WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

NPU is up at the half at Augie, 31-17, as nine NPU players scored in the opening stanza. However, I'm much more concerned about the health of NPU senior shooting guard Dana Christensen. She went down early in the half and had to be carried off the floor. I missed the play, because the webstream was buffering at the time. Sure hope she's alright.

UPDATE: Dana limped across the floor with the rest of the North Park squad at the end of halftime. She's still in uniform. While I doubt that she'll play any more tonight, that was a great sign that she might not be as badly hurt as I initially feared.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 46
Augustana 38

The importance of good defense can never be overestimated. NPU's offense went into a seasonally-appropriate deep freeze in the second half, as at one stretch the Park went over nine minutes without scoring. But, to give an indication of how well the visiting Vikings played defense, that nine-minute-plus drought started with NPU up by 14 at the 18:06 mark, and when it ended at the 8:57 mark on Nicole Kruckman's successful jumper North Park was still up by 12. Augie did manage to whittle it all the way down to a four-point margin with five minutes left, but that's as close as the Doggies got. NPU mustered just enough offense in the waning minutes to hold Augie at bay, in spite of a second half that saw them go only 5-25 (20%) from the field. The bigger story, though, was that Augie shot only 29% from the field for the entire game.

Kamauria Acree led NPU in scoring with 11 points, and she shared high-rebounding honors with Sarah Peterson, as each collected six caroms. Augie's Jessica Baids led everyone in scoring with 14 points, while Kayla Boers gathered eight rebounds.

Augie's not what I'd call a tremendously talented team, but that squad does play with solid discipline on the defensive end and really knows how to trap and press well. While it's clearly a second-division team, I wouldn't be surprised if Augie managed to pull off an upset or two in CCIW play.

It was unpretty and occasionally frustrating to watch, but any road win in this league is a good one. NPU will take it.

[iwu70]

WC over IWU 66-62 @Wheaton.   IWU was down as much as 16 with only 5 or so minutes to go but fought all the way back, almost to a one possession game, but couldn't quite get over the hump, not quite enough possessions to let the run and jump do its work.  Haven't seen the box but I would bet the Thunder outrebounded the Titans rather significally.  No sign of Shelby Jackson, so Titans very perimeter orientated.  The Titans really need some stronger post presence.  Wheaton has that.

More after I see the boxscore.

IWU70

Congrats to NP on their win vs. Augie.  A road win is always welcome in CCIW play.

[Backseat Driver]

IWU/Wheaton boxscore: http://athletics.wheaton.edu/boxscore.aspx?id=2946&path=wbball

Wheaton led this game by 19 with six minutes to play before IWU went on one of their patented runs and had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. The Thunder won this game by pretty thoroughly controlling the game from the 10 minute mark of the first half on, until IWU's big run at the end.

Wheaton shot 14% from 3, 60% from the line, and had 26 turnovers, but they did indeed out-rebound the Titans 48-36. And Wheaton's overall defensive effort was very strong, limiting IWU to 31% shooting from the field. No Lauren Graham for the Thunder, but Hannah Considine and Maris Hovee had big games in the post and combined for 19 points and 25 rebounds. Shelby Jackson will make a big difference for IWU when she can come back.

Very strong game for Colleen McMahon, 25 points. She really carried IWU on the offensive end.

Wheaton got really good contributions from the bench tonight, and that was key. This is a big win for the Thunder, but there are 13 games to go. I think the Thunder showed what they're capable of, now it's a matter of staying consistent over a long, tough CCIW season.

EDIT: This was Wheaton's 14th straight win @ King Arena. Recap: http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2013/1/2/WBB_0102133438.aspx

[Backseat Driver]

Carthage 83
@Millikin 57


@Elmhurst 97
North Central 90

[Naperick]

Carthage 83
@Millikin 57


@Elmhurst 97
North Central 88

All of the North Central games will be interesting this year.

[Backseat Driver]

Carthage 83
@Millikin 57


@Elmhurst 97
North Central 88

All of the North Central games will be interesting this year.

Indeed. I was surprised by Carthage's walloping of Millikin, not as much by the NCC/Elmhurst result.

[thunder38]

I'll be intrigued by Wheaton's response on Saturday in Naperville. Last year they knocked off the Titans at home and then went on the road and laid an egg in Decatur. Wheaton is 1-3 the last two years in the game after they play IWU and the Thunder looked a little tired at the end of the game last night. How will the legs respond and prepare to get up and down the floor with the Cardinals?

Wheaton looks like they have a pretty good ballhandler in the freshmen Ellie Zeller and Moriah Reeves but last night veteran Jenn Lee struggled with the trap so outside of Olson who will step up and be able to handle the ball against the Cardinal press. The concern for Wheaton is that the pace of play will likely negate Wheaton's big post advantage with Hovee. Considine looks like she can get and down for a while but this is a game that would be perfect for Lauren Graham but obviously she's still recovering from the foot injury.

