WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[mark_reichert]

Good luck to the Titans this weekend -- first up on Saturday, #4 Wash U.  A great match-up.  If the Titans win that one, they likely get #1 DePauw. 

Here is the link for Live stats and video streaming:

http://www.depauw.edu/athletics/womens/basketball/midwestchallenge/

[Gregory Sager]

NPU trails Thomas More at the half, 40-25. It's easy to see why the Saints are the #8 team in the nation. Their combination of length and quickness is giving the Vikings fits, as the Park has turned the ball over 17 times already, 10 of them on Saints steals. TMC works a nice half-court trap game, but they're getting most of their steals from jumping passing lanes. NPU is also being beaten on the boards, 21-16. The one thing that's keeping this game from being a blowout thus far is the fact that the Saints aren't shooting very well.

North Park is really going to have to step it up in the second half by taking better care of the ball and not getting so many reach-in fouls.

[Gregory Sager]

Apparently, Thomas More has not one but several more gears than what the Saints showed in the first half. TMC absolutely blitzed NPU with a fistful of steals and easy layups at the start of the second half, and the Saints ran away and hid. The final score was 92-61 in favor of the Saints, and it could've been worse if the Saints coach hadn't emptied his bench with a full four minutes to go. TMC just stole the ball at will in the second half, pilfering 12 more steals for a total of 22 on the game. North Park just didn't recognize where the traps were coming from, and the Vikings threw away any number of errant passes rather than trying to step through the traps or wait for a teammate to come to their aid.

The only bright spots for NPU were Brittany Pittas, who scored 18, and McKenzie Wiedemann, who had four steals of her own. The Vikings were also outrebounded, 39-29.

Thomas More is as good a team as I've seen in a long, long time. The Saints are super-quick, they're deep, and they rotate and recover on defense about as well as anyone I can remember seeing. As badly as NPU was beaten today, playing a team like this is nevertheless a much, much more productive use of the schedule for the Park than is playing the likes of an Aurora or an IIT. The young Vikings will be a better team for having played a team like Thomas More.

Tomorrow will present a different set of challenges for NPU, as Centre (4-1) appears to be more of a half-court, grind-it-out kind of team.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Apparently, Thomas More has not one but several more gears than what the Saints showed in the first half. TMC absolutely blitzed NPU with a fistful of steals and easy layups at the start of the second half, and the Saints ran away and hid. The final score was 92-61 in favor of the Saints, and it could've been worse if the Saints coach hadn't emptied his bench with a full four minutes to go. TMC just stole the ball at will in the second half, pilfering 12 more steals for a total of 22 on the game. North Park just didn't recognize where the traps were coming from, and the Vikings threw away any number of errant passes rather than trying to step through the traps or wait for a teammate to come to their aid.

The only bright spots for NPU were Brittany Pittas, who scored 18, and McKenzie Wiedemann, who had four steals of her own. The Vikings were also outrebounded, 39-29.

Thomas More is as good a team as I've seen in a long, long time. The Saints are super-quick, they're deep, and they rotate and recover on defense about as well as anyone I can remember seeing. As badly as NPU was beaten today, playing a team like this is nevertheless a much, much more productive use of the schedule for the Park than is playing the likes of an Aurora or an IIT. The young Vikings will be a better team for having played a team like Thomas More.

Tomorrow will present a different set of challenges for NPU, as Centre (4-1) appears to be more of a half-court, grind-it-out kind of team.

Greg, you can't remember the IWU teams prior to last year??!!

(Or is 20 months ago 'a long, long time'?)

Other than that, the post seems about right.

[Gregory Sager]

Thomas More looked every bit as impressive as the Wesleyan team of two years ago, Chuck, national championship or no national championship. The Saints returned three starters from a 27-2 team, as well as four of last season's reserves who each averaged at least 15 mpg, and added a transfer from the U of Florida, Sydney Moss (daughter of former NFL star Randy Moss), who made the All-SEC Freshman team last season and is averaging 21.5 ppg this season for the Saints.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Thomas More looked every bit as impressive as the Wesleyan team of two years ago, Chuck, national championship or no national championship. The Saints returned three starters from a 27-2 team, as well as four of last season's reserves who each averaged at least 15 mpg, and added a transfer from the U of Florida, Sydney Moss (daughter of former NFL star Randy Moss), who made the All-SEC Freshman team last season and is averaging 21.5 ppg this season for the Saints.

I'll have to check them out when they play a good team.  I have my doubts that Sydney Moss is the equal of Olivia Lett, or that her supporting cast is the equal of Olivia's.  But I'll keep an open mind - or at least try to!!

