WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Backseat Driver]

North Park 62
Millikin 54

Big win for the Vikings this afternoon. NPU is a legitimate contender for a conference tournament slot this season, and it's important for them to defend their home court.

I watched the last 8 minutes or so of this game, at which time Millikin had a cut a 15-point deficit to 2. But over the rest of the game, the Big Blue really struggled to score and North Park was able to keep the visitors at arms length.

A couple of thoughts -

1. North Park survived a prolonged scoring drought in this game than enabled Millikin to get back in the game. It seems like the Vikings have had stretches like that in a lot of their games. Will NPU be able to score consistently against the likes of Carthage, Wheaton, and IWU?

2. Millikin is going to have to fight for a conference tourney slot this year. They just don't have the same level of talent they've traditionally had.

[Mr. Ypsi]

The other three games are all blowouts:

IWU 64, Elmhurst 42 (9:44 to go)
Carthage 59, Augie 29 (4:17)
Wheaton 75, NCC 41 (10:02)

[Mr. Ypsi]

All games now final:

IWU 64, Elmhurst 42
Carthage 73, Augie 35
Wheaton 106(!), NCC 67

The 'system' doesn't work so well when you miss 44 of 53 threes!

[Backseat Driver]

Wheaton led 100-50 with 3 minutes left. Enough said.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 62
Millikin 54

Big win for the Vikings this afternoon. NPU is a legitimate contender for a conference tournament slot this season, and it's important for them to defend their home court.

I watched the last 8 minutes or so of this game, at which time Millikin had a cut a 15-point deficit to 2. But over the rest of the game, the Big Blue really struggled to score and North Park was able to keep the visitors at arms length.

A couple of thoughts -

1. North Park survived a prolonged scoring drought in this game than enabled Millikin to get back in the game. It seems like the Vikings have had stretches like that in a lot of their games. Will NPU be able to score consistently against the likes of Carthage, Wheaton, and IWU?

2. Millikin is going to have to fight for a conference tourney slot this year. They just don't have the same level of talent they've traditionally had.

The first question's a fair one. The second point is valid. NPU does have stretches in each game in which the Vikings get stuck offensively; tonight they had a couple of four-minutes droughts and three others that were of a three-minutes-plus duration. Some of that was not having Dana Christensen in uniform (thankfully, she only sprained her ankle on Wednesday against Augie, and she's hoping to be back in uniform on Wednesday against Illinois Wesleyan), but it's been the Vikings m.o. whether she's been in the lineup or not. Fortunately, the defense for NPU has been so good that they've been able to survive those droughts, but Carthage, Wheaton, and Wesleyan are on a different level than the teams that they've been playing.

I'll also agree that Millikin's talent appears to have dropped off a bit with the loss of Zeigler, Aldridge, Prumer, and Robert, four players who each averaged in double figures last season. There's no one player on the MU team who really poses a major offensive threat; nobody averages in double figures, and the Big Blue as a team only average a little more than 56 points a game.

Bria Williams and Holly Haskins had 11 apiece for MU tonight, while Alyssa Saklak had 10. Williams led MU in rebounding with 9. NPU was sparked by Sarah Peterson, who had a 12 and 12 double-double, and 6 assists and three blocks to go with it. Shaina Yalda had a terrific game with 11 and 6, and Kamauria Acree was steady as usual with 9 and 9. The Vikins outrebounded MU by 7, which was a big key to the win.

I believe that this is the first time in seven years that NPU has knocked off Millikin. It's thus Amanda Reese's first win over Lori Kerans.

[iwu70]

Very strong performance by the Titans tonight, beating EC 75-51.  The Titans shot a good percentage and Melissa Gardner was, well, Melissa Gardner.  She hit 5-5 treys in the first half on her way to big night with 24 points.  The Titans did pretty well rebounding against the much larger Bluejays and "run and jump" full-court pressure did its dirt.  IWU easily won the TO battle tonight something like 13-32.  With these numbers, you can expect a very happy outcome for the Titans.  Seibring and McMahon also in double figures at 17 and 20 respectively.  Whitney Scurlock got a start tonight in the post with Shelby Jackson still AWOL due to her infected wisdom tooth.  She was not in the building.  Sure hope she is OK and is able to return to action very soon.  Other contributed and played pretty well, esp. the ever active and tough Michelle Bilek.  I know she doesn't score much, but she is all over the place, diving for balls, making plays, tying up opponents, getting steals.  She was masked tonight, guess the result of an elbow to the face at some point.  A little bit of that Rip Hamilton look.  Seibring played well, coming in off the bench tonight.

Good to see the Titans bounce back from the WC loss . . . and have a very strong outing at home, so now 8-5, 1-1 in CCIW play.  Next up, a test @ NP, and a good test for NP.  Should be an interesting game, to guage where NP is and to see how the Titans respond again against a good opponent on the road.  Seems NP is making a run at the top tier this year.

