WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

iwu70, we know you meant CU, not CC, si?

[iwu70]

Oh yes, my bad.  CU.  I forgot the name change.  Is Carthage still Carthage College? 

In any case, no games. 

'70

[lmitzel]

Well, it seemed like we were in for a long night in Naperville, as the Vikings jumped out to a two touchdown lead in the first quarter... and we ended up having a long night as it went to overtime.

Jayla Johnson a fallaway jumper from the left side with 2.8 seconds left in the extra session was the difference in a 55-53 NPU win.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 55
North Central 53

Jayla Johnson: 21 pts, 11 rebs, 5 stls
Chantel Hairston: 11 pts
Esther Miller: 12 rebs, 4 stls
Sinead Molloy: 4 stls

Haydn Braun: 12 pts
Allison Pearson: 11 pts, 7 rebs
Page Desenberg: 11 pts
Megan McClure: 7 rebs
Rebekah Foley: 6 rebs
Mitrese Smith: 6 rebs

I got to watch the last ten seconds or so of overtime, so I saw Jayla's game-winning baseline jumper. North Central got a much better look at the basket than any team that has to go the length of the court in 2.8 seconds has a right to, but Megan McClure missed a bunny underneath the basket just before the buzzer went off, allowing NPU to escape with the win.

One has to give a lot of credit to the NCC coaches and players for making the adjustments within such a quick turnaround to make this a very different game than the one in Chicago two days ago. Whatever new approach they took towards guarding Josie Summerville worked; she fouled out of the game after only 19 minutes on the floor, scoring two points and garnering four boards. And, as Lucas mentioned, the Cardinals managed to fight their way back after the Vikings had scored the game's first 14 points. NCC even held a nine-point lead of its own at 35-26 about midway through the third quarter.

But Jayla Johnson did what Jayla Johnson does -- she obviously carried the team on her back tonight. I have to think that everybody in the airplane hangar and everybody watching online knew that the Vikings were going to put the ball in Jayla's hands for the last shot, but she still got open enough to get herself a good look from eight feet out and drained it. I said it all last year, though, and I'll keep saying it: somebody else needs to step up and give Amanda Crockett a reliable second weapon.

I like the way that the Vikings have been playing D out of the gate; they held the Cards to 30% shooting over the course of these two games, and they recorded 26 steals. Just gotta tune it up a little more at the offensive end.

[lmitzel]

I think the big thing for me was that, especially as the game went on, North Central played pretty well on the defensive end. Bekah Foley had four blocks and two steals to go with those six boards, but she probably forced three or four more turnovers. All things considered, she did pretty well on Johnson. Even on the final shot they played it pretty well, it was just a nice move and a nice shot. Tip of the cap.

[RogK]

Congrats to Wheaton's Hannah Swider, first CCIW Player of the Week of the 2020-21 season.

[Gregory Sager]

Carthage @ North Park postponed.

[Gregory Sager]

Carroll 79
Elmhurst 56

Wheaton 90
Millikin 83

[RogK]

AUG 69, NCC 63
Productive game for Lauren Hall : 18 pts and 18 or 19 rebounds.
Another* very good solo broadcast by Augie announcer Dan Sand. Excellent preparation (he must follow Greg Sager's rule of verifying name pronunciations before the game with a visiting coach), quick but calm description of the action, combined with a good blend of stats and respectful treatment of the opposing players.
*I noticed how well-done his broadcast was last Saturday, but forgot to mention it here.

[Gregory Sager]

Dan always does a great job. He also serves as the color commentator alongside PBP guy Chris Ford for Augustana men's basketball.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The Division III basketball season technically started nearly three months ago, but it has taken until the end of January for it to start feeling like the season is really underway. Even so, only about a quarter of the division has played just a single game. Another quarter of the division will never take to the court. And in between is wide gulf of different options.

On the first video-version of Hoopsville this season, Dave McHugh is joined by much of the D3hoops.com crew, Pat Coleman and Ryan Scott, to react to what has been one of the more unique seasons ... to say it lightly.

We react to the challenges schools are facing, what coaches are grappling with on a daily basis - especially beyond games and practices, and why schools are making so many different decisions.

We also discuss what is likely the future of this season's NCAA Championship Tournaments and, more importantly, when the decision on those tournaments will be made.

Plus, will there be a Top 25? No. Well, yes. Kind of. Tune in to learn more on what's coming. Plus a lot more including Dave spinning off Pat's thoughts on those wishing to attend games.

