WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

Hoosier Titan · February 13, 2010, 03:44:32 AM

TV highlights from Elmhurst's visit to IWU are online at:

http://www.icn5.com/homepage.html

Hoosier Titan · February 13, 2010, 05:57:38 AM

Article from the Pantagraph about IWU captains Christina Solari and Sean Dwyer, each celebrating Senior Night tonight:

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/article_b3a53774-184d-11df-962e-001cc4c03286.html

These two have been a real credit to IWU and their respective basketball programs. It's great that they've found each other as well.

Congratulations are also in order for senior Carrie Williams, a point guard who came to IWU last year as a transfer. She has a nice three point shot and a sly sense of humor.

Titan Q · February 13, 2010, 08:11:37 AM

IWU will have live video tonight for the game vs Wheaton...

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iwu_basketball

Mr. Ypsi · February 13, 2010, 07:07:12 PM

In B'town at halftime: IWU 42, Wheaton 36.

The refs have really been busy, whistling 31 fouls already! Hence, several players in serious foul trouble. For the Thunder, Brooke Olson has 4, Kelly Brooks and Jennifer Lee have 3 each, and 3 other have 2. For the Titans, Britt Hasselbring and Nikki Preston each have 3, 3 others have 2.

Mr. Ypsi · February 13, 2010, 07:27:19 PM

Mia Smith has got to be one of the greatest halftime coaches - once again the Titans have come out smoking the opposition. 6.5 minutes into the 2nd, the halftime lead of 6 has grown to 16: 60-44.

Mr. Ypsi · February 13, 2010, 07:45:52 PM

The whistles have gone relatively silent in the 2nd half - 4 minutes left and each team has only 5 fouls.

Wheaton played gamely. After that initial burst in the 2nd, the Titans never could completely put the game away, but were also never really challenged. It's been a 15-19 point margin the last ten minutes.

With 2:20 to go, it is 85-67.

Mr. Ypsi · February 13, 2010, 07:55:31 PM

Final: IWU 87, Wheaton 70.

With just over 2 minutes left, the Titans reached a 20 point lead for the first time. That apparently was the official signal for 'garbage time' as all starters took the rest of the evening off!

(By that time, only two were left anyway.)

Those bench players are a feisty lot - IWU picked up 2 fouls in ONE second of playing time!

Bulldog8 · February 13, 2010, 10:57:47 PM

Lyndsie Long is 11 points away from being the Bluejay Women's all time leading scorer! She had 30 points tonight in the victory over North Park. She also broke the Bluejays career record for 3 pointers with 160 (and counting). Along with all of that it was senior night for Long and 2 other Bluejays. It was a great day to be a BLUEJAY!

mactitan · February 14, 2010, 08:48:38 AM

The Titans have got to lead the nation in forcing the other team to just throw the ball blindly, hoping someone else can get it.

RogK · February 14, 2010, 09:17:41 PM

An impressive game for Stacey Arlis in that Titan 87-70 win: 26 pts including 11 of 15 FGs. Christina S had another very well-rounded game, not scoring a lot, but had 7 assists and grabbed 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Hope Schulte had 17 pts, 3 blocks and 4 steals.
Sarah Jones rang up 11 pts, 10 rebs, 4 steals and 5 assists for Wheaton.
Carthage rolled on with an 85-67 win over North Central. The Lady Red starters all had from 11 to 17 pts. Heather Gilmore added 8 assists and 6 steals. For NC, Latrice Newson had 23 pts 5 assists and Christine Karl scored 17.
Elmhurst 75, North Park 68. Lyndsie Long had 30 pts in 33:00. Megan Ney had 13, 11r and 3 stls. "Merk" had 13 pts, 7r and 3 blocks in her 25:00.
Kamauria Acree had 27 and 4 assists for NP and Sarah Peterson contributed 12 pts, 2 blocks and 4 steals.
Millikin 61 Augie 44. Elise Wildman had 18, 8r and 4 blocks. Crystal Zeigler had 14 pts and 10 rebs.

