WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Halfway thru the first, IWU 20, UWSP 15.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Anyone know what happened at the end of the half?  K. Solari hit a 3, Josi Schultz was hit with her 3rd fould, but (even though in the double bonus) no one ever took a free throw.  Strange.

BTW, IWU 43, UWSP 37, at the half.

[Just Bill]

I would suspect Schultz's foul was a charge, therefore no free throws.

[Just Bill]

Fantastic game!

UWSP hits two FT's to go up 71-70 with under 4 togo.

[Mr. Ypsi]

3:00 to go - UWSP 73-70.

IWU had a narrow lead nearly the who game, but this one is to the wire!

[Mr. Ypsi]

51 second, UWSP by one.

[Mr. Ypsi]

16 seconds, IWU by one.

[Just Bill]

Averkamp put back bucket 77-76 UWSP with 2.2 to go.

[Just Bill]

Half court heave not close.  UWSP wins 77-76.

[Hoosier Titan]

Congratulations to the Titans, the Lady Reds, and all the CCIW teams on a fascinating conference season.  Next year should be every bit as good!

[Mr. Ypsi]

I am in NO way blaming the Solari sisters for the loss (27 points and 14 boards ain't bad for one family!), but when you lose by one point and they missed all seven of the FTs that IWU missed, it hurts.   (I'm sure even more for them than for us, so chin up - without you the game would not have even been close enough to worry about missed free throws.)

Christina, thanks for one helluva career.  With the graduation losses last year, I thought we'd fall quite a bit this year.  I think you're the single biggest reason we didn't.  (And DO consider returning for a 'revenge' year! )

Karen, do so good that we'll remember Christina mainly as your big sister!

[Moser]

And just like that the CCIW's season is over. Tough loss for IWU. I though for sure when the Titans went up 50-39 early in the second half that the game was over, but give UWSP credit for not breaking.

It would be easy to point to Solari's missed FT or the questionable charge call on Solari, but UWSP also missed two big FTs with 1:09 left and the Pointers also misfired on 3 or 4 gimmies in the last two minutes. I actually think UWSP did more to lose the game down the stretch than IWU did, but managed to pull out the win anyway.

Congrats to IWU on another great season. 28-2 with CCIW regular season and tourney titles and a Sweet 16 appearance is nothing to sneeze at, but when the goal was a national championship I'm sure it will be a while before the sting wears off for the Titans and they are able to appreciate what they did accomplish.

[Moser]

This was a very good year for the CCIW. IWU was once again the best team, but they were tested much more in league play this year than last year. Looking ahead, it seems that the league can only get better as a whole next season.

Only four of the 15 all-CCIW players are seniors, and while those seniors are all outstanding players it is pretty clear that it was not a senior-dominated league. A team-by-team look at the seniors:

Augustana: Kristen Fox

Carthage: Rosie Dorn, Katie Klemke
Coach Bernero's comments make it sound like Heather Gilmore will be back: "In looking back on this experience, you hope your younger kids were observant of the senior leaders we had in Rosie and Katie (Klemke)," he said. http://www.kenoshanews.com/sports/george_fox_puts_clamps_on_reds_7540162.html

Elmhurst: Maggie McTeague, Lyndsie Long, Rashida Joiner

Illinois Wesleyan: Carrie Williams, Christina Solari

Millikin: Brooke Carlson

North Central: Brittany James

North Park: Juliann Plimpton, Larisa Coldebella

Wheaton: Sarah Jones

Congrats to all these players on great careers and thanks for sticking with it.

Only taking statistics into consideration (and not the many other ways these players impact their teams) it is the top 3 teams that are losing the most. It makes sense that the teams with strong senior classes were the most successful in a league dominated by underclassmen.

Next year should see an even more competitive league.

[RogK]

Well stated, Moser.
My congratulations to IWU for another excellent season. I was hoping to see the Titans vs Lady Reds in the national championship game, but sadly, not this time. Double dang it!
Christina Solari set the standard for superior athleticism and versatile, smart play at the post position.
Fellow senior Carrie Williams also was a good teammate, who did well when she got the chance to play.
Carthage seniors Katie Klemke and Rosie Dorn were remarkably reliable throughout their careers and each peaked as players this season.
Rosie is also known for having a delightful sense of humor. Coach Bernero has mentioned it to me a few times in recent years.
I enjoyed an example of it when I was seated near the Carthage players before a game at the U of Chicago early this season. Some of the players were looking at the banners of the UAA schools and were discussing where various schools were (Emory, Carnegie-Mellon, etc). I mentioned that Brandeis U is in Boston, but that CCIW teams get to go to places like Decatur, to which Rosie replied, "Decatur is the new Boston!" A great line, which just about made snot shoot out of my nose. (no offense intended for Millikin)
Good luck to all of the CCIW seniors! Thanks for playing!

[Moser]

North Park: Juliann Plimpton

You forgot NPU's Larisa Coldebella, who is also a senior.

Whoops! My mistake...now corrected.