WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Hoosier Titan]

Quick note--both Karen Solari and Nikki Preston played last night and showed no ill effects of earlier injuries.  A good night for all hands on deck.
The Titans are back in action on Saturday afternoon when #14 UW-Stevens Point comes to town; the following week they take on Chicago and later in December UW-Whitewater.  Those who urged Mia Smith to play a challenging pre-conference season have certainly gotten their wish!

[RogK]

During the Dominican - North Park game, I counted the number of possessions. In the 1st half, it was 41 (give or take one) per team and in the 2nd half there were 45 or 46 per team. My count wasn't exact, because I used up my fingers and toes (ten each) pretty early in each half and nobody around me let me count with theirs. (ha).
My Nov 12 post regarding Points Allowed Per Possession (reply 1151) contained some guesses on the number of possessions in slow or fast games. Those guesses are in need of revision.
The Dominican - North Park game, with about 86 possessions, was at a fairly normal tempo, with no stalling. So a really fast-paced game (like ONU-IWU) would probably have maybe 110 possessions per team.
A slow game might have 60 per team, not 45 - 50.

[Titan Q]

Rog, there are a few different ways to calculate # of possessions in a single boxscore, or a season cumulative boxscore.  The one I have used is:

Possessions = FGA - Off Reb + T.O. + (.475 * FTA)

Last season on the men's board, Dan Sand posted offensive and defensive Points per 100 Possession throughout the season...

Overall   Offense   Defense
---------------------------
Team       P/100P    P/100P
Augie...... 108.7      93.0
Carthage... 109.7     106.2
Elmhurst... 113.3     103.9
IWU........ 109.3     104.0
Millikin...  98.2      97.7
NCC........ 109.3      99.5
NPU........ 103.8     114.1
Wheaton.... 114.2      93.5
                  
CCIW      Offense   Defense
---------------------------
Team       P/100P    P/100P
Augie...... 104.0      94.1
Carthage... 109.4     109.2
Elmhurst... 112.0     105.1
IWU........ 111.5     112.3
Millikin...  97.3     106.4
NCC........ 108.5     103.9
NPU........  99.5     120.4
Wheaton.... 108.3      97.9
---------------------------
CCIW Avg... 106.3     106.3

Factoring in possessions is definitely the best way to evaluate a team's offensive and defensive efficiency, in my opinion.

[RogK]

Thanks, Titan Q.
That .475 of FTA is an approximation, though.
In the game I cited, that formula undercounts the possessions : 73 for Dominican and 76 for NP, when they had 85 or 86 each.
Maybe my game had an abnormally large number of missed first shots of 1-and-1's that ended possessions. And maybe it lacked "and ones".
I'm assuming that I'm defining a possession correctly, that it continues until the other team starts one.
Theoretically, one possession could take up an entire half, given a repeating series of missed FTs followed by offensive rebounds.

[RogK]

A little more on the topic of possessions : I may have counted more possessions in that game than were registered by the stat crew. I think there were a few scrambles for the ball that resulted in brief possessions, only to be coughed up to the other team; so, turnovers may or may not have been charged. Can't have a turnover if possession wasn't established. 
Also, the decision of when a shot clock reset is appropriate or whether a possession existed for two or three seconds can be matters of judgment, even in an NBA game.

[Hoosier Titan]

The matchup between Illinois Wesleyan (#6 in the preseason d3hoops poll) and Wisconsin-Stevens Point (#23 in the same poll) was an outstanding one, with the Titans eking out a 84-80 win at Shirk today.  It looked as though the Titan run-and-jump press would be too much for the Pointers, with IWU pulling out to a 10-point lead in each half.  But the Pointers pulled back and took a 39-37 halftime lead; they also led by about six with two minutes to go (this is approximate, as the box score isn't up as I write this).  Judicious substitutions and the deep Titan bench made the difference.  The two Titans who have just returned from injuries, Karen Solari and Nikki Preston, were absolutely key in this victory.  Preston led the Titan scoring with 19, including lots of free throws down the stretch to seal the win.  K. Solari had 15 points, including a key basket in the last minute with an assist to sister Christina, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds of her own.  Holly Harvey added 10.  Britta Petersen was outstanding for the Pointers, leading all scorers with 21, while Cassie Bandow had 15 (including 3/4 on 3's) and Josi Schultz 12.

This one could easily have been a playoff game--two well-coached teams fighting hard and just refusing to lose.  It was a pleasure to watch.  Well done to both teams and coaches!

