WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

A few notes on the Elmhurst game : North Central hung in pretty well, but looked bad at the end. EC's Devin Vaughn (15 pts) hit 2 FTs to put the Jays up by 5 with 18 seconds left. NC could not get a shot up, wasting most of the :18. Following a timeout, they scored a harmless last-second layup. The defeat eliminated NC from CCIW playoff contention.
One NC player that caught my attention for her energetic play was guard Bobbi Johns; she runs faster while dribbling than most players run not dribbling.
EC's Megan Ney blocked 6 shots, which certainly helped the Bluejays to victory. The Jays missed Meghan Merklein, who had 31 pts in the earlier EC/NC matchup. She is hoping to play Saturday vs Wheaton.

[RogK]

Diana Jacklin outscored North Park 19-18 in the 1st half last night. May be why 4 of 5 Viking starters did not play in the 2nd half.

[iwu70]

Ypsi, you are right about the big games on Saturday.  I'll also be cheering for the home teams, but given recent efforts and performance, I think Carthage and Wheaton will win.  We'll see.   Would be nice for the Titans to have a full two game lead going into Kenosha, but I doubt that will happen.

Strange game last night at Augie.  Titans didn't play all that well, had Lett on the bench for long stretches, but some other players stepped up and played well, especially Brittany Hasselbring, with 14, 9 rebounds, five assists and five steals -- something like that -- really quite a nice line.  Baltes and Bilek are also making good contributions.  Still worried about the post area, with Solari not playing, Jackson and Burton up and down with their play and contributions.  In some ways, the Titans do play with a five guard scheme at certain points!  If the Titans get all cylinders firing at once, they are going to be awfully tough in these final 4-5 games.  Sure would like to see us get to 20 wins in the regular season. 

Pink Zone events this weekend at The Shirk -- with Keck Invitational track and field, Alums vs. JVs, women's and men's games all the same day.  Plenty of chances for the fans to enjoy themselves . . . and donate to a good cause! 

Good luck to all the Titan teams and athletes this weekend . . . and then, the Superbowl!  Not sure who I want to cheer for in that one . . . Pats or Giants?

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Diana Jacklin outscored North Park 19-18 in the 1st half last night. May be why 4 of 5 Viking starters did not play in the 2nd half.

That's exactly what happened, for the most part. The Vikings played so poorly in the first half, going into the locker room trailing, 37-18, that Amanda Reese replaced all five starters with the end of the bench, plus backup center Becca Heimsath, to start the second half. Heimsath, Deima Thompson, and Anti Collman were the only members of the regular rotation who saw the floor in the second half for NPU. It was an opportunity for Amanda Reese to teach a lesson to her team about playing hard, and I hope that the Vikings regulars took it to heart.

The Vikings bench played about as well as anyone would've expected, but they did bring an energy and effort that was lacking from the regulars. Natalie Cerda, Kayla Scoggins, and Kayla McCall, in particular, looked like they belonged out there against a top CCIW foe. In fact, the NPU reserves managed to frustrate Carthage coach Tim Bernero to the point where he actually brought his starters back in with 8:02 left. Carthage was up by 29 at that point, so of course the game was over for all intents and purposes. But it did demonstrate that the effort was there on NPU's part when a lot of other teams would've just shut it down and waited for the game to end. That's why I think that Amanda's decision was sound from a teaching standpoint.

NPU was led by Anti Collman's ten points. Diana Jacklin, who finished with 22 and 12 for Carthage in only 24 minutes of play, is IMHO the second-best player in the league behind Olivia Lett of Wesleyan.

Sarah Peterson of NPU sustained an injury to her shooting wrist at the end of the first half that looked pretty serious. I sure hope she's OK. If anyone can play through an injury, though, it's Sarah Peterson. She is as tough as nails.

[RogK]

I agree with you, Greg, that Sarah is one tough player. But, since NP is effectively out-of-it, playoff-wise, I hope she errs on the side of long-term health, rather than risk further damage (if there is damage). You concur with that sentiment, I'm sure.
She definitely gets clobbered around as much as anyone in the league and picks herself up and gets back at it. Her shooting is a bit awry lately, but other than that, there ain't much to complain about.