[Gregory Sager]

Impressive win for Wheaton, as the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance beat UW-Whitewater, 66-62, despite the fact that Wheaton's top two scorers for the season didn't play tonight.

Luther dumped North Central in Naperville, 108-93, Wash U rolled over Illinois Wesleyan, 80-63, and Augustana edged Webster in the QC, 89-83.

The CCIW is now 27-13 on the season.

[RogK]

Maris Hovee set a team record with 22 rebounds in Wheaton's win. And she added 3 blocks, 3 steals and 5 assists. Pretty dang good!
Ellie Zeller scored 22.
Molly Etheridge had a wonderful game in Augie's win : 32 pts (10/16 FG, 3 threes, 9/11 FT), 9 rebs, 5 steals. Nicely done!
For NC, Larynn Shumaker had 17 pts and 7 rebs.
For IWU, Lexi Baltes had 19 pts and 10 rebs.

[Gregory Sager]

Overtime final from Kentucky:

North Park 82
Centre 72

Nikki Przybyslawski: 18 pts, 3 stls
Nicole Kruckman: 15 pts, 7 rebs
Brittany Pittas: 15 pts, 5:0 a:to
Rachel Torres: 11 pts
Dominikque Williams: 14 rebs, 5 stls

Today NPU did what #1 DePauw was unable to do: Beat Centre in only one overtime. Actually, this contest never should've gone to overtime, as NPU missed the front ends of one-and-ones at both the 00:17 and 00:10 marks of regulation while nursing a 66-63 lead, which allowed the Colonels to send the game into the extra session on a trey with two seconds left. I was thinking that this was going to be the day that NPU's chronic free-throw troubles would come back to bite the Vikings, but, after spotting Centre the first four points in OT, the Vikings came roaring back and actually put the game away at the charity stripe, hitting all eight of their free throws in OT.

It was a well-played, close game throughout, as neither team had a double-digit lead the entire afternoon until the Park went up by 10 towards the end of overtime. Down by eight points with 11 minutes and change remaining, the Vikings really stepped it up at the offensive end, as Nikki Przybyslawski, who played a terrific game, sparked the mini-comeback. In overtime it was Dominikque Williams who took over with her rebounding and defense, while Brittany Pittas and Nicole Kruckman were steady throughout the entire contest.

This was a good win for the young Vikings. Centre, which like North Park is now 5-2 on the year, is very solid and is comparable to a first-division CCIW team. It was especially good to see NPU bounce back strong after yesterday's discouraging defeat at the hands of Thomas More. Now the Vikings will get a week to fine-tune things in practice before traveling to Michigan next Sunday to face Olivet (4-1).

[iwu70]

IWU over Illinois College 92-79 for third place in the DePauw Tip Off tourney.  Another good scoring game by Colleen MacMahon and five Titans in double figures, Titans having their biggest offensive production of the season so far.  As I expected, Titans come out of this weekend with a 1-1, so now 4-3 overall.  The gauntlet continues now @ Chicago.

Did not see what happened between Wash U and DePauw in the championship tilt.

IWU

[iwu70]

DP over Wash U 74-62

'70

[RogK]

Carthage had a very impressive 52-25 2nd half and topped U of Chicago 80-65. The host Maroons looked pretty good in their 40-28 1st half.
But Carthage's Stephanie Kuzmanic scored 22 of her 30 in the 2nd half and Kristi Schmidt scored 19 of her 25 in that half, as well. Michelle Wenzel was very sharp too, with 6 blocks, 17 rebs and 14 pts.

[RogK]

The aforementioned Sydney Moss scored 38 yesterday; evidently she's pretty good. Not having seen her, I certainly couldn't compare her to Olivia Lett.
Olivia was good at all aspects of the game, but what was extraordinary about her in my view was her ability to get a good shot off while being guarded tightly. She had that sideways mid-air fadeaway that was tough to stop.

[RogK]

Congratulations to Molly Etheridge, new CCIW Player of the Week!

[Gregory Sager]

She's more than "pretty good," Rog. Sydney Moss is averaging 24.8 ppg and 10.6 rpg while playing a wing position, and she's shooting 52% from the field, 35% from downtown, and 80% from the line while only playing about 30 minutes per game. And she's only a sophomore.

Again, she made the All-SEC Freshman Team last season. She played in all 37 games for the Florida Gators, starting 24 of them and averaging 11.8 ppg and 6.8 rpg. That's no small potatoes.

Of course Chuck is not going to give her credit because of this Olivia Lett thing ... but he bleeds green and you don't, Rog.