[RogK]

Carthage emerged from Hyde Park this afternoon with a 64-62 over the host U of Chicago.
The U of C is highly ranked and deservedly so, as they are a very strong team.
Their soph guard Meghan Herrick had a dazzling 2nd half, scoring 24 in 20:00, almost enough to turn things around. This was the first of 4 straight games for them against CCIW teams. Wheaton gets them next and the Thunder will have their hands full.
As for the Lady Reds, it was an excellent team effort.
Let's start with Katie Klemke: she was the major factor in Carthage's 28-16 first half, leading the scoring, playing sharp defense and handling a lot of the dribbling chores.
Next, Diana Jacklin: she held U of C star Molly Hackney in check and grabbed 9 rebounds, including a big one in the waning seconds.
Then there's Rosie Dorn, who turned in an all-around good performance, most of the time with a bloody chin (bandaged of course), suffered when a sizeable opponent crash-landed on Rosie's head. That didn't stop her.
The other starters, Heather Gilmore and Dani Ripkey, played very well, too.
Ripkey made a key three late in the contest, preserving the lead.
Everyone who served in a reserve role also contributed importantly : Cailee Corcoran, Taylor Tondelli, Drewann Pancratz (whose brother played in the men's U of C win, to begin the afternoon), Allison Groessl and Cory Bazany.
It was a big win for Coach Bernero and his team.

[RogK]

Augie got its 2nd win, 60-50 over Webster. Kristin Fox tallied twenty. Lani Kasten had 6 steals.
Elmhurst won at Olivet (Mich.).
North Park and North Central each got trounced.

[RogK]

Two CCIW games yesterday :
Augie improved to 3-2 with a 63-61 win over Heidelberg. Kristin Warnken hit a couple of key shots late in the game and topped the Vikings with 15 pts. Natalie Runge added 14 pts and Lani Kasten led both teams with 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Others contributed as well, of course.
Millikin outscored St Ambrose 69-53. Elise Wildman led the Big Blue offense with 24 pts (9/11 FG, 6/7 FT). Crystal Zeigler added 15 pts. Brooke Carlson was an effective conduit, with 8 assists.

[RogK]

Congratulations to the taller of the Solaris, CCIW Player of the Week.
She was her usual excellent self in two impressive IWU wins.

[gordonmann]

IWU's Holly Harvey has her latest "Insider" entry posted to the Daily Dose.  Check it out here:

http://d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2009/11/30/insider-first-goal-met/

[RogK]

Wheaton topped Clarke last night in Dubuque, 75-70. Annie Bowen shot 100%, scoring 16 in 20:00.
Carthage beat Lake Forest 78-59.
Heather Gilmore had 5 steals and 6 assists. She leads the early stats for the CCIW with 4.6 assists per game and a 1.77 assist/turnover ratio.
Diana Jacklin made 11 of 16 FGs on her way to 23 pts.

[Mr. Ypsi]

New poll is out.  The Titan win over then #1 WashU (and over then #23, now #15 UWSP) has vaulted them all the way to #1.  Not sure I approve - hope they can handle that big a target on their backs.

Carthage jumped from 0 to 40 points (#31), no doubt largely due to beating then #14 (now #22) UChi, plus 4 other teams.

[Mr. Ypsi]

In their first game as #1, IWU downed previously 6-0 Missouri Baptist, 75-62.

I've been unable to find out anything about MoBap (as their website calls them!), so don't know whether this is impressive or not, but I'll take it!

[Hoosier Titan]

The Titans' first game of this season in the #1 spot, against NAIA Missouri Baptist, found them sluggish and prone to trying to make hard plays rather than take the straighforward ones available.  The officiating wasn't great--it seems that officials this season are letting everything go under the baskets, then calling little touch fouls.  But, of course, a great team has to find a way to surmount that.  The Titans led by seven at halftime and finally broke the game open in the second half. 

The MoBap stat sheet after the game looked very dodgy:  the entire Titan team was credited with one assist, to Melissa Gardner; she alone had more than that.  No individual stats for IWU are available on the MoBap website as of 11:30 tonight.  Christina Solari had (I think) 23 points and around a dozen rebounds.  The key players in the decisive run were the Solari sisters, Hope Schulte, Nikki Preston, and the guard trio of Gardner, Holly Harvey, and Brittany Hasselbring.  The score with about three minutes to play was 75-55 and it could have been run up more.  Instead the Titan bench players went in and gave up a good chunk of the lead to arrive at the final 75-62 score.

It wasn't pretty in St. Louis tonight, but as former IWU men's coach Scott Trost used to say, "Never apologize for a win."