WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Other scores from last night:

Carroll 88, Benedictine 39
Aurora 72, North Central 67
Loras 83, Elmhurst 56

The CCIW sits at a very unpalatable 11-18 (.379).

[iwu70]

Agreed, very unpalatable. 

IWU plays Capitol Saturday, the first home game at The Shirk.   1 p.m.

IWU needs better ball security, better valuing each possession.   I assume Powers will be out some further time.  Expecting to see more of the freshmen:  Mahlum and Galvan.  Titans need more scoring production from the painted area, from Carlson and Knutson.  Very few defenders can stop Heller off the dribble, but she needs to be wiser about double teams and not dribbling into traffic quite so often.  Drive and dish, especially to Palmer, will be very effective all year.

A learning curve, a work in progress, against some of the top teams in the country.   Have patience, TITANS, it will all come together in time. 

'70

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Hyde Park:

Chicago 72
North Park 49

Victoria Perry: 18 pts, 3 stls
Felicia Sunden: 8 rebs
Chantel Hairston: 8 rebs

Well, that was very ... not pretty. Vikings shot a warthog-ugly 17-61 (.279) from the field and 4-16 (.250) from downtown.

NPU has to play a team that's significantly better than Chicago tomorrow afternoon at Ratner, Calvin. Putting aside NPU's continuing difficulty with hitting jumpers, without some better finishing around the basket and improved ball protection, tomorrow's score against the Knights could turn out to be a lot worse than this one was.

Still no Jayla.

[GoPerry]

Wheaton was able to take care of business pretty easily over an overmatched Pacific Lutheran squad.  Final was 71-41.

Annika Richardson led Wheaton with 25 pts and 8 rebs.  Kate Oliver added 13 pts and Ellie Cassel with 10 and 7.  Ashley Akimine had 11 pts for the Lutes.

[Gregory Sager]

Calvin 79
North Park 73

Esther Miller: 29 pts, 3:0 a:to, 5 stls
Victoria Perry: 16 pts (4-5 trey)
Kathryn Keehn: 6 rebs, 4:1 a:to
Aaliyah Parker-Fox: 4:1 a:to

Loss or not, today's performance was a huge step forward for the Vikings in the wake of yesterday's debacle. I thought that Calvin was clearly a better team than Chicago, but the Vikings played them tough. It was a 28-10 third quarter in the Knights' favor that sealed North Park's fate, as it erased NPU's halftime lead and forced the Vikes to play catch-up throughout the entire fourth quarter.

The big reason for the improvement from yesterday was Esther Miller. She was invisible on Friday against the Maroons due to foul trouble that kept her on the bench most of the game, and she had an off-night in terms of performance when she was on the floor. Today, however, she was terrific, in spite of the fact that she was handed the impossible task of guarding Calvin's 7'5" center Gabby Timmer (36 pts, 18 rebs, 4 blks, seemingly dozens of shots altered). Honestly, it was like watching a female adaptation of Gulliver's Travels, with Timmer in the role of Gulliver and the ladies in blue and gold as the Lilliputians.

Victoria Perry is a terrific player. She's streaky from long range, but she has the proverbial high motor to go with her quickness and accomplished skill set. She's going to do special things in a North Park uniform over the next two seasons.

[GoPerry]

Wheaton 62  Puget Sound 56

Despite only 17/51, 33.3% shooting and committing 25 (head smacking) turnovers, the Thunder inexplicably found a way to come out with a win and go 2-0 on this Seattle area trip.  Wheaton's free throw shooting was much better tonight going 20/25 for 80% to put the game away down the stretch.  Helping Wheaton was the Logger's even poorer showing from the field, 16/67 for 23.9%.   

Caylee Hermanson led the way for Wheaton scoring with 15 pts, 7rebs.

A win is a win and you take them any way you can get them.  But the Thunder ladies need to exorcise this one out and be much better starting Tuesday back at King.

[shepherd]

Wheaton 62  Puget Sound 56

Despite only 17/51, 33.3% shooting and committing 25 (head smacking) turnovers, the Thunder inexplicably found a way to come out with a win and go 2-0 on this Seattle area trip.  Wheaton's free throw shooting was much better tonight going 20/25 for 80% to put the game away down the stretch.  Helping Wheaton was the Logger's even poorer showing from the field, 16/67 for 23.9%.   

Caylee Hermanson led the way for Wheaton scoring with 15 pts, 7rebs.

A win is a win and you take them any way you can get them.  But the Thunder ladies need to exorcise this one out and be much better starting Tuesday back at King.

I watched this game while peeking at the mens while both were played at the same time.  Puget Sound came out so physical the first quarter resembled a wrestling match more than basketball.   Wheaton did fine playing against this physical type of basketball.  Its a wonder more than one wheaton player did not have to exit the game due to injury.  Go back if its available and tell me I'm wrong.  Wheaton players did not retaliate but acted like a Christian team they are.

