WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

The new D3Hoops top 25 shows Carthage at 23, IWU at 32 and Elmhurst tied at 39.

[iwu70]

Pgraph reports today that Karen Solari, a Titan starter for the last 5 games or so, will be out for one-two games with an ankle injury.  Same article quotes Coach Smith saying that she now expects varying rotations to continue, as has been the case so far this season.  She may go small and start 3 guards or may replace Karen with Shelby Jackson who also started a few games after coming back from illness.  Amy Burton also started some games earlier in the season, when Shelby was out.  Depth again playing a key part in any CCIW run.  IWU vs. Carthage an early, important test for both teams for the CCIW race.  Saturday at 5 p.m. at The Shirk.

Go Titans.

IWU70

[RogK]

iwu70, if you attend tonight's Augie game, can you study them and give us a scouting report? They seem to be improved from recent seasons.
I'll be seeing Millikin for the first time (at Wheaton). Initially, I expected Millikin to be 2nd best in the CCIW, but that was based on thinking the Titans would suffer from graduating so many good players. IWU is a lot better than I thought, so I presently would rate IWU up there with Carthage.
Yes, we're only 2 games into conference play, so we'll see what happens.

[iwu70]

RogerK, I'll surely be there tonight, so will be happy to give you my impressions following.  I've not seen the Augie women this year.  Titans are playing well, with good assist still from the "run and jump" style of up-tempo pressure, excellent shooting, esp. from treyland, and lots of running in and out, with still a pretty long rotation, lots of good high-energy and fit players.  Key is how far the new members of the rotation develop, and how quickly.  Karen Solari is a loss though, esp. against the stronger post-oriented teams, as she is a strong rebounder, gives a certain stability to the post area for the Titans which they have not always had this season.  Titans are basically a perimeter team with great athleticism and shooting from Lett, Gardner and Hasselbring.  The role players are beginning to step up and that will largely determine how far the Titans go this year -- how well McMahon, Baltes, Burton, Jackson, Seibring, and Solari play.  No doubt about the consistent high quality play of Lett, Gardner and Hasselbring.  Just look at the stats overall to date.  They are battle-tested veterans for sure now.  I would expect IWU to press AC bigtime tonight, and "go small" with their line-up and Karen Solari on the bench with her ankle injury. 

Big match-up on Saturday with Carthage coming into the Shirk.  That game will surely set the tone, set the stage for the first half of the CCIW race, IMHO.  Elmhurst seems to be the other challenge, the other contender, given play to date.   

Anyone out there with a good assessment of the Carthage women so far this year?

********

More later, after another evening of "run and jump," fun and games at The Shirk.  Last night's men's win over Augie was special, much enjoyed by the Titan nation.  Place was jumping with about 1800 in the house.  A slugfest, with rebounders flying all over the place, lots of plays above the rim, and some incredibly intense and tenacious defense by both teams.  Few IWU TOs, and some better shooting, esp. from threeland by IWU's bigs, made the difference.   Great to see the Augie men 1-2 at this early point in the CCIW race!!!

IWU70 

[Backseat Driver]

Wheaton leads Millikin 27-23 at the half

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU up 36-28 w/ 15+ to go.  Since the Titans' greatest strength is depth, I'm a bit concerned that 26 of the 36 points are from Gardner and Lett.  Great games from them, but where is the rest of the team?

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU up 36-28 w/ 15+ to go.  Since the Titans' greatest strength is depth, I'm a bit concerned that 26 of the 36 points are from Gardner and Lett.  Great games from them, but where is the rest of the team?

If the top two are going good enough, it apparently doesn't matter!  Gardner and Lett STILL have all but 10 of the points, but they lead by 15 with 7+ to go.

[Backseat Driver]

Wheaton 68
Millikin 56

Huge win for Wheaton tonight. Millikin opened up a 12-point advantage early in the game, but Wheaton finally got going and led by 4 at the half. The second half was pretty back-and-forth until Laura Karsten and Elisabeth Potts connected on consecutive threes to spark a 13-3 run that put the Thunder up 10 with just under 4 minutes left. Wheaton rediscovered its 3-point touch tonight, which propelled the hosts to the win. Being back at home certainly helped with that.

Wheaton: 19-56 FG (34%), 12-25 3FG (48%), 18-27 FT (67%), 43 REB, 20 TO

      -Elisabeth Potts: 20 points, 10 rebounds
      -Lindsey Brenneman: 23 points (5-8 3FG)
      -Brooke Olson: 10 points, 6 assists
      -Maris Hovee: 8 rebounds, 7 blocks

Millikin: 23-62 FG (37%), 6-15 3FG (40%), 4-7 FT (57%), 36 REB, 20 TO

      -Crystal Zeigler: 20 points, 8 rebounds
      -Nikki Tipsword: 9 points, 12 rebounds

[iwu70]

Final from The Shirk:  IWU 65, Augie 44.

A really pretty poorly played game by both teams, with no real natural basketball flow to it.  The Titans won by over 20, but only led by 3 at the half, and overall played pretty poorly tonight.  RogK, Augie is a pesky team, with pretty good foot speed and a couple of nice post players, but they could rarely get the ball to the post area and I would say the Titan run and jump press had them in the backcourt or many many feet from the lane and any reasonable scoring area for the majority of the minutes in this game.  IWU's press and the scoring of Lett and Gardner, esp. Gardners 5-8 from treyland, saved the day for the Titans, who executed poorly overall tonight, IMHO.

Lett 22
Gardner 21, 5-8 from treyland

Natalie Runge 13 pts., only Viking in double figures.