RogK · February 14, 2010, 09:34:16 PM

By the way, on Saturday I saw two of IWU's nonconference opponents play to a 95-95 draw at the end of 40:00. Olivet Nazarene prevailed over St Francis in OT, 119-111. Yes, only 40 pts scored in the 5:00 OT. It was a rather hectic pace throughout the contest : 11 players scored in double figures and there were 178 total FG att (74 from behind the arc), 82 FT atts, 68 turnovers (incl 32 steals). Not at dull moment, except for the calm during all those free throws, as players caught their breath.

WUPHF · February 15, 2010, 02:09:59 PM

Quick Post Season Question:

Or, is it too early to start talking about the post-season? Providing that Illinois Weslyan, Carthage and Washington University win each of their remaining home games:

1) Does Washington University overtake Carthage in the regional rankings with a win at Chicago in two weeks? Carthage, it seems has the bigger win, plus the win over Chicago, along with the loss to an unranked team, while Washington University has one in-region loss, plus much bigger wins over common opponents. Am I missing something?

2) Does someone have thoughts on where the Central region teams might play, besides Bloomington-Normal, considering that the Carthage and Washington University men might host a few games? [or am I wrong about that point?]

I am trying to plan my vacation to see as many games as possible.

WESNSports · February 15, 2010, 03:09:47 PM

It is always too early to talk about post-season before it starts, but that never stops anyone. This year the Men have priority for hosting the first round, and the women have priority the second weekend. Assuming both Wash U teams keep winning, the men will definitely be hosting the first weekend. I don't imagine the Carthage men winning out in an really tough CCIW, and assume they'll go to a WIAC school. Either Carthage or IWU will lose in the CCIW championship, which could really shake the rankings. A Carthage loss would surely move them behind Wash U. And an IWU loss might actually bump Carthage up to the top. As of right now, IWU has the highest SOS numbers, Wash U is second, and Carthage is third. So I think the most likely scenario would be for the regional rankings to end up with IWU, Wash U, and Carthage in that order.

It will be very interesting where these teams end up. It could be IWU and Carthage hosting, or just IWU. I don't think Wash U will host, and who knows where they could get sent. Simpson is the strongest team in the west not on the Pacific coast, so geographically that could make sense. A team could also easily be sent to a Great Lakes school, Wash U might be too far away for that though. I know I can't wait for selection weekend.

http://www.collegefanz.com/people/WESNSports/blog

mactitan · February 15, 2010, 03:15:41 PM

Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on February 13, 2010, 07:27:19 PM
Mia Smith has got to be one of the greatest halftime coaches - once again the Titans have come out smoking the opposition. 6.5 minutes into the 2nd, the halftime lead of 6 has grown to 16: 60-44.

I agree, but am thinking maybe she is one of the best D-III coaches in the first-half too. What are the chances of her staying at IWU? I hate to rumor-monger, but she has to be getting calls from other programs - like Dennie Bridges did for years. Anyone closer to the program have any feeling on this?

I've only been to two games this year. At the Wash U game, I thought both teams were pretty sloppy, and it was clearly early in the season. It was a great win, but I thought the Titans had a lot of improving to do if they wanted to be the best team in the nation. I was at the game this Saturday against Wheaton, and the improvement seemed clear.

They seemed to depend on the 3-pointer or Christian Solari bailing them out against Wash U. Against Wheaton it was clear that other players had stepped up, and they did not seem to count on the 3 pointer as much. Though it did seem like they started to pull away only when a few 3's dropped in.

Also, I was thinking on Saturday that Solari is probably graduating as the winningest women's basketball player in IWU history. What an amazing player. She would have my vote for MOP.

mactitan · February 15, 2010, 03:47:17 PM

OK, so I did a little checking. My research was incomplete because I wasn't sure which three games Solari played as a freshman, so she might have three more wins. I also don't know if she has missed any game along the way since her first year. But, for the last three years Solari has been a part of 78 wins. As far as I can tell, the most wins over a four-year period before she got to IWU was the Traci Butler era's 72 wins. The seniors from last year - Claire Sheehan and Mallory Heydorn - graduated with 97 wins (assuming they played every game for four years, and I don't know if that is true). So, the answer to my own question is "No, she won't graduate with the most wins of all-time." She would probably go way past 97 wins if she came back for a fifth year (she told the Pantagraph that was not going to happen).