WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

Sure looks like evidence to date is that Elmhurst is playing at a very high level, right up there with Carthage and IWU.  Will be a great test for them when they match-up with IWU and CC soon, to see how far they've come.  That's quite a performance by Ms. Merklein.  EC also has other excellent players, who seem to know their roles and play hard, especially on defense.  EC-CC, IWU-EC, and IWU-CC should be some really great games.  Titans host Carthage this Saturday 5 p.m. at the Shirk, for the lead in the CCIW early on in the season.  The Titans, IMHO, will have to play better than they played vs. Augie last night to win over Carthage Saturday.  Do hope Karen Solari is able to play. 

IWU70

[Titan Q]

IWU 70
Carthage 69


After an IWU steal (with the Titans down 2), Michelle Bilek hit a 3 from the left wing with 2 seconds to play for the win.

Carthage led this game 69-60 with 2:50 to play and never scored again.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Apparently quite the game in B'town.  IWU led by 11 at the half, but Carthage came back to take the lead.  Michele Bilek got a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left, and the Titans prevail, 70-69!  (I forgot the time of the game, and only tuned in with a minute left - I await first-hand reports!)

[iwu70]

Yes, very exciting game at The Shirk tonight, with never-say-die Titans getting an unlikely win on a last second trey.

Carthage:
Cailee Corcoran 23
Diana Jacklin 17, 15 rebounds, 4 assts, 2 steals, 2 blocks -- a tremendous game.

IWU:
Lett 21 (but 1-10 from three)
McMahon 12
Michelle Bilek,  12 (career high, and winning trey)

Titans lost the rebounding battle (Lett had 9), but won the turnover battle 20-14. 

Two really good teams slugging it out, and the Titans just hung on for one moreturnover, one more shot, and got the win.  One of the best women's games I've seen ever at the Shirk.

IWU 70

[Hoosier Titan]

Absolutely brilliant game tonight.  I was going to say "it's a cliche, but they were like two heavyweights going at it," and I see iwu70 is using it too.  The game, even more than usual for basketball, was a game of runs. For most of the first half, Carthage held a slim lead; it was tied at just over 3 minutes.  Then, the Titan press kicked in and they took an 11-point lead by halftime. 

In the second half, the Lady Reds chipped away and the Titans failed to convert a few chances, and the game was tied with just under 10:00 to go.  The Titans had a "deer in in the headlights" look, and Carthage pushed out to a nine-point lead, 69-60, with under 3 to go.  Again, the Titan press (of necessity) created turnovers and the Titans came to life.  I would have to look at the video to describe the Titan comeback, and everyone here can now see that online, so I'll jump to the final 15 or so seconds, with the Lady Reds holding a 69-67 advantage.

Cailee Corcoran, who had been lethal when shooting within her range, missed a shot, and Olivia Lett rebounded.  The Titans looked good with plenty of time, but turned it over.  The Lady Reds then turned it right back over inside the 00:10 mark.  The Titans had one timeout remaining, and I was expecting Mia Smith to call time out.  No.  I can only assume Olivia Lett was covered, as was Melissa Gardner when she got the ball.  She passed to Michelle Bilek deep in the left corner, who didn't hesitate to take what must be the biggest shot of her life.  It was a swish, with less than three seconds on the clock, to make the score 70-69.  After a Carthage timeout, Diana Jacklin made it nearly to half court to throw up one last shot.

Wow...just wow.  Great performances on both sides, and great coaching both ways.  They could play it again, at either team's gym, and it might go either way.  It was a privilege to be there.

[Backseat Driver]

Wheaton 70
N. Central 48

Wheaton led 30-22 at the half and the Cardinals opened the second half with a 7-0 run to make it 30-29 with 18:39 left. From there it was all Wheaton, as the Thunder blew the game open with a barrage of 3-pointers. The Thunder hit eight treys in the second half and 14 in the game. Once Wheaton got hot, there was nothing the Cardinals could do to stop the bleeding.

Wheaton: 27-65 FG (42%), 14-27 3FG (52%), 2-3 FT, 39 REB, 13 TO
      -Elisabeth Potts: 18 points (4-5 3FG), 6 rebounds
      -Brooke Olson: 14 points (4-7 3FG), 5 assists
      -Laura Karsten: 12 points
      -Lindsey Brenneman: 11 points (3-5 3FG)

NCC: 19-47 FG (40%), 5-15 3FG (33%), 5-10 FT, 30 REB, 20 TO
      -Emily Collins: 8 points, 11 rebounds
      -Emily Murphy: 8 points, 7 rebounds
      -Sophie Newson: 8 points

Being at home has done wonders for Wheaton's shooting percentages. We'll see if that trend continues against a Carthage team coming off a heartbreaker in Bloomington today.

