WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[thunder38]

Wheaton beats Carthage 51-49...Wheaton shoots just 27% from the field as Carthage made a great move going to a match-up zone but Lindsey Brenneman had a huge game for the Thunder with 23 points.

[iwu70]

IWU pounds NCC tonight, 95-54.

Olivia Lett 23 and 9, 5 assist, 5 steals.
Melissa Gardner 16, 4-6 from treyland
Michelle Bilek 14 and a fine game running the floor.

Run and jump did the trick in the latter part of the first half, as Titans led 53-27 at the half.  The entire Titan roster got substantial playing time tonight.  Lexi Baltes also had a nice game.

Delighted to see Wheaton's win over Carthage, giving the Titans a full two-game lead out in front of the CCIW field with three games to play.

Drive for five in sight . . .

IWU70

[Backseat Driver]

Nice to see Wheaton win an important game on the road, even while shooting poorly. I suspect the Thunder will see Carthage again in a few weeks.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU held off Augustana in a sloppy but intense game, 52-44. It was a fairly strange contest; Augie outshot NPU (the home Vikes were particularly bad from downtown, going 1-for-16) and outrebounded the Park by a healthy margin as well. But a whopping 23 turnovers, a lot of them unforced, spelled doom for Augie. Roxie Jones was dominant, scoring 22 points and grabbing six boards. Gianna Pecora led Augustana with 15 points, while Natalie Runge had a 9 and 9 game before fouling out.

[Backseat Driver]

Millikin put together a monster second half, scoring 52 points, to knock off Elmhurst 83-75 at R.A. Faganel Hall. This puts the Big Blue just one game behind Elmhurst now.

Elmhurst's remaining games are @ Augie, vs. Carthage, and @ IWU
Millikin's remaining games are vs. North Park, vs. IWU, and @ NCC

It will be interesting to see what happens here. If these games play out according to the current standings, we'll see a tie at 8-6. In that scenario, I believe Millikin would be awarded the #4 seed based on the "record in last seven conference games" tiebraker.

http://cciw.org/sports/2010/6/29/Gen._0629100226.aspx?id=616

However, games don't always go according to plan. That's why they play them. There are several other scenarios that could take place as well.

[iwu70]

I expect Millikin to surpass EC and gain the fourth spot in the CCIW tournament.  Yes, could be IWU vs. MU and WC vs. Carthage in the tournament upcoming.  Still several key games to be played, but that's my guess on recent form and earlier games played.

Hoping for the CCIW tournament to be hosted by IWU, @The Shirk.

IWU70

[Backseat Driver]

I expect Millikin to surpass EC and gain the fourth spot in the CCIW tournament.  Yes, could be IWU vs. MU and WC vs. Carthage in the tournament upcoming.  Still several key games to be played, but that's my guess on recent form and earlier games played.

Hoping for the CCIW tournament to be hosted by IWU, @The Shirk.

IWU70

I think IWU definitely has the toughest schedule remaining among the top teams (@ Carthage, @ Millikin, vs. Elmhurst). However, I suspect that the Titans will find a way to win at least two of those games in order to clinch the top spot.

[iwu70]

BackSeatDriver, I agree with you.  Titans do have three tough games left.  Hope the Titans can win all three, get to 20 wins on the regular season, though 2 of 3 will probably do the trick, get to the successful end of the drive for five CCIW championships.  The Titans are playing very very well, and everyone is getting healthier, playing well together now.  Solari was back, perhaps not at full strength as yet, but did play some effective minutes vs. NCC.  Still issues to work on, consistency in the post area etc., perhaps a bit too much fouling at points, in the post and also on the "run and jump."  But, basically a very battle-tested team now, hopefully ready for a successful CCIW tourney at home and a good run in the DIII dance.  Stay tuned.  Sure do like the play of IWU's other "unsung" players: McMahon, Baltes, Bilek, Burton, Scurlock, etc.  We always know what we will get from Lett, Gardner and Hasselbring -- consistent, hard-driving excellence, night in and night out.

GO TITANS!!!

