, she had a total of 60 points, 23 boards, 2 blocks, and 2 steals as the Tigers went 2-1 to get back into a tie for second in the conference.

[David Collinge]

Your first instinct was correct:

February 4, 2007

Denison senior Kristen Sheffield (Dublin, OH/Scioto) helped the Big Red
clinch their first NCAC Championship, and the number one seed in the
upcoming NCAC Tournament, as she led her team past Oberlin, 82-66, and
Wooster, 81-48, posting a combined 35 points and 14 rebounds in the two
games.

Read more at http://www.northcoast.org/wb/wbpow.txt

Congratulations to Kristen, the first two-time PoTW winner (men or women) this season. 

[jscwittfan]

Congrats to Kristen indeed, because she did have a solid week.  But, just given how the full release was worded, providing her season/career stats, it definitely seems like they felt like they HAD to pick someone from Denison.