[RogK]

Tess Godhardt led Elmhurst (4-0) to a 56-35 victory over Augie; she had 22 pts (8/9 FG, 6/8 FT) and 12 rebs.
I saw Millikin use a late-game 22-6 surge to get past North Park 68-61. Julia Robert tallied 14 (if I counted right) of those 22, including a dazzling over-the-shoulder flip lay-in following a steal of the inbound throw. Certainly was a disheartening loss for NP, but they still have time to climb out of the 0-4 hole they're in. The Big Blue evened their CCIW record at 2-2, matching Wheaton in a tie for 4th/5th. Their mostly-successful use of fullcourt trapping late in the game invigorated them. Both teams got good contributions from a variety of players.

[iwu70]

Now so looking forward to the IWU-EC game, to see how good a road team these Titans are.  Agree totally with Hoosier Titan, the IWU-CC game was just fantastic.  Surely one of the best women's DIII hoops games I've witnessed ever.  Perhaps it doesn't compare to the comeback last year against George Fox, but this was truly two very good teams, heavy weight teams, matching skills, play for play, throughout, and two excellent coaches doing their utmost to get the win.  IWU got the last shot and, fortunately for the Titans at home, it went down.  Loved the head-to-head matchups with Lett and Jacklin.  My hat is off to the Titans for never giving up, even when down 9 with under 3 minutes to go.  Even with Lett and Gardner shooting 2-15 from treyland, the other Titans picked it up on defense, made key contributions on offense and got the improbable win.  Gotta be a heart-breaker for the Carthage women.  The rematch in Kenosha should be another barn-burner.  Titans have to face the surging EC team now, after NCC next Wednesday @NCC.  WC is beginning to play as well as most of us thought they would.  Lots of basketball left, to be sure, but nice to start out 4-0, protect home court in this big game with Carthage.

My hat is off to both teams  -- what a great effort, what a great game.  It was a privilege to be there.

IWU70

[Titan Q]

The On Demand replay of the IWU/Carthage game.  The final sequence is at about the 1:40:30 mark on the player...

http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/iwu.portal#


Carthage seemingly made two huge defensive plays to win the game.  First, the tie-up of Olivet Lett with :16 to play (IWU kept the ball), but then the biggie - the tie-up of Lexi Baltes with about :13 to go, with possession arrow to the Lady Reds.  Carthage just had to get the ball in and make FT's.  But credit the IWU defense on the inbounds play...I don't think a single Carthage player was open...which forced the bad pass and turnover.  Also credit the Titans on handling that final offensive possession without calling a timeout.  You can see Mia Smith getting ready to call one in the middle of that possession, but she changed her mind and did not.

Crazy finish.  Mia's Smith postgame comments on WJBC radio...

http://wjbc.com/iwu-men-win-9th-straight-women-win-on-late-3/

[iwu70]

Warm congrats to Olivia Lett on CCIW Player of the Week, her third such award already this season!

Titans have NCC this week, Wednesday, then the big showdown with ECC on the 21st, Saturday. 

Lots of excellent basketball, big games, to go, but CCIW season almost one-third in the books. 

With no disrespect to Olivia who obviously had a another huge week, Michelle Bilek is my Titan Player of the Week!  IMHO.

IWU70

[Hoosier Titan]

Also credit the Titans on handling that final offensive possession without calling a timeout.  You can see Mia Smith getting ready to call one in the middle of that possession, but she changed her mind and did not.

That final possession (which really took 10 seconds) seemed to take both half a second and ten years.  I kept expecting Mia to call the timeout.  Yesterday I spoke with Lexi Baltes, who said that the players on the floor thought they didn't have one.  As I thought about it, it would have presented other problems--they would have had to inbound the ball, this time without a timeout if they needed it.  Of course, knowing the ending, it all worked out perfectly for the Titans.

I once calculated that I'd been to a thousand basketball games before I went to college; there's been fewer live ones since but I've probably watched that many more.  Even having seen an undefeated team win a national championship, I don't ever remember a more exciting finish than that one.  Blo-No was ten degrees warmer after that!

Congrats to Olivia!

[iwu70]

After the win over Carthage, IWU breaks into the top 25, barely, at 25th.  Only team in the top 25 with 4 losses.

Carthage at 28th.

Still six undefeated squads in the top 25 listing.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

I saw Millikin use a late-game 22-6 surge to get past North Park 68-61. Julia Robert tallied 14 (if I counted right) of those 22, including a dazzling over-the-shoulder flip lay-in following a steal of the inbound throw. Certainly was a disheartening loss for NP, but they still have time to climb out of the 0-4 hole they're in.

The disheartening part for NPU is that the Vikings had a six-point lead at 61-55 with three minutes remaining ... and then didn't score another point. Even though it took Millikin a full minute to register any points in its comeback attempt, that's still a distressing length of time for a drought, especially at the end of a game. Millikin's press really rattled the Vikings down the stretch, and two of the four shots that NPU missed in that final span were layups.

The ugly finish wiped out what would've otherwise been a fine effort by NPU on Saturday.

[iwu70]

Anyone know why Britt Hasselbring is not playing for IWU tonight.

IWU up early 16-12 over NCC, about half way thru the first half.

IWU70

[iwu70]

IWU up at NC 44-31 at the half.

Lett with 17.

No sign of Britt Hasselbring.

IWU70