WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[badgerwarhawk]

The WARHAWKS had their way with the Titans last night 96-79.  Wesleyan struggled in the first half particularly the last half of the second quarter when the WARHAWKS made an 11-0 run to go up 53-29 at the half.  It got pretty much out of hand when we started the second half with another run and the lead ballooned to a high of thirty one 70-39 midway through the third quarter.  Wesleyan did play better after that and cut the lead down to seventeen on multiple occasions in the final stanza but that's as close as it would get.  Wesleyan shot decently in the first half (45%) but the WARHAWKS shot 63.6% and our pressure defense forced 17 Titan turnovers.  Wesleyan shot 58.8% in the second half and played much better actually outscoring the WARHAWKS 50-43 and limiting turnovers to seven.  The WARHAWKS primary scoring advantages came off of turnovers 32-14,  from the bench 39-25 and in the paint 42-30.

For the Titans:
Molly McGraw: 22 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals
Rebekah Ehresman: 19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 block
Maddie Merritt: 11 points
Gabrielle Holness: 10 points

WARHAWKS sophomore guard, Brooke Trewyn, led all scorers with a career high 25 points.

[gordonmann]

Greg, was it the Trine women who went System a few years back?  I believe they (or whoever it is I'm thinking of) abandoned it after just a few seasons.

Muhlenberg out of Allentown, PA adopted the System and then abandoned it shortly after that. That was a while ago.

[jaybird44]

Wash-U will host the Midwest Challenge tournament this weekend at the Fieldhouse.  Good early-season barometer matchups that will give the teams a good look at what they are doing well, and what needs improvement.

Saturday:  DePauw vs. Illinois Wesleyan, 1 pm CDT (both teams 2-1)/Wash-U (2-1) vs. Illinois College (3-0), 3:00
Sunday:  Consolation game 1:00, Championship game 3:00

The national championship pedigrees of Wash-U, DePauw, and Illinois Wesleyan are well-known, but don't sleep on Illinois College--the Lady Blues have had two winning seasons in a row and bring a bumper crop of height to the Fieldhouse--6 players at 5'11" or 6'.  3 more at 5'10".

Should be fun to watch in person, or join me at http://bearsports.wustl.edu and click on "Live Games" for your game of choice.

[GoPerry]

A pretty disappointing effort by the Thunder ladies, losing at home to #11Hope 68-49 on Tuesday.  Wheaton didn't come out very well to open the game, missed their first 6 or 7 shots and went down 8-0 early, but settled down nicely enough to trail by 1 at half.  But then once again they didn't seem ready to control the game coming out in the 3rd with long stretches of very little offensive output.  They had a bad night shooting, only 25% from the field and that will happen on some nights.  So while no team will go far scoring only 12 pts in a quarter, this is especially so when your defense allows 29 pts like Wheaton did.  It never got close after that.

If this is an early season gauge of competitiveness vs a nationally ranked foe, then Kent Madsen's crew has some work to do.  Despite their terrible shooting performance, shooting a mere 25% for the game, this team has plenty of offense.  Taking their defensive intensity up a notch when they play the top teams might be their hurdle.  They now play 6 straight road games before CCIW play begins including nationally ranked St Thomas and possibly UW-Oshkosh after Christmas. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Wash-U will host the Midwest Challenge tournament this weekend at the Fieldhouse.  Good early-season barometer matchups that will give the teams a good look at what they are doing well, and what needs improvement.

Saturday:  DePauw vs. Illinois Wesleyan, 1 pm CDT (both teams 2-1)/Wash-U (2-1) vs. Illinois College (3-0), 3:00
Sunday:  Consolation game 1:00, Championship game 3:00

The national championship pedigrees of Wash-U, DePauw, and Illinois Wesleyan are well-known, but don't sleep on Illinois College--the Lady Blues have had two winning seasons in a row and bring a bumper crop of height to the Fieldhouse--6 players at 5'11" or 6'.  3 more at 5'10".

Should be fun to watch in person, or join me at http://bearsports.wustl.edu and click on "Live Games" for your game of choice.

WashU 69, IL Col 51
DePauw 70, IWU 54

It's early, but might be more than a one year dip for the Titans.  But with Mia Smith, they WILL be back to the top.

With NO evidence whatsoever, I'm still gonna predict they will finish in the top four.  As Bosko would say: "Fifth place?  Impossible - we've never finished in fifth place."

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Greg, was it the Trine women who went System a few years back?  I believe they (or whoever it is I'm thinking of) abandoned it after just a few seasons.

Muhlenberg out of Allentown, PA adopted the System and then abandoned it shortly after that. That was a while ago.

Muhlenberg basically adopted it per the fact they didn't have team that was going to compete otherwise... so they decided to have fun. They quickly got better as a program after adopting the System and ran it for about a year and a half.

[iwu70]

Ypsi, I think for the IWU women to return to the top tier of the CCIW will depend on the fast development of the two freshmen bigs that IWU has now.  And, it seems the team needs more diverse scoring with greater help from Holness and Ellsworth.  So far, depending quite a lot on Ehresman and McGraw, the two very good sophomores.  This team is very young and will take time to develop, learn how to win and put teams away.  Not there yet.  But, I think later in the year or surely next year, things will look much better for Mia and the TITANS.

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Ypsi, I think for the IWU women to return to the top tier of the CCIW will depend on the fast development of the two freshmen bigs that IWU has now.  And, it seems the team needs more diverse scoring with greater help from Holness and Ellsworth.  So far, depending quite a lot on Ehresman and McGraw, the two very good sophomores.  This team is very young and will take time to develop, learn how to win and put teams away.  Not there yet.  But, I think later in the year or surely next year, things will look much better for Mia and the TITANS.

