WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

The composite WBB schedule on cciw.org shows tomorrow's Elmhurst at Aurora game as 5pm.
The Aurora and Elmhurst websites have it as 2pm.

[RogK]

And cciw.org has the Millikin - Beloit game listed as 7pm.
It'll begin at 5pm.

[lmitzel]

Tough one to open the year for NCC. They fell behind by 13 early, but fought back before dropping a 68-64 decision to St. Mary's in Indiana. Nicole Connolly broke free for the go-ahead layup with 17 seconds to play, and a tying shot on the baseline by Megan McClure rimmed out on the ensuing possession.

Maddie Rzepka paced the Belles with 17, Julia Schutz put up 12 and 10, and Athena Samson added 9 and 10 off the bench.

The Cardinals were led by an 18 and 6 night for Natalie Stavropolous, 14 and 9 from Mitrese Smith, and 12 and 8 from freshman Grace Kieffer.

I get to yell things again on Saturday when the Cardinals open their home schedule against Chicago.

[RogK]

What are you planning to yell? "Bring me a chocolate malt" or "I'll need a large slice of pecan pie at halftime" ?
- - -
Miranda Fox put together a rather fabulous 11:0 assist/TO ratio in Millikin's 91-51 victory over Beloit.
Elyce Knudsen (remember her?) scored 23 pts from 14 FG att in 23:00.
Sarah Isaf tallied a very efficient 20 in 20:00.
The Big Blue got 9 rebs each from Alana Terry and Abby Ratsch.
Other teammates contributed nicely as well.

[RogK]

Carroll clobbered MSOE 85-31.
Three Pios tallied in double figures : Olivia Rangel (14), Brooke Foster (12), Emilie Wizner (12).
Allison Thompson grabbed 8 rebs in 12:00.
- - -
Elmhurst, up 16-2 at one point, fell at Aurora, 80-75. The Bluejays committed 32 turnovers.
Top scorers for them were : Taylor Harazin (18), Katie Matrise (14), Ella Riley (12), Safiyah Reed (10).
Harazin and Anna Kleszynski had 10 rebounds each. Reed led with 5 assists.

[lmitzel]

What are you planning to yell? "Bring me a chocolate malt" or "I'll need a large slice of pecan pie at halftime" ?

That chocolate malt does sound really good...

[RogK]

The Merner Field House concierge is usually very helpful and would happily bring over a chocolate malt at a specified time.
A $3 tip would suffice.

[GoPerry]

The Thunder ladies begin the season this weekend hosting the Beth Baker Classic.  On Friday they'll play the Panthers of Hanover College who were pegged to finish second in the HCAC coaches poll.  Then on Saturday they'll face WIAC opponent UW-Platteville (picked last in the WIAC).

Wheaton started out last season 9-1 before Annie Tate went down with the season ending injury.  From then on it was 7-10.   With a healty(?) Tate back as well as pretty much the entire playing roster returning (except Hannah Swider), I think it reasonable to expect them to compete at the top tier of the league and give defending champ IWU and Millikin (with dare I say National PoY contender Elyce Knudsen) a good run.

Question marks would be how healthy Tate is and how effective can she be?  Then also who else besides her can demonstrate consistent scoring?  They really struggled offensively and had trouble getting a mere 60 pts a night regularly.  Annika Richardson put up some big numbers near the end of the season although her efficiency declined slightly.  Caroline Sikkink also seemed to find more scoring groove late as well.  They also need to take care of the ball much much better averaging near 18 turnovers/game last season.  Two players who were somewhat regular in the rotation, Zoe Nordling and Bryn Durrill apparently decided not to come back.

[iwu70]

In Holland @Hope, IWU over Concordia (WI) at the half 41-21.  Huber with 14 and 7 in the first half.  Mia Smith already 12 deep in her rotation, so testing out some of the freshmen, too.  Looks like IWU might get their shot at Hope tomorrow.

'70

[iwu70]

In Holland @ DeVos:   IWU 86 Concordia (WI) 38

IWU:
Huber 18 and 9
Power 16
Heller 14 and 8

All starters basically playing 2+ quarters.

Concordia:

No player over 6 points, IWU forcing 28 TOs, with "run and jump" doing its dirt early.

Quarter scores:  25-12, 16-9, 27-9, 18-8.  Second group playing much of the 3Q, third group and beyond playing all of the 4Q.  IWU easily could have scored 110 points. 

Mia Smith playing 12 in the first half, giving the freshmen some valuable, early minutes.   

A good start.  Not a very competitive game. 

An entirely different scenario tomorrow should IWU face #1 Hope.  Very likely.  Hope plays Geneva in the second game today.