[Gregory Sager]

Sure, I don't want to see Sarah make an injury worse. But she's a team player, and she feels a sense of responsibility to her teammates. NPU does count upon her to do an awful lot of things out on the floor, and she's aware of that.

[RogK]

CCIW so far --
HOME W-L : Carthage, Ill Wesleyan and Wheaton 4-0, Elmhurst 4-1, Millikin 3-1, Augustana 1-5, N Central 0-4, N Park 0-5.
ROAD W-L : Ill Wesleyan 4-1, Elmhurst 3-1, Carthage 3-2, N Park 2-2, Millikin and Wheaton 2-3, Augustana 0-3, N Central 0-5. 

[iwu70]

Thanks, RogK, for the rundown.

Sure would like to see my Titans get to a two full game lead in the conference standings soon.  Word here is that Karen Solari continues to have a ankle problem, not her surgery repaired knee.  Not sure when she might return, or what plan of healing and recovery they have to get her ready for the Carthage game, or perhaps fully recovered for potential post-season games.  Perhaps the others -- esp. Jackson and Burton -- have to step up, or Mia goes with her faster, smaller, more perimeter-oriented group, and uses the "run and jump" more extensively.  My guess is the latter, for now. 

Britt Hasselbring had an outstanding game @AC.  14 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals . . . in 35 minutes.  A great scoreline.  Stepping up with Lett in foul trouble, and sitting on the bench much of the second half.  Britt's best game of the season.

Five games to go.  Drive for five still in gear. 

IWU70

[thunder38]

Well Carthage holds off Millikin despite a Crystal Ziegler half-court heave at the buzzer.  You would've thought by listening that Ziegler's heave won Millikin the CCIW title or something instead of helping them cover the spread. 

Can they not find anybody better or even slightly more professional to call Millikin games down there?  Especially with their radio coverage, I would expect them to care about the product they're rolling out but maybe I'm wrong.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Kudos to NPU!  The game was over at half-time, with the Titans up by 25.  But the Lake Vikings refused to admit it, and ended up winning the second half by 11.  The game was never really in doubt (the closest deficit was 10), but they definitely showed moxie!   The Titans were forced to bring back some starters, and Olivia Lett quickly stemmed the tide (I believe she finished with 27).

Rather different from the recent Augie destruction (98-28) of the Millikin men, where Augie's bench continued to pad the lead against Millikin's starters!

[Gregory Sager]

The game just seems to go too fast for NPU against the better teams, such as Wesleyan and Carthage, and the Vikings (the campus is on a river, Chuck, not on a lake ) were a step behind on everything throughout the first half, as they went into the locker room trailing by the gigantic deficit of 48-23. But in the second half Amanda Reese went to a smaller lineup (I don't think Roxie Jones played at all in the second stanza, and Becca Heimsath saw only a couple of brief cameos) of four guards plus Sarah Peterson (11 pts, 13 rebs), and the Vikings started chipping away at the big IWU lead. Anti Collman (12 pts) was the key, and sophomores Kamauria Acree and Dominkque Williams also played well during the comeback. The Vikes had it down to ten with five and a half minutes to go, and eleven with under four to go, but they simply ran out of gas. They went into chucker mode, took poor shots, and didn't get back in transition -- plus, Olivia Lett basically took over the game at that point.

Not a good result in the end for the Park, but I'm encouraged by the way that the Vikings hung around and didn't simply concede a big loss. They played 100% better this afternoon than they did at home against Carthage on Wednesday. I applaud the effort by NPU today.

[Gregory Sager]

It was also great to see Sarah Peterson out on the floor today, seemingly no worse for wear despite the wrist injury.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg, Augie is on (or near) a RIVER; NPU is on (in comparison) a creek!  On the other hand, NPU is near a LAKE; Augie is near a lot of swampland and cornfields!

Nonetheless, in deference to your feelings, I will go with the East Viking-West Viking meme from now on, instead of (IMO) the more poetic Lake Vikings-River Vikings.

[Gregory Sager]

I prefer Good Vikings and Evil Vikings, myself.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I prefer Good Vikings and Evil Vikings, myself.

Understood, but you and dansand might view the terms differently!