WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Pat Coleman]

Guessing you want to ask that in the men's board.

[Titan Q]

An article on the Titans...

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/01/04/usports/doc477db5364350c287188099.txt

[Dave84]

haha, good point pat, might have clicked the wrong CCIW board.  thanks!

[RogK]

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[Titan Q]

IWU/North Park live stats (7:30pm tip)...

http://www.iwu.edu/~iwunews/sports/live/Basketball/xlive.htm

[Titan Q]

IWU 95
North Park 43

IWU played without All-American point-guard Mallory Heydorn, who is suffering from a strained achilles.  The Titans raced out to an early lead vs the Vikings though and never looked back.  Sarah Bull scored 21 of her 22 points in the 1st half to pace the Titans.

I realized NPU is really struggling this year, so it's hard to draw a lot from this one, but a couple observations from the 30 minutes or so I watched tonight...

* IWU really gets after it defensively up and down the floor. They forced 21 1st half turnovers tonight and 41 in the game.  They make every player on the opposing team handle the basketball.

* The Titans are just absolutely loaded with talent up and down the roster.  They're led by upperclass perimeter players Mallory Heydorn (Jr), Sarah Bull (Sr), Claire Sheehan (Jr), and Crystal Dye (Sr), but sophomore Christina Solari, the starting center, is averaging over 8 rebounds per game.  And the Titans have a bunch of freshmen who are going to be outstanding, including 5-10 guard Hope Schulte, 5-10 guard Nikki Preston, 6-1 center Sarah Cotner, and 5-11 forward Lia Anderson.  IWU is in position to be really good for a long time.

The Titans really need Heydorn back vs Millikin Saturday.  Her status is up in the air.

[AndOne]

North Central rolls over Augie 72-39.

http://www.northcentralcollege.edu/athletics/stats/basketball_w/07-08/NCCW-AUG.HTM#GAME.BOXer

[Jaywatch]

I got to see the game at Elmhurst last night.  What an exciting finish for a team that hadn't beaten Wheaton since 1989.  Elmhurst was down 9 with under 6 minutes remaining, and mounted a furious comeback with a trapping press that forced Wheaton into 27 turnovers for the game.  With about 25 seconds remaining and Elmhurst down 58-57, Elmhurst freshman Kelsey Monroe grabbed a defensive rebound, drew a foul as she pushed the ball up the floor, and knocked down the two free throws to give Elmhurst a one point lead.  Elmhurst then had two nice defensive stops to close out the win.  Their defense helped them overcome a poor shooting performance--Elmhurst sophomore Lyndsie Long had five steals, Monroe four, and junior Brittany Bobruk three.  Long had a stellar game with a double-double, 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Bobruk led the scoring with 15.  Wheaton sophomore Sarah Jones had another nice game with 12 points and 5 rebounds, and sophomore post Carissa Bacon did well inside with 10 points and 5 rebounds.

[RogK]

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[RogK]

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[Hoosier Titan]

Looks like we're in for an interesting CCIW season, with Elmhurst breaking their string of losses to Wheaton and Carthage taking it to Millikin on the Big Blue's home floor.  It's early days, though--I'm sure that there will be more unexpected results. 

Rog, you asked a while back about Hope Schulte.  I got to see the Titans for the first time this season last night, and Schulte had more minutes than any other Titan (still only 21, though).  As the stats suggest, she's a complete player--good ball-handling, able to make assists and to score inside and out.  Her stats for the night were 3/6 on FG shooting, 4/4 on FTs, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 turnover.  She has a good looking shot and seems to have been well coached.  As Q says, there's a ton of talent on the IWU side this year; Schulte seems to be very mature for a first-year college player.

The IWU-Millikin game on Saturday is looming large.  I'm looking forward to seeing that matchup.

[RogK]

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[RogK]

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[RogK]

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[Jaywatch]

RogK, not sure how you cover so many games at once--I have trouble keeping up with just Elmhurst.  The Bluejays were down 18 with only nine minutes remaining, and I think--although I haven't seen the actual stats yet--they were down 16 with five minutes to go.  North Central's stifling defense, which contributed to Elmhurst's poor shooting for the first two thirds of the game, began to result in fouls the last third.  So, some of the second half margin was made up by Elmhurst at the free throw line with the clock stopped.  Elmhurst just seemed to turn up the intensity, getting loose balls and rebounds they weren't getting earlier in the game, and started knocking down shots.  Before that, North Central dominated most of the game, taking advantage of their size advantage in the post, and their guards handled Elmhurst's press well.  The Cardinals seem to have a nice team, and deep into the second half it looked like they were well on their way to a blow out.  It was unbelievable watching the Elmhurst comeback in the last five minutes.