WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

iwu70 · November 19, 2011, 07:54:58 PM

IWU over a very good, very tall UWEC team, 78-69 to win their tip-off tourney as well. Guess Olivia Lett is just fine . . . she had 26, Melissa Gardner 20, Britt Hasselbring 13. Run and jump runs and jumps onward . . . good pressure on the bigger UWEC squad. Nice 2-0 start to the season for these Titans. This team has more perimeter game this year, but still playing tough D. Amy Burton had a nice game too, scoring 8-9. Will be nice to get the three strong Titans who are out just now, back to the team.

Congrats to Coach Smith and her team.

IWU70

Backseat Driver · November 20, 2011, 10:23:17 PM

Millikin picked up a big win over #20 UW-Whitewater today, 78-73.

iwu70 · November 21, 2011, 12:57:35 PM

Congrats to MU. That's a nice win over UWWW.

IWU plays them Tuesday night @WW.

IWU70

RogK · November 21, 2011, 07:21:54 PM

On Friday, I saw Wheaton cruise past Illinois College 66-38. The Thunder looked good in that one (although they managed only 43 pts the next day).
Without Karsten, they're emphasizing lane scoring (only 36 3FG att in 3 games so far). Or maybe opponents aren't allowing good 3FG looks.
One problem for them is 17 offensive rebounds in 3 games. But, they'll surely work on that.
And once Karsten is back, she'll probably attract the opponent's best defender, so the other Thunder players may find things a little easier. I think Wheaton will be in fine shape by January.
On Saturday, I saw North Central fall 57-49 to Trine.
Not quite sure what to expect from NC. It'll likely take a while to sort out combinations that work well. Several of the new players look like they'll be good contributors later in the season.

Backseat Driver · November 21, 2011, 07:45:21 PM

Quote from: RogK on November 21, 2011, 07:21:54 PM
Without Karsten, they're emphasizing lane scoring (only 36 3FG att in 3 games so far). Or maybe opponents aren't allowing good 3FG looks.
One problem for them is 17 offensive rebounds in 3 games. But, they'll surely work on that.
And once Karsten is back, she'll probably attract the opponent's best defender, so the other Thunder players may find things a little easier. I think Wheaton will be in fine shape by January.

I've only seen Wheaton for one half so far-- the second half of Saturday's tough loss against UW-LaCrosse. The Thunder were not getting very many open looks from anywhere in that one. The Eagles were pretty physical defensively. Wheaton fought back from an early deficit and tied the game at 37 with 5 or 6 minutes remaining (no boxscore available so I'm going off of memory), but UW-L hit a tough, contested 3 on their next possession and stayed ahead the rest of the way.

Very impressed by Lauren Graham in the post. She seals extremely well and she looks to score when she gets the ball. She and Maris Hovee are a formidable duo when not in foul trouble.

The rebounding stat is one of the biggest reasons why Wheaton misses Laura Karsten. She was the team's leading rebounder last year (4th in the CCIW). Having a perimeter player who rebounds like that takes a lot of pressure off of the posts. And you're right, she will help everybody out on offense just by being there.

Wheaton's tough schedule early on will be a benefit down the road. They should be right in the thick of things in conference play.

RogK · November 22, 2011, 12:24:23 PM

Congratulations to Meghan Merklein of Elmhurst, the first CCIW Player of the Week. Leading the Jays to a 3-0 start, she scored 22.3 per game and grabbed 25 rebounds. Her overall FG pct so far is .605.
Today's game at Elmhurst tips off at 5:00, by the way.

iwu70 · November 22, 2011, 12:37:45 PM

That's a great first week for Meghan Merklein. Nice numbers. Congrats to her. I thought Olivia Lett might win it with her really great first two games in WI. I can see why Meghan is/was honored.

How long is Kasten likely to be out, still playing soccer, right? Is Wheaton in the national semis now?

Titans have a tough road game at UWWW on Wednesday night. Thanks to MU for beating them earlier.

