WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

Augustana 79 Wheaton 66 :
AUG -- Mia Lambert led all scorers with 22; also nice work by Alexis Jones (15 pts 14 rebs) and Lauren Hall (13 pts 11 rebs). Macy Beinborn scored 10.
WHE -- Kirsten Madsen 13 pts, 7 rebs, 3 assists; 13 pts by Hannah Williams and 12 by Hannah Frazier.

[GoPerry]

Augustana 79 Wheaton 66 :
AUG -- Mia Lambert led all scorers with 22; also nice work by Alexis Jones (15 pts 14 rebs) and Lauren Hall (13 pts 11 rebs). Macy Beinborn scored 10.
WHE -- Kirsten Madsen 13 pts, 7 rebs, 3 assists; 13 pts by Hannah Williams and 12 by Hannah Frazier.

Credit to Augustana for going out and getting the W.  50-50 after 3 quarters and the Vikes proceed to shoot 9/12 from the field including 3 triples.  Meanwhile the Thunder go 4/18 in the quarter.  Familiar issues with lack of scoring.

Wheaton really missed the rebounding and defense of Jordan Myroth who was in civies - injury I guess.  That left Hannah Williams trying to guard Alexis Jones and when that wasn't going well, Hannah Frazier.

[Ultimate Titan Fan]

The Titan athletic website has updated the rescheduled time. Tip off between IWU and Elmhurst is now set at 6:00 tonight (Thursday).

[iwu70]

IWU 37 EC 25, at the half.

'70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Final is IWU 85, Elmhurst 67.  Catie Eck had 23 pts in only 19 minutes, including 11 for 11 from the line.

[iwu70]

IWU keeps pace, wins at home over EC, 85-67.  In the lead all the way . . .

IWU:
Eck (a great offensive evening), 23,  11-11 FTs
Sosa 16
Lansford 9
Shanks 8
Brovelli 8 rebs.

EC:
O'Donnell 21
Miller 9
Urso 8 and 6

Important re-match now at home, vs. Augie, on Saturday.  Short rest.  Gotta have all these home games.

Eck really developing into a very effective offensive threat.

The IWU freshmen pine-sitters, getting some nice minutes tonight.

'70

[RogK]

Yes, quite a game by Eck, missing only two shots total on her way to 23 pts; also got 4 steals.
Three blocks, three steals for Brovelli, while Elmhurst's Weyhrich nabbed 5 steals.
The revised conference standings :
10-2 NPU
8-3 IWU
8-4 WHE
6-5 MIL
6-6 AUG
5-6 NCC
4-7 CTG
3-9 CRL
2-10 ELM
five rounds to go

[iwu70]

Should Catie Eck keep playing like this, stay strong and healthy, she has a good chance to move into the starting line-up next season, when Shanks departs via graduation.  I earlier thought Heller, but may have to change my mind.  Heller, Bowen and Lowis off the bench next year, still a pretty strong rotation.  Brovelli, Sosa, Lansford and Munroe all return. 

Shanks has been such a steady, productive player throughout.  Senior night for her on Saturday, vs. Augie.  She will be greatly missed.  Such a hard-worker, so fit and strong . . . and handling a nursing major on top of it all.  I'm so impressed, so admire her contribution to IWU women's basketball.  Thank you Sydney.

IWU'70

[Ultimate Titan Fan]

Should Catie Eck keep playing like this, stay strong and healthy, she has a good chance to move into the starting line-up next season, when Shanks departs via graduation.

IWU'70

Yeah. Catie Eck has shown the ability to drive to the hoop this year (and shoot over the defender when she's in the paint). In last night's game, she drove in, and the defender set up to take a charge. But Catie just slightly adjusted her step and, well, she's so thin she just slid past the defender, barely brushing her. And she still has her bread-and-butter 3 point shot.

The unusual thing about last night's game was Coach Smith. She's conservative, and she has a practice of not bringing in the beach warmers unless she's ahead by 25 with only 2 minutes left. But last night, she rotated some beach warmers in the first half. I almost fell out of my seat (but the Shirk Center has those new fancy chair seats with arm rests, so I was saved). And then she got the whole beach involved early in the 2nd half. Maybe she's seeing their potential in practice, or maybe she's getting push back from parents...I donno. But as a spectator, it's a lot more fun to see the whole bench get quality playing time.

