WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

Hoosier Titan · February 24, 2009, 01:01:00 PM

Congratulations to IWU's Claire Sheehan for being named a Jostens Trophy finalist! A biology major with a 3.72 GPA, Claire was accepted at all five dental schools to which she applied. She gave a great welcome talk to prospective IWU students last Saturday.

iwumichigander · February 24, 2009, 02:11:55 PM

Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on February 23, 2009, 05:48:53 PM
HT, just saw the announcement posted by David Collinge in the multi-region board: the next two years you won't have to travel to the Final Four - they're coming to Shirk!

A shame it's a year too late for Heydorn, Sheehan, and Caplice.

Yes, Q posted the info on the Men's site - from the NCAA website:

"The committee also approved several sites for Division III championships scheduled during 2009-10 and 2010-11. It approved:

• Illinois Wesleyan as host of the 2010 and 2011 Division III Women's Basketball Championships, to be played at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Illinois."

Titan Q · February 24, 2009, 09:46:35 PM

IWU trying to come back from 20-down in the 2nd half at Elmhurst...

http://elmhurst.edu/~athletic/Home/W-Basket/stats/live/xlive.htm

Titan Q · February 24, 2009, 10:10:55 PM

Final:

Illinois Wesleyan 81
Elmhurst 75

IWU trailed 52-32 with 15:26 to play @ Elmhurst. What a comeback. The Titans forced 33 turnovers, and the number of those in the final 15 minutes of the game has to be crazy. The word "turnover" showed up over and over again in the live stats as the Titans made the comeback.

25-0/14-0. What an incredibly special season for Mia Smith and the Titans.

iwu70 · February 24, 2009, 10:29:37 PM

Congrats to the Titans, to all the players and coaches, on a perfect season, 25-0, 14-0. Amazing comeback. More to go . . . . . . . .

Hoosier Titan · February 25, 2009, 01:44:04 AM

Wow. Just wow. One of those games that has you saying "Why did I come here?" in the first half and then reminds you why you came.

Just about everything that could have gone wrong for the Titans did in the first half. They played poorly on both ends of the court--and, as usual when a good team plays poorly, the other team had a LOT to do with that. Elmhurst were on fire, hustling all over the court, moving well without the ball, and shooting lights out. The 38-24 score at halftime was just about right.

Usually the Titans are successful at making changes at halftime, but things continued on the same course for the next five minutes or so as the Bluejay lead extended to 20 points. Mia Smith had tried several different defensive looks against the Bluejays, but at around the 16:00 mark or so Titan reserves Holly Harvey and Nikki Preston came in and the team applied full-court pressure with the intensity we'd seen in recent games (but not yet tonight). The results were dramatic and immediate. The Bluejays committed 18 turnovers in the second half and were in danger of watching IWU sprint into the distance. I've been looking at "OWP" and "OOWP" so much during the last few days that I found myself thinking "OOG"--Elmhurst must be Out of Gas. But...Lindsie Long had been benched for most of the first half after picking up a couple of quick fouls; she had plenty left in the tank and threw in three 3-pointers (at least one from NBA range) to keep the Bluejays in the game to the end. Her last 3 came right at the buzzer. It's hard to say that the game "wasn't that close" or "should have been closer." It was what it was, and every play counted.

Lots and lots of heroics on both sides, and too many heroes (heroines, I guess) to mention. When Elmhurst came to Bloomington a few weeks ago the game was one-sided, and I could easily believe that many of the Bluejays were under the weather physically--I've seen them play well too often before. Tonight they played superbly, with poise, determination, and above all, a good game plan which they stuck to for the most part. Long was terrific, scoring 27 in 24 minutes, along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Meghan Merklein went 9/11 and 4/4 from the line, along with 12 rebounds. Claire Gentry dished out 8 assists and had 4 steals.

The Titan effort was also well balanced. Post players Christina Solari and Stacey Arlis each had 16 points; Solari also contributed 14 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals. Claire Sheehan had 14 points and Mallory Heydorn 13; each had 4 assists. Hope Schulte had 10 points and 6 steals. The Titan bench outscored the Bluejay bench 23-6, and the depth of the Titans enabled them to keep up the pressure in the second half for the comeback. This was a true team victory.

After the game, the announcer came on to give scores almost right away, and it was shocking to hear that North Central had defeated Millikin. One really had to feel for the Elmhurst team: they needed either to win this game or to have NC lose, and within seconds they learned that both possibilities were gone. This IWU fan felt great respect for the effort both teams put forth tonight, felt sympathy for the Bluejays, and was grateful to have been in attendance.