IWU70

RogK · November 22, 2011, 01:22:30 PM

iwu70, Kasten is recent Augie player Lani Kasten. Laura Karsten is the Wheaton player. She's in the soccer final four on December 2 and 3 in San Antonio.
I'm sure that Lett got some consideration for Player of the Week, as hopefully did players from Augie (3-0) and Carthage (3-0).

iwu70 · November 22, 2011, 05:19:55 PM

Thanks, RogerK, for sorting me out. Yes, I meant Karsten @ Wheaton.

Good starts for Elmhurst, Carthage, Augie and IWU. I'm sure Wheaton will be very tough when soccer ends. heh? I wouldn't be too surprised to see three CCIW clubs ranked in the top 25 at some point this season.

I'm off to watch the Titan JV, and Titan varsity guys, vs. Monmouth. Campus is emptying out, students headed home for Thanksgiving break. I'm sure the crowd tonight will be rather light.

Happy Thanksgiving, good holiday break to all CCIW D3hoops chatsters.

IWU70

Backseat Driver · November 22, 2011, 08:40:02 PM

Wheaton 84
Aurora 51

Elisabeth Potts - 21 points in 24 minutes
Brooke Olson 15 points 7 assists
Lindsey Brenneman 9 points 9 boards
Lauren Graham 8 points 7 boards

Wheaton shot 44% from the field (30-68), 31% from 3-range (7-22), and 85% at the line (17-20). The Thunder out-rebounded Aurora 42-32.

Aurora is not a very good team, but a nice win for Wheaton going into the break. Hopefully the players don't eat so much that they don't leave enough room for an upset of #2 Chicago next Wednesday

Other results:

Elmhurst 63 - St. Mary's (MN) 58

#11 UW-Stevens Point 66 - Millikin 45

RogK · November 23, 2011, 11:38:05 AM

Backseat Driver, I agree with your earlier post complimenting the play of Wheaton freshman Lauren Graham. While she may have some things to work on, she is already a good scorer in the lane.
I attended Elmhurst's game yesterday. They weren't at their best, but still won. Meghan Merklein got her 1000th career point early in the game.
Megan Ney's 10 2nd half points were very helpful. The Jays have a pretty good freshman small forward, Tess Godhardt : very athletic and does many things well. Like Graham, she can improve on a thing or two, but she's off to a good start.
For a number of weeks (months?), Elmhurst will be without Kim Schwerdtmann who was on crutches. They'll miss her speed and ability to thieve the ball from opponents.
Carthage edged Benedictine by 20.

Gregory Sager · November 23, 2011, 02:00:13 PM

Quote from: Backseat Driver on November 22, 2011, 08:40:02 PM
Aurora is not a very good team, but a nice win for Wheaton going into the break. Hopefully the players don't eat so much that they don't leave enough room for an upset of #2 Chicago next Wednesday

I saw Chicago last night. The Maroons barely beat Lake Forest at Ratner. Granted, it's only one game, but I was not impressed by them.

Gregory Sager · November 26, 2011, 09:49:10 PM

Tough weekend for NPU out in Colorado Springs. The Vikings coughed up a four-point lead in the final half-minute of the game to fall to host Colorado College yesterday, 74-72, and then dropped a contest to FDU-Florham today, 65-54, as NPU falls to 2-3 on the season.

WUPHF · November 27, 2011, 03:39:56 PM

A last second three by Hendrix prevents Illinois Wesleyan from doubling up the score. Final 84-43. Wow.

iwu70 · November 27, 2011, 09:50:07 PM

IWU went 1-1 at the tournament at Wash U, losing first to DePauw, the beating Hendrix easily. Loss to DP was a "live by the three, die by the three" situation, and DP went on to beat Wash U in the tourney championship. So, IWU is now 3-2 during the first two weeks of the season. I believe they play U of Chicago @Ratner next. Would be nice to get the injured and ill players back. . . I'll be very happy if they end of 7-4 or 8-3 in this very tough pre-CCIW portion.

IWU70