IWU70

Relying on freshmen and sophomores can be very frustrating in the short term, but is VERY encouraging for the long term!

I'm still gonna predict at least fourth for this year, and first or second for next year.

[iwu70]

Ypsi, the Titans have a longl long way to go.  So far, they are shooting it very poorly with several experienced players seemingly in a shooting slump -- Holness and McGraw.  Only Ehresman so far is playing well.  The newbies will take time to season up.  If this continues, the Titans will finish no where near the top four in the CCIW. 

IWU'70

[GoPerry]

Wheaton 67, Loras 64

The Thunder Ladies won today in not-so-impressive fashion.  If not for Katie McDaniels(24 pts, 4 assists, 3 steals) hitting some big shots down the stretch and a key steal to secure the victory, Wheaton might have gone home with the road loss.  Wheaton had trouble scoring inside with the size of DuHawks F 6'2"  Lori Obendorf looming and what team wouldn't?   However, the Thunder had too much trouble defending the constant pick/roll offense employed well by Loras, especially in the 4Q when the DuHawks came back from a 9 point deficit to take a 1 point lead with 25 seconds left.   

Wheaton is #10 in the polls but I'm really not sure about that ranking.   They are 7-1 but their only significant opponent , Hope, was a game they lost by 20.  They will need to be much better, pick up the defensive intensity, if they hope to stay with #7 St Thomas in their next game after Christmas followed by either #5 UW- Oshkosh or 6-1 Wartburg.

[iwu70]

WC really looking good.

IWU struggling.  Losing 68-50 to Point to go now 3-5 on the year.  The Titans are really struggling putting the ball in the basket with several key players in a real shooting slump.  Titans shoot 29% and 16% from treyland, like 3-21.  No one wins games shooting it like that.  Could be a long long year unless things look up on the shooting front pretty soon.  Titans were WAY down in this game, fought back some in the second half, but are just struggling to score the ball right now.  Still a very young team.

Still more tough games to go, esp Thomas More.      YIKES.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 70
Chicago 54

Gabby Sandoval: 16 pts, 3:1 a:to
Amani Davis: 14 pts
Soly  Román: 7 rebs

After a couple weeks of indifferent basketball from the Vikings, in which they lost both ends of their own tourney, walloped an Illinois Tech team that they could've beaten in their sleep, and struggled to top a not-all-that-good Aurora team by six, the Park really put it together today and buried a strong Maroons team that is ranked 19th in the coaches poll and is close to being ranked in the d3hoops.com poll.

The Vikings appeared to break open the game with a 12-0 run over the last five and a half minutes of the second quarter to take a 34-21 lead into the locker room. But the Maroons managed to cut the lead to four late in the third quarter. However, the Vikes opened up the final stanza with an 8-2 run and then kept the lead permanently in double digits.

Liz Rehberger had a tough day offensively, but, just as Amani Davis did on Wednesday against Aurora when her shooting was off, Rehberger made up for it with a solid game defensively. This Vikings team has a really nice combination of size and speed, and freshman PG Gabby Sandoval has been a great addition that has helped make up for the absence of the injured Nikki Przybyslawski. I'm excited to see how the Vikings will fare in CCIW play come next month.

This was Chicago's third straight game against CCIW comp; the Maroons were nipped by Carthage, 64-57, and blew out Illinois Wesleyan, 67-39, before falling to NPU today. I suspect that they'll be solid in UAA play this season.

NPU will go on the road to face a couple of SLIAC team (Blackburn and Eureka) prior to Christmas before finishing up non-con play with a home contest against Olivet on the 30th.

[iwu70]

IWU gets a much-needed win out West. Over Puget Sound.  Holness coming alive with 27.  McGraw and Ehresman also in double figures. IWU now 4-5, need to get a streak going, find a way for better, overall and more consistent play.

IWU'70

[iwu70]

IWU got two wins out west, with Rebekah Ehresman winning the tourney MVP, Holness also on the all-tournament team.  Important wins for IWU to right the ship, get some folks on track.  Now 5-5.  This team surely still a work in progress, much like the men, but much much younger and less-experienced.  Hope they can put all the good pieces together and find a way to gel for conference play.  Still looks a challenge to me for them to finish in the top four in CCIW play this go'round.

Rebekah Ehresman also named CCIW player of the week -- warm congrats to Rebekah!  She played very well, very consistently out west. 

IWU70

[GoPerry]

Wheaton 66,  Univ St Thomas 58

A very strong come-from-behind win for the Wheaton ladies today over a tough #10 Univ of St Thomas team.  Both teams seemed to be a little rusty from the long 2+ week layoff with neither team particularly sharp offensively.  Wheaton has a few defensive lapses early also but they clamped down on the D and began to play much better mid-way through the 2Q to only trail by 3 at half 35-32.  Teams traded baskets for the most part in the 3rd until the Thunder finally were able to take the lead 2 mins into the 4th.  Even after the Tommies went out to another 3 point lead with about 6 mins left, Wheaton was able to pull even, take the lead and extend it with very solid play in the last 5mins to earn the victory.

This was a big win for Wheaton over a one-loss ranked team made bittersweet however when senior Ellie Zeller went down to injury in the first minute of the game after scoring the first basket.  It was tough to tell if it was ankle or knee but she pivoted awkwardly on her left and went straight to the floor.  She did not return but was on the bench with her leg wrapped and elevated for the 2nd half.  It would be a big blow for Coach Madsen's squad to lose a 2 time All CCIW player and their 2nd leading scorer for any extended time.  The upside is that a few players not use to playing crucial minutes did so today- notably NatalieRose Brogan played particularly well late in the game.

The Thunder will have to play a little better tomorrow vs undefeated #5 UW-Oshkosh or a 9-1 Wartburg team.