[duckfan41]

Should Catie Eck keep playing like this, stay strong and healthy, she has a good chance to move into the starting line-up next season, when Shanks departs via graduation.

IWU'70

Yeah. Catie Eck has shown the ability to drive to the hoop this year (and shoot over the defender when she's in the paint). In last night's game, she drove in, and the defender set up to take a charge. But Catie just slightly adjusted her step and, well, she's so thin she just slid past the defender, barely brushing her. And she still has her bread-and-butter 3 point shot.

The unusual thing about last night's game was Coach Smith. She's conservative, and she has a practice of not bringing in the beach warmers unless she's ahead by 25 with only 2 minutes left. But last night, she rotated some beach warmers in the first half. I almost fell out of my seat (but the Shirk Center has those new fancy chair seats with arm rests, so I was saved). And then she got the whole beach involved early in the 2nd half. Maybe she's seeing their potential in practice, or maybe she's getting push back from parents...I donno. But as a spectator, it's a lot more fun to see the whole bench get quality playing time.

Sorry if this is blunt, but I don't think Mia Smith, or any college coach for any sport cares at all what the parents think about playing time or anything else regarding game decisions/strategy.

[Gregory Sager]

Sorry if this is blunt, but I don't think Mia Smith, or any college coach for any sport cares at all what the parents think about playing time or anything else regarding game decisions/strategy.

This.

If you're letting parents influence your rotation and/or your tactics, you are not going to be a head coach for very long.

[Roundball999]

I think you're right about the parents issue, but I know for sure that some college coaches are very concerned about distributing playing time (not at any reasonable risk of a game, to be sure) as liberally as possible.  Limits injury risk to the best players, builds the bench and maximizes morale.

[iwu70]

Plus, it's a long long season, tough on starters, esp. if they are playing major minutes like IWU's starting five do.  Great if they can rest, play fewer minutes before some big games upcoming -- i.e. Augie on Saturday, then MU and WC.  Key games for the regular season conference race.    Plus, great to see some players develop and come on as key contributors. Heller, Eck, Bown and Lowis, have all done this.   I don't think Mia Smith makes decisions based on parents' opinions or pressure, but she sure wants to develop some of these freshmen and sophomores for next year.  Heller, Bowen, and Eck are all keys to the future of the IWU program.  Luckily, IWU only loses Shanks to graduation, so the core of this year's very successful team returns, even 8-9 deep, and that doesn't take into account any outstanding newbies that may join IWU as freshmen soon.  We don't really know what some of the deeper pine-sitters can contribute as yet either.   I don't know how far this team will go this year, but they sure have the talent and the pieces to go even further next year, IMHO. 

Sydney Shanks has been outstanding -- athletically, academically, and in terms of leadership.  Congratulations to her on her fine IWU career.  She will be missed.  Syd, good luck with all future endeavors after graduation.  You have done it right, "victory with honor."  Thank you.

IWU'70

[Gregory Sager]

I think you're right about the parents issue, but I know for sure that some college coaches are very concerned about distributing playing time (not at any reasonable risk of a game, to be sure) as liberally as possible.  Limits injury risk to the best players, builds the bench and maximizes morale.

Well, of course. There are plenty of different ideas in coaching circles about how to distribute playing time. But the point that duckfan and I are making is that none of them have anything to do with coaches allowing themselves to be coerced into distributing them a certain way.

Getting back to tomorrow's games ... I don't suppose that the Wheaton folks are going to disclose ahead of time whether or not Jordan Myroth will be in uniform at NPU, will you?

[GoPerry]

Getting back to tomorrow's games ... I don't suppose that the Wheaton folks are going to disclose ahead of time whether or not Jordan Myroth will be in uniform at NPU, will you?

This I have no insider knowledge I'm afraid.  But I hope for Jordan's sake and for the team that she's healthy and can go.

'70, Ypsi, and Ultimate . . . feel free to wear your orange tonight . . . don't be ashamed.