WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Doesn't sound like fun to me. I like a nice, leisurely pace at my scorer's table. I hate falling behind and trying to catch up, or trying to find a spare moment to erase a mistake, or having to confab with my tablemates about who scored the basket or how many team fouls there are or whether the shot clock was reset or not.

If I had to keep score for the Grinnell men's team, I'd demand a paid vacation at the end of the season.

Greg, you are not a tough enough negotiator.  If I were scoring a Grinnell men's game, I'd demand a paid vacation in Aruba (minimum of 3-star hotel) beginning the very next day!

[NACfan215]

Rogk,
I know the Elmhurst v Dominican game was a blowout, what did you take away from the game regarding Dominican? I know thy had a coaching transition and graduated their top 2 players.

[RogK]

First the other CCIW action : Augie fell behind 32-14 and ended up losing 75-66 to Monmouth. They committed 24 fouls and 24 TOs. On the positive side, they got good production from young players Maddie Kerr (14 pts on 10 shots in 21:00), Kayla Boers (10 rebs), Marissa Pezzopane (6/9 FG).
Elmhurst sped past Dominican 90-47. Most every Bluejay played well. Some of the best : Devin Vaughn (5/5 FG incl a three, 8 assists, 3 steals in 21:00), Kim Schwerdtmann (5/5 FG, 6 steals in 16:00), Fiona McMahon (9/13 FG, 4/4 FT, 22 pts in 16:00), Stephanie Mitchell (10 pts in 15:00, several deflections of Dominican passes).
Elmhurst was up 78-22 with more than 12 minutes to go. Had they continued to use their top players, they could've really stomped Dominican, but Coach Carrillo was very nice to the visitors, using all of her bench for most of the 2nd half and slowing the pace of her offense. I'd rather not analyze Dominican, NACfan215. Suffice it to say that they and their new coach have a few things to work on. They had more than twice as many TOs (30) as baskets (13), never a good ratio. But, Elmhurst played an excellent, dominant game.

[NACfan215]

Carthage 57 UW River Falls 50 at the St. Norberts classic.  RF tomorrow at 1, Carthage at 3 against winner of SNC and Lakeland College.  Only caught the last 5 mins and Carthage was basically in stall mode already. RF had a couple chances to tie it up, but Carthage held on late.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU 69
Milwaukee Engineering 37

Sarah Peterson: 14 pts, 10 rebs, 4 blks (in 21 minutes played)
Dana Christensen: 11 pts, 5 asts
Soly Roman: 11 pts

This one turned into a rout very quickly. NPU scored 18 unanswered points over an eight-minute span and led by the ridiculous score of 42-8 at the half. Amanda Reese rested her starters for almost the entire second half, which allowed MSOE to make the final score quasi-respectable. And three of the NPU seniors (Shaina Yalda, Becca Heimsath, and Bridgette Gray) didn't even dress for the game, which gives you some idea of the talent gap between the two teams.

It's hard to glean much from a game played against such a significantly inferior opponent, but the Vikings did look very sharp on defense. MSOE only shot 19% from the field for the game, as the Raiders only sank nine FGs in the entire contest. Most of their second-half  points came on free throws, as the NPU bench did a lot of fouling down the stretch. NPU recorded 17 steals, and had a positive assists:turnovers ratio as a team (17:14) which doesn't happen too often.

The takeaway for me is that the two freshman bigs, Nicole "Spot" Kruckman and Soly Roman, both look like they're going to turn into very fine players down the road.

[RogK]

I saw North Central fall to Olivet, 96-84. Olivet's two post players combined for 39 pts and their smaller players handled the ball well against a lot of trapping pressure by NC. Freshman Kimberly Wilson had a sharp debut for NC, tallying 20. No game for me today (attending a cousin's wake).
Wheaton rolled past Blackburn, 81-28, holding the visitors to 7/42 FG shooting. Four Thunderpersons scored in double figures.
Millikin was topped by UWSP, 65-50.

[iwu70]

My #4 Titans fell to #5 Mt. Union yesterday, 73-68.  Seems the Titans couldn't quite come back from 14 down with 6 minutes to play, getting within 3-4 points, but not quite getting over the hump.  Early season chemistry lacking, too many TOs according to Mia Smith postgame.  Titans had 27 turnovers, as both teams used the "run and jump," pressing the entire game.  A good rematch of a Sectional semi from last year, which IWU won on Mt. Union's court on an Olivia Lett buzzer beater.  Good to see balanced scoring with strong inside scoring:  Jackson 21, Seibring 15, Gardner 12, Bilek 10.  Plenty of positives to take away, but plenty of work still to do to bring this new group into full and complete sync.  A strong early test, for sure.  Not a bad start, all things considered.  IMHO.  Seibring may be the "breakout" player of the year for the Titans.  All good teams have to learn how to win tough, close games.  Stay tuned. Titans play Muskingum today at noon.  More to follow.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU 79
Dominican 51

Dana Christensen: 14 pts
Sarah Peterson: 11 pts, 7 rebs
Nicole Kruckman: 10 pts
Shaina Yalda: 10 pts
Kamauria Acree: 10 pts, 6 rebs, 4 asts

A very efficient win for the Vikings in River Forest this afternoon. The Park shot 51% from the field, 58% from downtown, and 90% from the line, and stole the ball 14 times. Similar to the DU vs. Elmhurst stats, the Stars had several more turnovers (21) than field goals (16).

