WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

GoPerry · January 29, 2022, 07:48:37 PM

Wheaton 77 North Central 56

Caroline Sikkink 21 pts, 9 rebs, 2 blks, 2 stls
Hannah Swider 13 pts
Ellie Cassel 11 pts 8 rebs
Annika Richardson 11 pts, 7 rebs

Jessica Kowalczyk 19 pts 5 rebs

Wheaton controlled this game from very early on. The Cardinals really struggled on the offensive end and didn't get much from anyone besides Jessica Kowalczyk. But the Thunder defense and overall intensity had a lot to do with it.

After perhaps their worst performance last time vs Carroll, the Thunder ladies come back with easily their best game this season all around. Sikkink had her best performance by far, noticeably more aggressive on offense and looking for her shot. Hard to call it a break out game 19 games in, but more of that type of performance would certainly be welcome and needed. Wheaton got very good contributions from Taylor Sanders and Caylee Hermanson off the bench. Only 14 turnovers on the night for the visitors and 17/20 from the free throw line for 85%. So it was all working.

Wheaton has a brutal stretch of games to finish out. The team in blue on the court tonight is as good as any team in the league.

RogK · January 30, 2022, 01:06:30 PM

In that Millikin - Carthage game, Bailey Coffman had 16 pts and 9 rebs, while Bridget Barrett had 10 rebs and 14 pts.
For the second time in 6 days, Augie topped Carroll. Earlier it was 67-58 and this time 67-56. One wouldn't be out of line to note that those scores were not greatly dissimilar.
Lauren Hall's defense was very helpful; she and others held Carroll 6-footer Elizabeth Behrndt to 2 pts in 34 minutes. Allison Thompson's minutes are reduced lately, so she may not be at full strength.
Augie's Emma Berg made 6 3FGs on her way to 20 pts in 29:00.
Macy Beinborn had 16 pts, 6 rebs, 2 blocks.
Gabriela Loiz added 14 pts and 7 rebs, while Emily Brenneisen had 6 assists and 3 steals.
For Carroll, Olivia Rangel scored 13 and Kate Christian had 16 pts and 3 assists.

RogK · January 30, 2022, 01:13:08 PM

updated :
9-1 IWU & MIL
6-4 NPU
6-5 WHE
5-5 CRL
4-6 NCC
4-7 AUG & CTG
0-11 ELM
Almost 2/3 done with conference play, 47 of 72 games.

iwu70 · January 30, 2022, 02:54:42 PM

Thanks, RogK. Seems two races now . . . one for the regular season championship between IWU and MU . . . and then the race for the middle strata on who will make the CCIW Conference tournament. Looks like pretty much any team can make the CCIW tournament, save for Elmhurst. I don't see them winning a single conference game.

Big one in Decatur on Wednesday. Looking forward to driving down for it . . . at the Griz.

IWU'70

RogK · January 30, 2022, 04:41:31 PM

Within that strata, various teams have looked pretty good at one time or another.
(no! not another violin pun!)

RogK · January 31, 2022, 02:00:08 PM

I'm guessing Augustana and Carthage would prefer Carroll to defeat North Central in tonight's only CCIW WBB game.
That result would have AUG, CTG and NCC all tied for 6th-7th-8th at 4-7. Carroll would join Wheaton at 6-5, sharing 4th and 5th place.
A North Central win would tie them with Carroll for 5th-6th place with 5-6 records, making it a little more difficult for Augie and Carthage to reach the conference tournament.
I assume 7th 8th and 9th place do not make the tournament. These days things can change abruptly.

lmitzel · January 31, 2022, 02:17:49 PM

Quote from: RogK on January 31, 2022, 02:00:08 PM
I'm guessing Augustana and Carthage would prefer Carroll to defeat North Central in tonight's only CCIW WBB game.
That result would have AUG, CTG and NCC all tied for 6th-7th-8th at 4-7. Carroll would join Wheaton at 6-5, sharing 4th and 5th place.
A North Central win would tie them with Carroll for 5th-6th place with 5-6 records, making it a little more difficult for Augie and Carthage to reach the conference tournament.
I assume 7th 8th and 9th place do not make the tournament. These days things can change abruptly.

I'm assuming we're back to just top six barring something chaotic over the next few weeks.

I'm not sure it helps either all that much, though Augie would be in better shape if that's indeed the result tonight. Based on head-to-head between the three:

NCC: 3-1
CTG: 1-2
AUG: 1-2

The Firebirds currently own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Augie, but the Cardinals' sweep of Carthage has them in good shape on that front. (The Vikings and Cardinals split.)

RogK · January 31, 2022, 02:34:10 PM

Thanks lmitzel.
I hadn't realized North Central was done with Carthage and Augie already.
That's adds urgency for the Cardinals tonight.
Carroll has won 8 of their last 10, but also surely needs a win as well.

RogK · January 31, 2022, 02:53:56 PM

Congrats to Jayla Johnson, who has won her second straight consecutive CCIW Player of the Week honor in a row!
Third of the season.
https://cciw.org/news/2022/1/31/north-parks-johnson-wins-second-straight-cciw-womens-basketball-student-athlete-of-the-week.aspx
==

Gregory Sager · January 31, 2022, 03:01:31 PM

Jayla isn't going to let Elyce Knudsen walk away with the 2021-22 CCIW MOP award without a fight.

This is the seventh time that Jayla has won POW over the course of her career.

RogK · January 31, 2022, 09:42:33 PM

Zero top-25 votes for the CCIW in this week's D3hoops poll. That could be a first.
Still is opportunity for some of the teams to get votes in coming weeks.
Getting a few teams into the NCAA tourney is more likely.

lmitzel · January 31, 2022, 10:13:33 PM

Well I hope this is rock bottom.

Carroll 75, NCC 42

The Cardinals shot an abysmal 16-66 from the floor in this one and got out rebounded 58-31.

Gregory Sager · January 31, 2022, 10:19:28 PM

Carroll's odd yo-yo season swung upwards again tonight with an easy 75-42 win over North Central at Van Male. Olivia Rangel led the way for the Pios with 16, while Elizabeth Behrndt registered a 16 and 12 double-double and Kate Christian added 11. Three other Pioneers -- Chloe Halvorson, Alliston Thompson, and Brooke Foster -- joined Behrndt with big nights on the boards, collection nine, nine, and seven rebounds, respectively. All told, Carroll grabbed a mind-numbing 58 rebounds to North Central's 31. Last but not least, Katie Evans had four steals.

The Cardinals were led by Elle Sutter, who had 14 and 9 plus four steals, and Allison Pearson, who had 10 and 6. Several other Cardinals had productive evenings of pilferage, as Natalie Stavropoulos, Jessica Kowalczyk, and Mitrese Smith came up with six, four, and three steals, respectively. Didn't make up for the fact that North Central shot less than 25% from the field, though.

RogK · February 01, 2022, 10:54:18 AM

Hey iwu70,
Don't bother driving through 10 inches of snow to Decatur tomorrow. At least not for basketball.

iwu70 · February 01, 2022, 04:40:54 PM

RogK, don't worry, I won't do anything stupid . . . with the snow and the storm, at least. IWU @MU for tomorrow has been postponed. No announcement yet on new date. Maybe Thursday. We'll see how much comes down and how quickly the short jaunt from B/N to Decatur can be cleared. The men's game at The Shirk, vs. NPU, also postponed.

More strange schedules, weird timing to finish out the CCIW regular season.

IWU'70