RogK · February 25, 2009, 11:37:02 AM

Some sort of flu kept me away from the gyms last night and will likely stop me from going to Bloomington this weekend.
Congrats to Wheaton's Jamie Jones on being CCIW player of the week and to IWU, of course, for going 14-0 in the conference.

WWWRHH · February 25, 2009, 11:45:51 AM

I hope you will excuse an intrusion by a MIAA / Hope poster on your board in followup to a side conversation I had with Mr. Ypsi on the MIAA thread.

Elmhurst's challenge to the Titans, Hope's close call with Calvin on Saturday and the spirited effort that #8 seed Olivet put up against the Dutch last night show that no one with the slimest shot at an AQ is rolling over. It makes for good basketball and would be a lot of fun if we did not live and die with "our" team.

But a stiff challenge is good preparation for what is to come.

If past experience is any guide some of the top ranked teams will face more difficult challenges in in their conference tourneys than they will in the early rounds of the NCAAs.

RogK · February 25, 2009, 01:49:23 PM

Amber Cibrario had a fine game for North Central in their 29 pt win. She scored 17 on just 11 shots, had 3 assists and only 1 turnover. Without listing their entire roster, it looks from the stats that everyone made significant contributions. Millikin had a crummy shooting night, .286 from the field and .533 at the line.
Carthage post players Lisa Gartelos and Katherine Burshiem combined for 27 pts and 13 rebs in their win at Augie. Kristen Fox led Augie with 14.
Wheaton had 13 players play at least 11:00 and they scooted past North Park 88-64. Twelve of the 13 scored points; Noelle Dryden steadfastly refused to shoot.
NP's LaRae Kostreva scored 25, had 11 rebs, 6 blocks. Stylianee Damianides played 38:00 and topped the league with 438 minutes in 14 CCIW games. Hopefully, she can rest for a bit now.

Hoosier Titan · February 26, 2009, 04:59:00 PM

Quote from: mactitan on February 26, 2009, 04:38:20 PM
Does anyone know what happened to the Men's CCIW board?

Not sure what you mean, mac. It's still there. It was renamed "MBB: College Conference of..." a few weeks ago. Is anything else amiss?

RogK · February 26, 2009, 05:34:18 PM

The comprehensive Tournament Program can be accessed via http://www.cciw.org/winter_bball_w/2009wbbtourneypage.php and is full of interesting data.
On odd numbered pages 7 through 21, one can see "conference-only" stats, which may or may not relevant for consideration of all-conference candidates. I suspect that coaches want to thank players for the full 25 game season, so looking at conference-only stats may be academic.
Some of our readers may find it interesting anyway.
The all-conference team should be announced tomorrow, I guess. As always, there will not be enough room for every player worthy of inclusion.

Titan Q · February 27, 2009, 01:38:49 PM

Live video from the Shirk Center for any game IWU plays in at the CCIW tournament...

http://www.iwusports.com/sports/2009/2/15/WBB_0215090326.aspx?id=76

Hoosier Titan · February 27, 2009, 02:52:04 PM

All-Conference Teams are up here .

Congratulations to the teams and to:

Christina Solari, IWU, Most Outstanding Player

Mia Smith, IWU, Coach of the Year

RogK · February 27, 2009, 03:31:31 PM

My applause, too, for Mia Smith, Christina Solari and all the rest of the all-CCIW team.
Two things surprised me :
(1) that Claire Sheehan wasn't unanimous 1st team... what the heck else was she supposed to do this year?
(2) that Kayla Pembrook is a senior --- for some reason, I've been thinking she's a junior. I'm disappointed that we won't get to see this energetic and talented player again in '09-'10.

Mr. Ypsi · February 27, 2009, 03:50:34 PM

Quote from: RogK on February 27, 2009, 03:31:31 PM
My applause, too, for Mia Smith, Christina Solari and all the rest of the all-CCIW team.
Two things surprised me :
(1) that Claire Sheehan wasn't unanimous 1st team... what the heck else was she supposed to do this year?
(2) that Kayla Pembrook is a senior --- for some reason, I've been thinking she's a junior. I'm disappointed that we won't get to see this energetic and talented player again in '09-'10.

Agreed. She can take comfort that in 2006, when both were first-team AAs, Adam Dauksas and Keelan Amelianovic were not unanimous CCIW first-teamers either!