IWU'70

[iwu70]

Hope put up 143 on Geneva . . . they had 8 players in double figures.  Final:  143-57.

A big challenge for the Titans tomorrow.

'70

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 91
Beloit 74

Victoria Perry: 24 pts
Esther Miller: 21 pts, 6 rebs, 3 stls
Elisha Dunlap: 11 pts, 9 rebs
Felicia Sunden: 10 pts, 6 rebs
Chantel Hairston: 4:2 a:to, 3 stls
Lauren Lee: 3:1 a:to

The modest winning margin, in comparison to Millikin's monkey stomp of Beloit a few nights ago, gives one pause. But it must be noted that NPU was without the services today of their All-American, Jayla Johnson, who was out for medical reasons. That, plus the fact that most of the minutes were going to brand-new Vikings today, helps to explain the erratic play somewhat -- although there's really no acceptable excuse for the Vikings allowing 31 points in the fourth quarter, as rueful head coach Annie Radenkovich pointed out in the postgame interview, particularly to a team as woebegone as the Buccaneers.

The good news for Vikings fans is that this appears to be a very athletic North Park team, albeit an undersized one, and they appear to have some depth. But it's going to be a bumpy ride for awhile until they start to develop some cohesion and do a better job both of protecting the ball and of converting their close-in shots, of which they missed a ton today. Tomorrow's opponent in day two of the NPU Tipoff Tourney will be St. Olaf, which, although not a world-beater, is significantly more competent an opponent than Beloit was.

[GoPerry]

Hanover 53 
Wheaton 50

Annika Richardson   18 pts, 5 rebs
Ellie Cassel       10 pts, 10 rebs
Caroline Sikkink  10 pts, 6rebs

Grace Bezold     23 pts 9 rebs
Katherine Benter 9 pts, 10 rebs

No Annie Tate.  Not sure why.  Not sitting on the bench or anywhere in the gym.

Something of the same story, different season for the Thunder.  With the current lineup they simply don't have enough offensive talent to consistently compete with long stretches of minutes.  It's only the first game so perhaps the scarce 50 pt output will improve (18/60, 30% FG).  Richardson is really the only natural scorer and three point threat.   19 turnovers which has almost nothing to do with whether they are missing a key player or not.   

With the very small squad of only 12 rostered players, all the freshman got minutes.  Anna Fernandez and Kate Oliver didn't play great but showed good potential in their college debut.

A nice addition to the coaching staff is former Millikin standout and D3Hoops All American Joanna Connor (now Gutkowski) who was part of the Big Blue's Walnut and Bronze team in 2005.  It would be a huge plus if she can help players like Cassel improve their defensive and offensive post play.  Never bad to have a coach with some championship pedigree.

[GoPerry]

Millikin falls to Stevens Point 64-61. Knudsen with 22 pts.   This is the Big Blue's second straight game without Bailey Coffman (injured? Covid?) and will face #4 ranked UW Whitewater tonight. 

An extended period without Coffman would be a huge loss for them. 

[Gregory Sager]

In other games yesterday:

* UW-Whitewater got its revenge for last season's upset by nipping Carroll, 56-52, in Whitewater. The Pioneers held UWW to .345 from the field and .133 from downtown, but weren't able to muster much better shooting percentages themselves at the other end of the floor. Allison Thompson had a double-double for the Pios with 19 and 11, while Katie Evans added 10 points.

* UW-Platteville led wire-to-wire and polished off Elmhurst, 58-46, at the Beth Baker Classic in Wheaton. Katie Matrise was the only 'jay to reach double figures, as she scored 11, while Riley Webb grabbed seven rebounds.

* UW-LaCrosse did its bit to help the WIAC sweep all four contests against the CCIW yesterday, as the Eagles prevailed over Carthage, 53-36, in the St. Norbert tourney up in suburban Green Bay. Lauren Knight was most of the show for the Firebirds, scoring 15 of their 36 points, and she and Bridget Barrett each grabbed seven boards. Carthage only shot 10-50 from the field and 3-20 from beyond the arc.

* Augustana made full use of the fact that it wasn't playing a WIAC team by downing Simpson, 74-62, in the Loras tourney. Augie used a 27-12 second quarter to outpace the Storm. Macy Beinborn led the way with 25 points, while Gabby Loiz (12 and 9), Cali Papez (10 and 7), and Presley Case (11 rebs) each marked fine performances as well.

On tap for today:

Augustana @ Loras
Carroll vs. UWSP (@ UWW)
Carthage @ St. Norbert
Elmhurst vs. Hanover (@ Wheaton)
Illinois Wesleyan @ Hope
Millikin @ UWW
Chicago @ North Central
St. Olaf @ North Park
UWP @ Wheaton