IWU70

[RogK]

Greg used the terms sloppy, intense and strange to describe the Augie / NP game. He was being nice. I'd say both teams played well enough to lose.
If anyone wanted to understand why these teams inhabit the bottom of the CCIW standings, this game could be Exhibit A.  Both teams gave a solid effort on defense, as do all of the teams above them in the league. Defense alone does not win championships. What keeps Augie and North Park down are their sporadically-effective offenses. Neither team shows any interest in regularly pushing the ball up the court to look for a quick open shot before the defense settles in. So, they do not put that type of stress on the opposition's defense. And apparently neither team is well-stocked (one or two is not enough) with good 3FG shooters, another factor that makes things easy for the opposing defense.
You might look at the 52-44 final and imagine that both teams played excellent defense, but really it was more a matter of pretty good defenses facing a pair of slow, sputtering offenses, fetid shooting, ridiculous turnovers.
Admittedly, I don't see Augie much, but there could be a few reasons why they are 12-69 in conference play during the last 6 seasons. They were not a happy bunch when NP began to pull away late in the game. When Augie decided it was time to stop the clock by fouling NP, there was a potentially dangerous hand-on-the-shoulder pull-down from behind, deliberate foul. Fortunately, Shaina Yalda was not seriously injured on the play. It appeared that the prospect of another loss within another subpar season had some Augie players a bit frustrated.
North Park can be happy for winning, but they can't be satisfied.
One thing I noted in this and another recent NP game that I found to be strange : once or twice, NP put on some fullcourt pressure with 2 or 3 players, but as soon as they trapped someone, they immediately ran away, untrapping the opponent. What the fun is that? Why not maintain the trap and force the opponent to use a timeout, or maybe make an errant pass? Very odd.

[RogK]

A couple of compliments for North Park: Shaina Yalda did some sharp ballhandling and defended well. Sarah Peterson (along with Roxie Jones) was a key contributor for NP -- for example, in the space of about 15 seconds, she took a charge, Runge's 4th foul, and then got a hoop-plus-one, Runge's 5th foul. Things went poorly thereafter for Augie.

[RogK]

Only 12 FT attempts in that Wheaton (9 of 'em) / Carthage (3) game. No one has yet mentioned here that Diana Jacklin had 10 pts (5/10 FG), 19 rebounds and 4 blocks.

[iwu70]

Wow, Jacklin is a monster on the boards.  A very nice line.  Titans will have their hands full in Kenosha, no doubt.  Previous game here at IWU was perhaps the best CCIW game -- men or women -- I've seen all season.  I imagine Lett and a number of other Titan post players will have their chances stopping/guarding Ms. Jacklin this weekend.   Wish I could get up to Kenoshaland for the rematch this weekend.

Down the stretch we go.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

A couple of compliments for North Park: Shaina Yalda did some sharp ballhandling and defended well. Sarah Peterson (along with Roxie Jones) was a key contributor for NP -- for example, in the space of about 15 seconds, she took a charge, Runge's 4th foul, and then got a hoop-plus-one, Runge's 5th foul. Things went poorly thereafter for Augie.

I'm glad that you pointed that out, Rog, because that sequence was the turning point in the game.

NPU and Augie were not only tied at that point, 31-31, with seven and a half minutes to play, but they had been neck-and-neck almost the entire way up until then. The biggest lead that either team had enjoyed, Augie's early five-point (10-5) margin a little more than eight minutes into the game, had lasted for a grand total of 16 seconds before NPU's Kayla McCall hit a trey to knock the Augie lead down to two. That 31-31 tie was the sixth tied score of the game, and the lead had changed hands 11 different times up to that point. In other words, there was no separation at all between the two teams over the first 32 1/2 minutes of the game.

Sarah Peterson took a charge under the basket by Natalie Runge, Augie's top scorer, top rebounder, and best player, with 7:27 to go. It was Runge's fourth foul. The ball was inbounded by NPU before Augie head coach Bobbi Endress could get a sub into the game in order to save Runge. Sarah Peterson touches the ball on pretty much every North Park possession, and when she got the ball in her hands on this particular possession she deliberately drove at Runge and got the and-one with 7:14 to go that ended Runge's night. Not only did that remove Augustana's best scoring threat from the game, it also irreparably damaged Augie's control of the boards. Augie had ruled the glass up to that point in the game, 33-23. From the time Runge fouled out onward, NPU won the boards, 11-8. After one more brief tie at 34-34, NPU pulled away.

Sarah Peterson has a very high basketball IQ. Without any prompting from the bench, she knew that Runge had four fouls and was forced to stay in the game and play defense until the next stoppage of play. Sarah took advantage of it, got Runge out of the game, and set up NPU for the win.

[RogK]

Backseat Driver, can I "put you on the spot" and ask which three Thunder players should make all-CCIW? I don't think they'll get 4. I'm thinking that Potts, Olson, Brenneman and Karsten would be likely.

[Backer]

Backseat Driver, can I "put you on the spot" and ask which three Thunder players should make all-CCIW? I don't think they'll get 4. I'm thinking that Potts, Olson, Brenneman and Karsten would be likely.

Newb question: do teams typically get "so many" slots based their records?