WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

On Saturday, I attended the Wheaton 64-55 win at North Central.
Both teams had good energy. The first half was a little goofy, though, as a large number of high-percentage shots refused to go in; this was the fault of the ball or the baskets or maybe aberrant barometric pressure in the vicinity.
The 2nd half was a little better, but for the game, the 2 point FG shooting wasn't ideal, with Wheaton making 16 of 48 and NC 10 of 33.
The contest was entertaining enough anyway and stayed pretty close until the Thunder finished things with vigor. Annie Bowen made up for her 2-for-11 shooting with two outstanding late-game defensive plays that abruptly terminated the Cardinals' hopes of winning.
Key players on both sides were not at full strength: Breanna Bohlen played for a few minutes at a time and Jackie Errico was favoring one leg (but she had 17 pts and 15 rebs despite hobbling).
Lindsey Brenneman had a nice game, leading Wheaton with 17 pts (including 3/5 threes and 4/4 FTs) and 5 assists. Elisabeth Potts contributed 16 pts, 10 rebs and 3 steals. Brenneman and Bowen also stole the ball three times.

[RogK]

Congratulations to Elise Wildman, CCIW player of the week: her 29 pt, 13 rebound, 4 block game powered Millikin over North Park Saturday, 87-55.
Fellow Big Blue persons Julia Robert (20) and Kaitlin Brassil (15) also had fine scoring output. Beth Wellbaum had 3 steals and 8 assists.
NP was topped by Kamauria Acree's 27 and Dana Christensen's 14, but none of the Vikings shot a real good pct (.318 as a group). Sarah Peterson grabbed 12 rebs for NP.
Elmhurst's win was a 71-46 final over Augie. Lyndsie Long dominated again, scoring 24. No one else on either team scored more than 11.

[Mr. Ypsi]

New poll is out:

IWU #3 (but barely beating out Hope, rather than battling Kean for #2; the Titans retained one first place vote).

Carthage #14 (I think they probably deserve higher, being the only winner over either #3 IWU or #4 Hope, who also got one first place vote, but about where I'd guessed they would finish).

[iwu70]

I actually think the IWU loss will serve a good purpose going forward.  Of course, an undefeated season would be great -- but perhaps this helps focus and re-motivate for the final games, then going into tournament time.

Ypsi -- can you send me your email address off board.  Mine is:  sharksheldon@hotmail.com    I need to communicate directly with you about some class of '70 matters.

Thanks.

[Old Hoosier Baller]

Just a quick note on the Elmhurst-Augustana game this past Saturday.  The final stats are a little misleading as Lyndsie Long scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half.  The halftime score was fairly close (31-24- I believe), and it was actually many contributors to the second-half dominance that sealed the win (Ney, Merklein, Monroe, McTeague to name a few).  The Jays did a nice job of getting more players involved in the second half. 

[RogK]

Thanks for the detail on the 2nd half of that game, OHB.
Elmhurst has a potentially tough opponent tonight.
Millikin has some interesting results in conference play so far:
against the four teams below them in the standings (A, W, NC, NP), they have averaged 78 points per game,
against the other three (I, E, C), they average 43.3.

[Old Hoosier Baller]

I completely agree about Millikin;  they always play Elmhurst tough, and they present defensive challenges both inside and out.  This is a big game for both teams at this point of the conference season.

[iwu70]

Order is restored.  Gotta love the IWU halftime score -- 51-17.  The starters must be thinking they really have to enjoy their 18-22 minutes of play.  Elmhurst loss puts IWU back on top, no tie.  Time to bring the league championship home.  Step by step.  Keep it rolling toward The Shirk Final Four in mid-March.

[RogK]

iwu70, your mention of the Titan starters' 18-22 minutes brings to mind an issue for consideration.
When things went wrong for the Titans last March, it was in a Saturday game where C Solari, Schulte, Sheehan and Heydorn all played big minutes (36, 30, 35, 35) less than 24 hours after playing big minutes (32, 35, 38, 36) on Friday night.
Should this year's starters get accustomed to playing bigger minutes, if that is what will be expected from them down the road in back-to-back games?

[RogK]

Saw 39 minutes (left to catch a Metra) of the Millikin win at Elmhurst last night.
The visitors played rather well in all aspects of the game.
The hosts played well for portions of the game, but had the wrong people commit too many fouls and also blew several possessions with travelling infractions.
Millikin appears to be ready for a strong run at the end of the season. Crystal Zeigler was dashing about without any noticeable difficulty; when healthy, she's among the CCIW's best forwards. Tall freshman Amy Radford made a pair of fine defensive plays and looks like she'll be contributing more in the near future. She had 7 rebounds in 16:00 and runs the floor well.
Lyndsie Long again carried a big load for EC, scoring 29.
Meghan Merklein did not appear to be near 100 pct physically. The Jays really need her to get back to her usual excellent level of play (by Saturday!).

[Titan Q]

First regional rankings...

http://d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2010/02/03/womens-regional-rankings-feb-3rd/

Central Region
1. Illinois Wesleyan 15-1 18-1
2. Carthage 13-2 16-3
3. Washington U. in St. Louis 13-2 16-2
4. Wisconsin-Stevens Point 15-3 17-3
5. Wisconsin-Whitewater 13-4 14-5
6. Chicago 13-5 13-5


Pretty significant that IWU has wins over every other team ranked in the region.

[Old Hoosier Baller]

As an add-on to the Elmhurst-Millikin contest, I thought that the officials interjected themselves too much into the game on a very inconsistent basis.  What was a foul on one end, was not on the other.  The crew seemed out of sync with one another as well as confused on many occasions throughout the contest.  While it was not one of the Bluejay's better efforts, Millikin seemed to get the better end of very poor officiating.

[Old Hoosier Baller]

Elmhurst also had good contribution from Megan Ney with a double-double (14pts/10 rebs) and Kelsey Monroe with 10 first-half points.

[Hoosier Titan]

First regional rankings...

http://d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2010/02/03/womens-regional-rankings-feb-3rd/

Central Region
1. Illinois Wesleyan 15-1 18-1
2. Carthage 13-2 16-3
3. Washington U. in St. Louis 13-2 16-2
4. Wisconsin-Stevens Point 15-3 17-3
5. Wisconsin-Whitewater 13-4 14-5
6. Chicago 13-5 13-5


Pretty significant that IWU has wins over every other team ranked in the region.

This speaks volumes about how much Mia Smith has toughened up the Titans' schedule.

[RogK]

A few notes based on last night's box scores --
North Park picked up its second conference win, 77-64 over Augie.
Kamauria Acree tallied 22 (6/12, 10/10) along with 6 assists, 4 steals, 5 rebs.
NP centers Becca Heimsath and Lyndsey Thompson each played 20:00 and combined for 26 pts and 67 pct FG.
Augie's Lani Kasten missed only a free throw while scoring 20. Augie had a problem with turnovers, though, committing 29.
Dori Gills led both teams with 8 rebounds.
In Wheaton, Carthage upended the hosts 71-68. Rosie Dorn (7/10, 4/4) led the Reds with 18 pts, followed closely by Diana Jacklin with 17 and Dani Ripkey with 16 (on 8 shots).
The Thunder's Lindsey Brenneman scored a career high 25 (10/17, 3 threes, 2/2). Sarah Jones had 4 steals and 8 rebounds.
In the IWU win, Nikki Preston scored 15 pts on just 6 shots, had 5 assists and 4 steals in a remarkably productive 18:00.
Stacey Arlis was 8 for 11 (and 1 FT) for 17 pts in 18:00. She is in her customary position as best in the CCIW in FG pct, both overall and in conference play.