[iwu70]

IWU over Capital in a gritty and ragged affair at The Shirk, 73-62

Capital:

Murphy 19  6-10 from trey
OConnor 15
Perkins 14

Capital with 30 TOs

IWU:

One of her best games, Huber 27 and 13
Knutson 21 and 7
Heller 12 and 8 -- still too many TOs
Palmer 8

Titans a woeful 3-23 from three . . . a big surprise so far how poorly IWU is shooting the three.  Palmer yet to really find her stroke.

A win is a win . . .

Word is that Powers will be back in the line-up in a game or two.  Seems the foot injury is not serious.

Coach Smith going 12 deep in the rotation this time, using a number of the freshmen quite significantly.   In this one, I was impressed with a new face, Sawyer White . . . a freshman point guard who played in this one with poise and good floor vision.  Once she settles in, makes a few shots, I think she's going to be a very good CCIW player . . . along with the other freshmen, Balli, Mahlum and Galvan, perhaps Lipic, too. 

IWU plays @Eureka on Tuesday evening.  Titans now 2-2.

Capital has a nice squad, some very good guards.

IWU '70

[RogK]

The conference has gone 6-6 in recent days and now is 17-24.
In the remaining 40* nonconference games, the league needs to win 60% (24-16) to reach 41-40, avoiding a sub-.500 composite record.
* not counting NCAA tournament action

[iwu70]

RogK, looks like a down year for CCIW women in pre-CCIW games.   I mentioned earlier that IWU would likely lose 4-5 games before entering serious CCIW play.  Such a tough schedule. . . with #1 Hope, #4 UW Whitewater, still Depauw and some others out West.  If the Titans go 6-3 in those games, I'll be pleased. 

This IWU team a work in progress, esp. on implementing well "run and jump" pressure and on taking care of the ball.  To my surprise, they have not shot the three-ball well yet . . . though I think that comes around as the season progresses.   Coach Smith still testing out a lot of differing combinations, using the freshmen pretty significantly, and, of course, hoping that Powers comes back soon from her injury.  So many TOs and missed layups so far . . . though Heller, Huber and Knutson have played quite well at points.  Huber had perhaps her best game ever vs. Capital, with 27 and 13. For her size, she's a tremendous rebounder, improved on defense and has a lovely stroke from the FT line. 

Annie Tate and Jayla Johnson being out are huge losses for their respective teams.

'70

[GoPerry]

Wheaton 62  Puget Sound 56

Despite only 17/51, 33.3% shooting and committing 25 (head smacking) turnovers, the Thunder inexplicably found a way to come out with a win and go 2-0 on this Seattle area trip.  Wheaton's free throw shooting was much better tonight going 20/25 for 80% to put the game away down the stretch.  Helping Wheaton was the Logger's even poorer showing from the field, 16/67 for 23.9%.   

Caylee Hermanson led the way for Wheaton scoring with 15 pts, 7rebs.

A win is a win and you take them any way you can get them.  But the Thunder ladies need to exorcise this one out and be much better starting Tuesday back at King.

I watched this game while peeking at the mens while both were played at the same time.  Puget Sound came out so physical the first quarter resembled a wrestling match more than basketball.   Wheaton did fine playing against this physical type of basketball.  Its a wonder more than one wheaton player did not have to exit the game due to injury.  Go back if its available and tell me I'm wrong.  Wheaton players did not retaliate but acted like a Christian team they are.

I didn't see it that way.  Puget Sound plays a full court press that doesn't stop once you get the ball across half court.  It continues to be an aggressive trapping style of defense.  It was similar and at least as intense as what the Thunder will see against IWU in 3 weeks.  So in that sense it was great practice for them. 

[RogK]

iwu70, you may like to announce the new CCIW player of the week (if somebody doesn't beat you to it).

[iwu70]

Thanks, RogK, for the prompt.

Yes, congrats to IWU's Lauren Huber on her weekly CCIW award.  She had perhaps her best game as a Titan with 27 points and 13 rebounds vs. Capital at The Shirk last Saturday.   She's going to have a pretty good year it would appear! 

IWU travels to Eureka this evening for a 7 p.m. game at Ronald Reagan's alma . . . 

I wish all the CCIW chatsters a happy, safe and blessed Thanksgiving.

IWU'70

[GoPerry]

iwu70, you may like to announce the new CCIW player of the week (if somebody doesn't beat you to it).

RogK . . Let me, let me, let me . . .!!!!

Oh, "someone" beat me to it . . .

[RogK]

That reminds me of the very amusing Ted Baxter character on the Mary Tyler Moore Show (a 70s tv sitcom, for our younger readers).