IWU70

[RogK]

I believe it was Mr Ypsi who (accurately) foresaw an almost 40 point North Central loss to Wheaton.
thunder38, Wheaton did not lay any egg, nor does it look like they will any time soon. Coach Madsen had them very well-prepared for dealing with the "system." Wheaton made full use of its height advantages at nearly all positions. Not to mention excellent athleticism throughout the lineup. Maria Panaggio, for example, had 11 and 11 in 20:00.
NC stank at shooting, with the exception of Sophie Newson. Wheaton's 44 baskets were two short of tying the CCIW WBB record.

[Gregory Sager]

Kudos to NPU's Sarah Peterson for the fact that her double-double last night was the 13th of her career. The record book for NPU women's basketball has some holes in it in terms of record-keeping, but I'm sure that her name will be in it in a few spots whenever it gets re-compiled.

[RogK]

Another compliment for Wheaton's Brooke Olson : she committed just 4 turnovers vs NC in 32:00, handling the ball much of that duration. She (and her flock of athletic teammates) thrived in a fast-paced game. And, we know she does very well in slower, grind-it-out types of games, too.
I'm VERY impressed by Wheaton's freshmen, but Brooke is the leader of this team. The Thunder look pretty dang good.

[RogK]

I suppose one of Backseat Driver's "enough said"s might suffice for Carthage more than doubling up Augie 73-35. But I'll note how efficiently Coach Bernero's style of play is running for the Lady Reds. They hit 20 of 32 2FG att (better than 60 pct) and an equally impressive 8/17 3FGs (the equivalent of 70 pct 2FG shooting). This, combined with only 10 TOs, yielded 73 points in a relatively low possession game. Their defense is not allowing much either. No Augie player made it to 7 points.

[iwu70]

WC and CC are going to be very tough, and both squads are, I would bet, "hungry" for a CCIW crown, after the long stretch of IWU success.  IWU really needs Shelby Jackson back and needs to be more consistent with run and jump, overall defensive effort and shooting percentage.  Seibring is turning into an all-CCIW player, IMHO.  But, the post presence is still rather thin, weak without Jackson.   Against teams with big strong post players, the Titans can struggle, esp. if not shooting a good percentage, taking advantage of their overall team speed, defensive pressure, and trey shooting.  Against Elmhurst, all these things were clicking well.  Some of these games are going to be a big contrast in styles, varying types of skills of the players.  Titans will need to protect home court at Shirk all season to really be in the mix come February.

Wishing Shelby Jackson a quick and full recovery. 

IWU70

[RogK]

Congrats to the new CCIW player of the week, Wheaton's Brooke Olson.
Good luck to Shelby Jackson getting rid of that infection or whatever is keeping her off the basketball court.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Wheaton up to (#27) with 46 points.  North Park, Carthage, and IWU all got goose-egged.

[thunder38]

I agree Rog, far from laying an egg in this one. Plain and simple North Central just doesn't have the personnel to fit the system. I think they have some nice pieces and could probably do just as well this year in a traditional system. I was impressed, as I always have been, with the effort and ability of Sophie Newson and also thought Larynn Shumaker had a nice game for the Cardinals earning several and ones. If you're going to run the System, you likely want 11-12 out of a 15-member roster to be snipers and North Central might have two right now. So many of their shots in the second half barely touched the rim if they did at all. The Cardinals themselves look like they're playing too fast and are out of control.

As BD noted, this game actually wasn't as close as the score indicates (if that's possible in a 39 point victory). Wheaton was up 100-50 with four minutes left and on pace to break their school record (112 against Concordia in 95) and probably the CCIW scoring record (113 by NCC against Carthage in '92) before Wheaton emptied the bench and the Cardinals finished the game on a 17-6 run against the end of the Thunder bench.

Wheaton really limited the offensive rebounds for North Central, winning the OREb battle in the first half 15-9 before North Central started hoisting more threes and tracking down long rebounds in the second half. Very good game for Olson as Madsen really never took her off the floor until this was well in hand. Panaggio thrived with the tempo as did Hannah Considine who is maturing by the game in the post for the Thunder. She has a very mature grasp on floor spacing and knows where to be and also how to fill lanes on primary and secondary breaks.

I think its a matter of time until Wheaton cracks the Top 25, if it doesn't happen this afternoon.

[RogK]

Glad you complimented Sophie Newson, thunder38. No other NC player has had to make a bigger adjustment this season, seems to me. For her 3/4 of her career, she's been an in-the-lane player. This year, NC is asking her to play the safety role defensively, not easy for someone who is not close to being 6 feet tall. She has little chance to be the shotblocker that ideally occupies that spot in the "system." In fact, NC is averaging 2.2 blocks as a team. Olivet Nazarene's women average 5.8 so far, the same as Wheaton (to be fair, Wheaton blocks that many in games featuring fewer possessions). When you yield numerous 2-on-1s by the opponents, it helps to have a six-footer back there. ONU has one who blocks a shot every 7 minutes and another averaging a block every 8 minutes. We'll see if NC is able to recruit a few taller players for that purpose.
Meanwhile, there are a lot of ways that NC can improve during this season and I expect them to make progress.