Hoopsville is presented by D3hoops.com and airs from the WBCA/NABC Studio. You can watch the show by clicking on the video player above. Or you can listen to the podcast available on any of the service options in the right panel.

If you have questions about Division III basketball, feel free to send them and we will answer them on a the show. Email them to hoopsville@d3sports.com or use any of the social media options to the right.

You can WATCH the show or listen to the podcast here: https://bit.ly/3oASGKl or https://www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2020-21/january

Hoopsville broadcasts from the WBCA/NABC Studio. All guests are featured on the BlueFrame Technology Hoopsville Hotline.

If you have questions, ideas, or want to interact with the show, feel free to send them to hoopsville@d3sports.com or use any of the social media options available.

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We also have the podcast now on Tune-In and others coming. We will update them once we have better abilities to do so.

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[GoPerry]

I finally got a chance to watch the Wheaton ladies in their two victories over Augustana and Millikin.  The Thunder lost lots of minutes in two time AA Frazier, Myroth, Demski, Madsen, Berg. The two remaining Hannahs – Williams, Swider - were the only ones with substantial court time.  Bonnie Zeller played 8 mins/g.

But this also means there's abundant room for underclassmen to step up or for freshmen to make immediate impact.  It's only two games in but it's encouraging .  Because the loss of size in Frazier, Berg, Myroth I was more concerned on the defensive end.  But Annie Tate and Taylor Sanders, both listed at 5'10" looked very active and physical enough to make up any inches they give way to taller or bigger forwards in the league.  Ellie Cassel at 6'1" has good size but doesn't have quite the mobility of the other two.  Still, the development of these three will be key for the Thunder and they all show very good offensive skills also.

Newcomers Lily Schwen (MN) and Ana Mooney (MI) got regular minutes, Schwen starting.  She looked pretty composed to me, not at all overwhelmed by the moment.  It looks like she will be splitting time with soph Zoe Nordling first off the bench who is more of a driving and creating presence offensively. 

Williams and Swider will be the main offensive weapons along with Tate.  Senior Zeller has shown good offensive skills in the past and it would be great to see her step up more in that capacity to spread the distribution.

Wheaton did beat MU on Thursday with an unbelievable performance by Williams and one of those team halves that can't be a regular occurrence.  Let's see how they do this afternoon at Gris. 

[GoPerry]

As I expected, the Big Blue are very good, experienced, veteran and very well coached.  There was already lots of skill in Hildebrand, Coleman, Staton, Ratsch.  But everyone should pay attention to newcomer Elyce Knudsen who is an absolute baller of a player.  Sometimes a freshman starts out strong and then runs out of performance gas as the season and their career progresses.  From what I saw, I don't expect that in Knudsen who is absolutely not afraid to step up and take shots.  Kendall Sosa is a natural scorer and so is Knudsen.  Depending how MU does this year, we'll be mentioning her a lot I think.

I still think the Big Blue, IWU, and NPU will be the teams at the top as we go along (provided the Titans play games eventually).  But Wheaton will be right there and no easy out.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 47
Carthage 40

If you had told me before the game that Jayla Johnson would only score four points on 1-7 FG shooting, I'd have told you that NPU would've been in a world of hurt. But whatever was bedeviling Jayla obviously bedeviled everybody, as both teams hovered around 20% from the field for much of the game. NPU, which pulled away in crunch time, ended up 31% from the field to Carthage's 28%. The only Viking in double figures was Emily Czuhajewski with 10, while Carthage was paced by Amanda Larson's 14 and Bridget Barrett's 10.

[GoPerry]

Millikin 85 Wheaton 60

Hannah Williams 17 pts, 6 rebs
Annie Tate     10 pts 5 rebs

Elyce Knudsen      17 pts, 5 rebs
Aubrey Staton      15 pts
Jordan Hildebrand  11 pts 7 rebs
Bailey Coffman    16 pts 5 rebs

As good as the Thunder looked on Thursday, they looked just that bad late in the 1st quarter and the  2nd quarter (only 8 pts).  Defensively, they were not good the entire game.  Giving up 85 pts and committing 24 turnovers is no recipe for winning.  They looked like the young and less experienced team that they are.  So so defense, lackadaisical rebounding (-8 on the offensive glass), committing silly fouls and bad turnovers.  When MU went to the zone defense they seemed unprepared which is also on the coaches. 

Of course a lot had to do with the Big Blue who played as complete a game as you could in winning all four quarters.  They are pretty deep when it comes to scoring with lots of potential contributors.