Titans were led in RBs by Whitney Scurlock with 6 and Shelby Jackson with 6.  The Vikings outrebounded Wesleyan tonight, as last night, with 9 rebounds each by Whitney Miller and Kristina Howard. 

If the Titans play this loosely, this poorly vs. Carthage, they will have a pretty disappointing and bad night.  I think Karen Solari was greatly missed tonight as there was truly very little good rebounding, no consistent stabalization of the post area, and less than opportunistic steals off the middle area and back area of the run and jump, areas where Karen Solari excels.  The Titans just seemed one step behind tonight, and often took off balance shots with less than stellar shot selection..  Even though Olivia Lett finished with 22, many were close in, even in the lane jumpers where she just backed them down and jumped over smaller, less athletic defenders.  She also too quite a few bad, off balance or ill-advised shots and had 4 fouls.  Britt Hasselbring also played 6+ minutes with four fouls.

Not the most beautiful game, but, in the CCIW race, a win is a win, ugly or not.  It looks good at 65-44 with a differential of over 20, but the Titans just did not play all that well tonight.  OK, I said that already!  Perhaps best to get that out of the system and get back to better form on Saturday afternoon against Carthage.  Let's hope so.

Augie seems surely improved from previous years, from what I know of them, but they just didn't handle the IWU pressure very well, especially in the initial ten minutes of the second half . . . when Melissa Gardner hit 3 or 4 or her treys to stretch the Wesleyan lead. 

Still, nice to see the Titans now at 10-4, 3-0 in CCIW, and moving forward even when not playing their best basketball, grinding out a win.  I guess that is the theme when playing any Augie team.  You have to just grind it out.  That's what the Titans finally did tonight, esp. at key points in the second half.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Yes, Ypsi is right, Gardner and Lett together scored 43, almost outscoring the entire Augie squad by themselves.  Melissa really saved Wesleyan's hide in this game with her trey bombs, five of them.  Olivia Lett played in the post area more, and when Britt Hasselbring had four fouls, she even played point guard for some minutes tonight.  Run and jump ain't pretty but in some games it is crucial to grinding them down, getting the turnovers, and wearing out the other team by the 12th-16th minutes of the second half.  It all makes sense. 

IWU70

[RogK]

A few stray notes to supplement Backseat Driver's report:
THAT was the Lindsey Brenneman that I really enjoy to see play -- 5 of 8 threes, 6/6 FTs;
quite a defensive presence by Maris Hovee -- 7 blocks, 3 steals, 6 def rebs in 18:00;
kind of a weird game for Millikin -- certain of their players would do well for spurts, but then were not heard from for a long while;
the officiating appeared to be inconsistent : to me, it seemed that quite a few uncalled fouls were committed early in the game; also, there was a very surprising offensive foul called on Wheaton's Breanna Bohlen (right at the basket), matched at the other end by a call that astounded Millikin's coach (I can't recall the player involved);
even though the play was ragged at times, there was fine effort and intensity by both teams throughout;
it seemed to me that W's Laura Karsten and Jennifer Lee are a bit tired following a long soccer season, or maybe there are lingering aches and pains; I could be wrong on that, but that's the impression I got.
As Backseat Driver said, it was an important win for Wheaton.

[Backseat Driver]

the officiating appeared to be inconsistent : to me, it seemed that quite a few uncalled fouls were committed early in the game; also, there was a very surprising offensive foul called on Wheaton's Breanna Bohlen (right at the basket), matched at the other end by a call that astounded Millikin's coach (I can't recall the player involved);

It can sometimes be tough to tell on video, but from what I saw it certainly looked as though the player who took the "charge" on that play was not only not set, but also was within the newly-instituted restricted area. I don't recall what happened at the other end...and what I would remember would be pixelated anyway 

RogK, what were your general impressions of Millikin? Early on it looks like we have quite the battle for fourth place on our hands.

[Hoosier Titan]

It can sometimes be tough to tell on video, but from what I saw it certainly looked as though the player who took the "charge" on that play was not only not set, but also was within the newly-instituted restricted area.

Same thing happened in the IWU-Augie game.  Charging/blocking is the hardest call to make, but the Augie player who took the "charge" was right in the restricted area.  I think some of the refs are not yet up on all the new rules. 

Not of any significance in the game's outcome, but if new rules are introduced, they should be enforced.

[RogK]

My general impressions of Millikin?
Not too different from last year (E Wildman graduated, of course).
Zeigler was very energetic, enthusiastic and productive. Pruemer had a sub-par game, but made smart quick decisions twice when she happened to be down on the floor getting possession of a loose ball, using a timeout  before a held-ball could occur. Aldridge and Robert were very effective at times. Wellbaum was also energetic and enthusiastic and (how to put this?) somewhat frisky on defense. Cholewick was alright; I think she'll shine more next year when more may be asked of her. Tipsword provided good play off the bench.
Millikin has some unusual ball and player movement in their halfcourt offense. I didn't see them do much of the typical windshield-wiper incremental passing around the perimeter that some (most?) teams use.
Wheaton's passing got better through the game, by the way, becoming very quick and accurate, a big factor in their success.

[RogK]

Meghan Merklein scored 31 pts on 22 FG att, leading Elmhurst past North Central, 64-52. She also had 4 assists. Megan Ney had 10 rebs, 3 blocks and a pair of steals.
Carthage topped North Park 55-33. Diana Jacklin continued her fine play, leading all players with 14 pts, 12 rebs, 5 blocks. If it's any consolation, NP held Carthage to its second lowest scoring output of the season so far.