WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

Sorry about that wrong guess on your gender, Wydown Blvd. I wanted to use "very good, sir" in case other fans of Jeeves and Wooster (a fun British TV series) were reading.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeeves_and_Wooster
Augustana picked up another win, 69-56 over Greenville. Kristen Fox had 16 pts and 10 reb; Molly Etheridge also scored 16. Didn't see a box score yet.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I would be totally shocked if they changed their style at that point. 

I am curious, are you blaming the approach to defense for the losses?  And, there is nothing snide about my question.  I am simply curious.

Heavens no!  I think the press has been the key to their success.  When opponents consistently have 25-30 turnovers, you're gonna win a lot of games!

I'm just frustrated that a team I'd penciled into the FF three straight years has yet to make it.  IMO they have not lost to 'better' teams in general, though obviously the opponent was better that day.

[Wydown Blvd.]

Sorry about that wrong guess on your gender, Wydown Blvd. I wanted to use "very good, sir" in case other fans of Jeeves and Wooster (a fun British TV series) were reading.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeeves_and_Wooster

gotcha. no prob.

[RogK]

Half of the league played yesterday.
Millikin knocked off another highly-rated team (DePauw), winning 65-59.
Elise Wildman had 22 pts and 7 reb. Julia Robert hit some late-game threes on her way to 15 pts and Crystal Zeigler added 13. The Big Blue used 7 players. DePauw started one Kate and two Katies.
Elmhurst trounced MacMurray 87-64. EC shot .590 FG including 6/6 threes. Merk scored 19 in 24:00 and Megan Ney put in 18 in 25:00. Others did well, too. The stats show 48 total rebounds (no team rebs), but there were 50 missed FGs and 15 missed FTs.
Carthage took its first loss, 69-59, at Calvin, which scored 39 from behind the arc. Heather Gilmore led Carthage with 13 pts, 6 reb and 4 assists; she also had 3 steals.
Wheaton lost 60-48 at NAIA St Ambrose.

[RogK]

Saw the North Park 69-62 win over NAIA Trinity Int'l last night.
It was an action-filled game and some of it was productive.
NP's starting frontcourt, Lyndsey Thompson, Sarah Peterson and Roxxanne Jones, had at least 10 rebounds each, which may have been the deciding factor.
Jones led the scoring with 21, while Peterson (running a fever) contributed 18.
TIU used pressing now and then throughout the game, but Peterson's passing and some fine dribbling by Shaina Yalda and Antoinette Collman got the Vikings through the press nearly all of the time.
There were 49 fouls and 63 FTs. Dana Christensen made some late FTs to seal the win. Collman had 5 steals. Yalda had 6 assists and 0 TOs.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park slogged out a 69-62 win over Trinity International last night at Foster & Kedzie. The game shouldn't have been that close, but the Vikings were atrocious at the free throw line; they finished the game 20-37 at the charity stripe, and at one point in the second half they were only 8-19. That, and a frustrating inability to knock down shots around the basket, kept NPU from being able to put away a Trojans team that they led by as many as 13, and whose two leading scorers (Melanie Duplessis, 19.6 ppg, and Reanna Perera, 16.0 ppg) they held to 16 points (5-18 FG) and 10 points (4-11 FG), respectively.

Roxie Jones led NPU with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Sarah Peterson had her second consecutive double-double, scoring a career-high 18 points and garnering 14 rebounds, while Lyndsey Thompson grabbed 10 boards, Antoinette Collman (who largely held Duplessis in check defensively) had five steals, and Shaina Yalda continued her amazing run of floor games by dishing out six assists without turning the ball over once. Shaina's assist:turnover ratio is now 4.70, more than twice that of the next-best CCIW playmaker, Wheaton's Brooke Olson (2.31). The D3 season record, set two years ago by Ellen O'Brien of Denison, is 4.31.

Sarah Peterson's performance was all the more remarkable for the fact that she's battling the flu and played with a 101-degree temperature. People dared her before the game to "pull a Michael Jordan," and she certainly did. She's an enormously fun player to watch, and a fantastic asset to her team. She spends so much time on the floor going after loose balls, rebounds, and getting hit while putting up shots in close that I've taken to calling her "the Human Mop." If there was an inspirational poster for the word "hustle," it'd have Sarah's picture on it. I realize that Millikin's Elise Wildman had a strong night in the Big Blue's upset win over #8 DePauw on Wednesday, but Sarah Peterson's performances against Benedictine and Trinity International while severely under the weather certainly ought to earn her the CCIW Player of the Week award.