Props to the Titans last night on making things interesting at the end. Extreme trust and extreme discipline by Mia Smith with her guards keeping Baltes and Gardner in the game in the first half when both picked up their third fouls and sticking with Baltes when she picked up her fourth at the 10 minute mark in the second half.

Surprising to me that Wheaton was able to win a game against the likes of Illinois Wesleyan by shooting just 2/14 from beyond the arc, struggling at the free throw line and losing the turnover battle. Last year it took Wheaton a school record 12 3's to score the upset over Wesleyan but shows the narrowing of the gap between these two teams this year.

[RogK]

I attended the 97-90 Elmhurst win over North Central and my reaction to it is YOWZAH! An action-packed contest to say the least. To begin with, my expectations for the offense strategies of both teams were off or way off. I thought Elmhurst would try to use up most of their shot clocks -- they didn't (until late in the game) and in fact matched NC for speed, getting loads of fast break scoring, much from Fiona McMahon, who tallied career highs of 36 pts and 16 rebs. NC also surprised me by driving to the hoop so much, foregoing at least ten decent 3-point opportunities. They did shoot 39 3FG att, but came in averaging 47 and presumably want to launch 50 or 60? Shows ya what I know.
Elmhurst jumped out to a quick lead and was up 53-41 at intermission, extending it to 68-46 a few minutes later. NC fought back and eventually were within 4 at 81-77. EC finished it out to get the victory.
Even though EC committed 38 turnovers, I thought ALL of their guards did well passing and dribbling through relentless NC trapping. NC was credited with 28 steals, including 6 by Bobbi Johns (developing into quite a fine player), 5 by Paula Elum and 4 by Amanda Hoye.
Among the action was a huge collision between the strongest players from each team : Larynn Shumaker was chasing an Elmhurst guard dribbling in EC's backcourt and ran into a wall-like pick set by Fiona McMahon. This knocked Shumaker onto her backside. McMahon stood for a moment and then did a slowmotion backwards somersault as the effect of Shumaker's momentum set in. Wow.
Another collision happened later on when Amanda Hoye (pretty sure it was her) was driving to the hoop and EC's Tess Godhardt took a charge, but suffered immediate pain in the shoulder area and was writhing alarmingly on the floor. I asked former Bluejays Brittany Bobruk and Lindsay Long who were in the stands near me if they thought it might be a dislocated shoulder and they guessed it could also be a collarbone injury. Godhardt had to leave the game, but because she is an extraordinarily tough competitor she returned to play later on. Hopefully there is no lingering problem. Tess finished with 22 pts and 6 rebs in 26:00; she also helped often with good passes.
It was a hardfought game; by the end, McMahon had a bandaged nose and Elum had a bandaged chin.
Another memorable play was when Shumaker fired an amazing line-drive crosscourt pass to an open Kelsey Cooling who then sank a three. (The stat people forgot to credit an assist, incidentally.) Shumaker (6/9 FG, 7/9 FT) topped NC with 19 pts in 18:00.
A minor disappointment is that 3 or 4 Bluejays used an old game-delaying ploy of re-tying shoelaces to extend stoppages of play. Not sure if Coach Carrillo told them to cease doing that or if a ref advised that a tech could be forthcoming. Didn't happen in the 2nd half if I recall correctly.
Anyway, quite a game and if there wasn't a rivalry before, there could be one now.

[RogK]

From the Carthage/Millikin stats : Carthage won the rebounding 40-20, they shot 30/55 overall FGs and a Lady Red hot 11/20 3FGs, not to mention 12 of 14 FTs. Cailee Corcoran had 18 pts plus 13 rebs, Haley Stercic took 9 shots and scored 17 pts (not bad!), while Stephanie Kuzmanic totalled 16 pts, 8 assists, 7 rebs and 4 steals.
A very sharp start for Carthage. Millikin scorers were led by Alyssa Saklak with 16.

[Backseat Driver]

I just watched the video on the IWU website of their banner hanging ceremony for the national championship. I was struck by two things:

1) What Mia Smith and the Titans have accomplished over the last 5 years, culminating in a national championship, is pretty darn impressive. You've got to tip your cap.

2) Everyone in the Shirk Center, including the IWU players and coaching staff, erupted into thunderous applause when Dennie Bridges mentioned that IWU beat Carthage 4 times last year. Methinks there's no love lost between those two teams 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Re: #2

I don't know whether there is any animosity, but I would suspect it was more respect than 'hatred'.  Last year Carthage went 23-4 against everyone else; 0-4 against the Titans.

[Backseat Driver]

Re: #2

I don't know whether there is any animosity, but I would suspect it was more respect than 'hatred'.  Last year Carthage went 23-4 against everyone else; 0-4 against the Titans.

I just found the cheering and applause to be funny. I'm sure there's no hatred, but that doesn't mean they like each other.

[D-3 watcher]

They do not root for each other, would be putting it lightly

[Backseat Driver]

North Park up 32-21 over Millikin at the half in Chicago.