WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Wheaton and North Central remain tied atop the standings at the conclusion of the first round-robin of CCIW play, with the two DuPage County schools each sitting at 6-1, and Millikin and Carthage two games back at 4-3.

[iwu70]

IWU vs. WC tonight.  Gabrielle Holness with miss a second game with an injury. 

Gonna be very tough for the Titans to make the CCIW tournament as things are going.  Titans really need to recruit some size, some rebounders to match up with the talented sophomores and freshmen on this team.

IWU70

[iwu70]

IWU holding their own vs. WC, leading 26-25 at the half.

'70

[iwu70]

Wheaton pulls away in the second half, clobbering the the Titans 72-46.  The Titans just don't have the offensive weapons right now to stay with the top tier CCIW teams.  Holness still side-lined.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

North Park defeated struggling Carthage in overtime last night in the crackerbox, 63-60. Liz Rehberger paved the way for the Vikings with 22 points and Amani Davis added 11, while Soly Roman and Nicole Kruckman had solid nights on the boards for NPU with 11 and 8 caroms, respectively. Carthage was paced by a much-improved Erin Quinn, who had a 21-6-6 night and really carried her team down the stretch and into the extra session, while Erin Thomas scored 13 and Alexis Hahn added 10. Taylor Boardman and Allison Riley had 7 and 6 rebounds, respectively, for the Lady Reds.

The game never should've gone to overtime. NPU shot a horrid 12-26 (46%) from the free-throw line, and blew an eight-point lead in the last four minutes of regulation. Fortunately for the homestanders, the Lady Reds lost both of their bigs (Boardman and Hahn) to fouls over the course of the second half, and Carthage simply didn't have the inside game to keep up with the Vikings in overtime.

The win now puts NPU one game in back of the three-way tie for third with Carthage, Elmhurst, and Millikin.

The Vikings have struggled mightily to close out games in CCIW play. It was great to see them overcome their free-throw woes and the fact that they blew a late lead, and finish out overtime with a huge win.

[gordonmann]

I watched the Carthage/Wheaton game on Saturday and the Lady Reds are tough to figure. With Quinn, Thomas, Hahn and Boardman, Carthage has the talent and front court/back court balance to be a Top 25 team. They don't shoot free throws very well and they turn the ball over a lot.

[iwu70]

Carthage over IWU 68-57.  Just too much size for IWU, again shooting poorly and being grossly out rebounded.  Titans got within 2 with about 5 minutes to go, them CC goes on a quick 9-0 run to pull away.  Similar story all year.  Titans now 2-7 in CCIW play, not likely to make the league tourney.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 66
Augustana 44

Rachel Torres: 16 pts, 5 asts, 3 stls
Annie Shain: 14 pts
Amani Davis: 11 pts
Liz Rehberger: 10 pts, 4 stls

Marissa Pezzopane: 10 pts, 10 rebs
Andrea McNally: 8 rebs

North Park dispensed with the problem of having to close out a nailbiter, which has been a chronic problem for the Vikings this season, by simply putting the steamroller to an outmanned Augustana squad. The Park looked very sharp in all phases of the game, and, after scoring the first nine points of the game, never looked back. NPU had a lead as big as 27 in the second half in what has to be seen as a nice confidence-builder -- especially for sophomore Rachel Torres, who has had an up-and-down season. She's never been anything less than a reliable defender, but last night she also looked as sharp at the offensive end as she has all year.

NPU is right in the thick of things in terms of the race for a conference tournament spot.

[Gregory Sager]

In the battle for first place in the airplane hangar yesterday, Wheaton cruised to a 109-60 win over North Central. I wouldn't make too much out of the lopsidedness of that score, however, since the Arseneault system that NCC employs lends itself to exaggerated margins; when things click for the Cardinals, they win by much bigger scores than anyone else wins by, and when they aren't clicking, the same thing holds true in reverse. The more important issue is that Wheaton (8-1) now owns the first-place tiebreaker, having swept NCC (7-2).

Elmhurst won easily over Millikin at Faganel Hall yesterday, which means that EC and likewise-victorious Carthage broke the three-way logjam for third down to a two-way tie. They're both 5-4, with North Park and Millikin a game behind at 4-5.

[iwu70]

Titan folks, is Holness out for the rest of the year?

Titans just don't have the rebounding or adequate shooting percentage this year to compete with the top CCIW programs.  Gotta start thinking about next season, give some of the newbies more experience, build on the positives, esp. for the freshmen and sophomores in the program.  I'm optimistic about the next few seasons, esp. if Mia Smith can recruit some size, some rebounding and some paint scoring possibilities.  Gotta improve on lots of stuff for the coming few seasons, but I'm still quite optimistic that the Titans will bounce back and be in the top CCIW programs again in the coming few years.

IWU70

[iwu70]

IWU a much needed win over the Big Blue, 83-76.

Molly McGraw with a career night, 25 and 6 at The Shirk
Reaber 15
Gray 15.

Keep it going Titans.  The season is not over.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Pink Zone games at The Shirk this Saturday.  Hope everyone comes out and lends some support -- a good cause, the local Cancer Center. 

Go TITANS! 

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Final from the Griz:

North Park 65
Millikin 63

Nikki Przybyslawski: 15 pts, 4 asts
Amani Davis: 13 pts, 6 rebs
Annie Shain: 12 pts
Soly Roman: 11 rebs, 4 asts

Yip Ypya: 17 pts, 5 asts
Holly Haskins: 14 pts, 4 asts
Kelsey Going: 10 pts, 7 rebs
Rachael Weber: 10 pts, 4 asts
Emma Hoyer: 7 rebs

Over the course of NPU's last three games against Millikin, the Vikes had lost by 3, 1, and 2 points. Tonight, with leading scorer Liz Rehberger sidelined with an injury, the Vikings broke through and became the one that closed out the game between these two squads, rather than the one that got closed out.

The key to the win was Amani Davis, who kept penetrating into the back part of the lane and hit one big midrange shot after another. Annie Shain connected on four huge treys, Nikki P. and Rachel Torres did a nice job directing traffic, and the defense down the stretch by the Vikings was really solid. Even the treys that Millikin hit were shot with hands in their face.

Both teams came into this contest with 4-6 conference records, so it was basically do or die for both teams in terms of retaining a shot at fourth place. And North Park was the team that did rather than died. Nice work, Vikings!

[iwu70]

Titans go down to the system at The Shirk, 96-81.  Hung around most of the game, but just got worn down, in foul trouble, couldn't make shots when needed.

McGraw 23
Reaber 16
Ellsworth 11
Ehreshman 10

For EC
Goddhardt 24
Rowe 17

NCC plays a rotation of 19, running them in and out.  NCC 13-39 from three, IWU 1-7.  The system worked tonight.

Looked like a good crowd for Pink Zone game.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

team	W-L	2/11	2/14	2/21
Wheaton	10-1	@ MU	@ CC	vs. AC
North Central	9-2	@ CC	@ EC	vs. NPU
Carthage	6-5	vs. NCC	vs. WC	@ MU
Elmhurst	6-5	@ NPU	vs. NCC	@ IWU
North Park	5-6	vs. EC	vs. IWU	@ NCC
Millikin	4-7	vs. WC	@ AC	vs. CC
Illinois Wesleyan	3-8	@ AC	@ NPU	vs. EC
Augustana	1-10	vs. IWU	vs. MU	@ WC