The immediate concern here is Sarah Peterson. She's sometimes the victim of the fact that her motor only works at one speed -- full -- and she took a nasty fall on her face at the end of the first half. She did not play at all in the second half, and she was holding a bag of ice to her head. I sure hope that she's OK.

[iwu70]

Titans over Muskingum today, 80-67, in Indiana. 

McMahon 16, Baltes 15, Jackson 12, Seibring 12, Bilek 10, Gardner 9  = the formula for wins in the post-Olivia Lett era.

Titans now 1-1, host another tip-off tournament-type event @The Shirk next weekend.  More very tough competition coming in.

IWU70

[mark_reichert]

Titans now 1-1, host another tip-off tournament-type event @The Shirk next weekend.  More very tough competition coming in.
IWU70

That's a perfect lead in and an understatement.  I'm stating the obvious and repeating what I said five months ago, but all three of the rotating hosts of this tournament (Illinois Wesleyan, WashU, Depauw) have a national championship and in fact have half of the last six (2007, 2010, 2012).  I was rooting for the Titans once they reached the Final Four and the Bears did not, just for that.  They're all in the top 10 of the preseason poll as well.

Which former champions do you think would ever contemplate playing in this tournament?  Given the distances for other champions, the only one's I can think of coming to this tournament would be either Hope (in spite of or because of their past history with all three teams) or Wilmington (Ohio). Millikin is perfectly located to travel to any of the three schools, but would a fellow CCIW team want to risk playing the Titans one more time in a season?

[RogK]

Looking at a couple more of the Saturday games :
Molly Etheridge (6/9 2FG, 3/7 3FG, 5/6 FT) poured in 26 pts to lead Augie to a 75-63 victory over Robert Morris Springfiled. Trailing 51-37, the Vikings dominated the final quarter (10:01) of the game 38-12. That's a 150 pt/game pace. Congratulations to Mark Beinborn on win number 1 as head coach.
In Naperville, North Central missed 75 pct of their FG attempts and were outrebounded by 33. Oh, by the way, they won (70-67 over Alma College). Welcome to the world of nonsequiturial stats produced by "System" basketball. Emily Murphy led the Cardinals with 10 pts.

[iwu70]

Yes, some of the finest DIII women's teams coming into the Shirk this weekend.  IWU, Coe, DePauw and Wash U, playing in a Tip-Off Tournament type of event.

IWU plays Coe College on Saturday at 3 p.m.   Wash U vs. DePauw is at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Then, Sunday -- 3rd place game at 1 p.m., Championship Game at 3 p.m.   

(Perhaps as good as, or better quality basketball than a Final Four?  Just say'in.  Last week, DP ranked #4, IWU #5, Wash U #9, and Coe #21). 

A challenging weekend for all the teams -- "to be the best, play the best." 

Happy Thanksgiving to all the CCIW "Chatsters."  Have a blessed, happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday break.

IWU70

P.S.  RogK, yes, that NC game was a very odd outcome and statistical bizarreness! 

[RogK]

Some more Saturday results :
Brooke Olson was tournament MVP as she and teammates topped Saint Mary's (Indiana) 62-42.
Millikin lost to U of St Thomas 63-42.
Carthage lost a tight one to St Norbert 49-46. Cailee Corcoran had 11 pts, 10 rebs. The 2nd half was 17-17.
Elmhurst eased past MSOE 79-35. The Jays made 25 of 37 2FGs att.

[keith45]

Looking at a couple more of the Saturday games :
Molly Etheridge (6/9 2FG, 3/7 3FG, 5/6 FT) poured in 26 pts to lead Augie to a 75-63 victory over Robert Morris Springfiled. Trailing 51-37, the Vikings dominated the final quarter (10:01) of the game 38-12. That's a 150 pt/game pace. Congratulations to Mark Beinborn on win number 1 as head coach.
In Naperville, North Central missed 75 pct of their FG attempts and were outrebounded by 33. Oh, by the way, they won (70-67 over Alma College). Welcome to the world of nonsequiturial stats produced by "System" basketball. Emily Murphy led the Cardinals with 10 pts.

I went to all the NCC games this weekend (former coach on the womens side, taking time off this year). The women shot 40 free throws on Saturday, which was enough to nudge them over the top. NCC is 1-1 without 2 of their top sophomores playing and 1 didnt play in the loss (Rezin). When they other 2 come back, I think the platoons will be more settled and a bit more effective. They have a ways to go but are buying in and are having fun.
The men..whew, what a game. I actually brough some of my 7th grade travel players to see the game, so they could see the physical nature and the level of execution involved...and I wasn't disappointed. The forwards for NCC will give ANYONE problems I think and they are uber physical (even Rairdon who had a mini shove in a minor skirmish in the Hope game)
RogK, were you at the game? I thought I saw you walk by towards the end but I had my 3 year old with me who took some focus! I was sitting between the band and the cheerleaders, with some former coaches and teammates of mine

[RogK]

Thanks for that reminder, keith45. I think you are referring to Kelsey Cooling and Larynn Shumaker. They should definitely help in a variety of ways, as you say. Everyone on the team has a lot to adjust to in this transition to a new style of play. By the way, I wasn't criticising the team for the stats I listed, but rather pointing out to readers that despite subpar FG shooting and rebounding, they did other things that added up to a win.
North Central's games this season will produce a lot of surprising stats.
Oops, I forgot to answer your question. I attended only the Friday women's game vs Olivet. I was seated in the endzone bleacher at the visitor (west) end.