NPU (5-3) is next in action at home on Monday against Kalamazoo in the opening game of a women's/men's doubleheader.

[RogK]

If she asks you about being called a mop, you'd better say it means most outstanding player!
But, you're right, Greg. She has been doing a lot of things outstandingly, kind of like a tall Heather Gilmore.

[RogK]

One of the better freshmen so far has been Carthage's Kristi Schmidt.
Her FG shooting has been very consistent : 3/6 twice, 2/4 twice, 3/5, 3/7 and 5/7, adding up to .538 including hitting both 3FG att.
She has made 14 of 17 FTs and has 23 rebounds in 123:00, which is pretty good.

[RogK]

Another good freshman is Augie's Molly Etheridge, who has scored 12, 13 and 16 in their three recent games.
Guess what --- she's from the same high school class as Kristi Schmidt: Normal Community, not far from IWU.

[Hoosier Titan]

The Illinois Wesleyan Titans avenged their defeat in last year's NCAA tournament at the hands of UW-Stevens Point on the Pointers' home court yesterday, 76-72.  The Titans were led in scoring by Stacey Arlis with 20 points on 8/11 FG and 4/4 FT shooting.  Olivia Lett had 19, Hope Schulte 12, and Holly Harvey 10 for a balanced attack.  The game had 19 lead changes.   A couple of interesting stats:  the Titans made 18 of 19 free throws to the Pointers' 12 of 22; IWU won the battle of the boards 38-27. 

[Hoosier Titan]

On a holiday note:  Illinois Wesleyan's Holiday Celebration for staff and faculty was Friday afternoon.  As President Dick Wilson began his traditional holiday toast, something new happened.  I must have been the last person on the planet not to know what a "flash mob" was, but I do now.  The man in the front row facing the audience is Provost Frank Boyd; President Wilson joins about halfway through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmXfrb01xFc

[RogK]

Traffic reports say that there are icy conditions on I-57 near Kankakee (which is in the vicinity of Bourbonnais). I assume other area roads are fairly bad, too.
In earlier posts, I encouraged readers to attend the IWU game vs Olivet Naz in Bourbonnais this evening. I now advise against it, for travel safety reasons.

[RogK]

Other weekend action:
Julia Robert poured in 38 as Millikin topped Fontbonne 75-68. Crystal Zeigler had 14 pts and 14 rebs. Elise Wildman scored 16.
Robert made 14/20 FGs, including 7 threes.
Millikin also beat Illinois (C, not U) 68-60. Wildman had 24 and 7, Robert tallied 13.
North Central took two to the chin in So Cal, losing 61-30 to Redlands and 80-59 to Chapman.
Augustana upended Buena Vista, 68-59. Kristen Fox scored 18 in 26:00, Molly Etheridge had 13 in 18:00 and Whitney Miller had 10 assists.

[iwu70]

Sadly, the Titans lost 110-106 in overtime.  A real defensive struggle.  The Titans set a record for rebounds in one game, but amazingly had 52, yes 52 turnovers.  Gracious.  That takes great skill to do.  What is going on with basics with our Titans this year?  Wild.  A pretty rough start to the year at 5-3.  A good test coming up at Kean.

Congrats to Stacey Arlis as CCIW player of the week last week.  See the CCIW website for the detailed write-up.  She is really coming into her own as a significant low post presence for scoring and rebounding.  Christina Solari would be proud.

Hope we can take better care of the ball in future.   

Happy holidays to all CCIW chatsters.

[RogK]

I attended the North Park 70-39 drubbing of Kalamazoo. Dana Christensen scored 8 quick points and the Vikings cruised to a 40-13 halftime lead. The starting five did quite well in limited playing time. Roxxanne Jones had 13 pts, 9 reb, 3 steals in 19:00. Shaina Yalda had 10 more assists. Lyndsey Thompson had 12 pts in 16:00. Sarah Peterson did her customary variety of good things.
NP used the bench for most of the 2nd half. But this one was a mismatch from the start.