WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[thunder38]

4-31 from 3 will lose you a lot of games. Brooke Olson 2-14 from the field and 0-9 from 3. Breanna Bohlen 4-17 from the field and 3-13 from 3. 

[Gregory Sager]

NPU gave away the ballgame tonight, plain and simple. The Vikings, who came into the game shooting .741 as a team from the free throw line, somehow managed to shoot an abominable 9-20 from the charity stripe tonight, a figure made far worse by the fact that they missed three straight front ends of one-and-ones, and then followed them up with 1-for-2 performances on their next two trips to the line, at a point in the last 6:30 of the game onward when the two teams were within a basket of each other.

The Vikings did a great job of beating the Wesleyan press for easy baskets in the first half, turning the ball over only six times (Elmhurst, by contrast, turned it over 34 times in its game against the Titans last Saturday) and going into the locker room with a 34-30 lead. The Vikings upped it to as many as seven on a layup by Dominikque Williams with 14:32 left that made it 46-39. However, the Vikings went into one of their patented offensive deep freezes at that point, scoring only two points over the next ten minutes as Wesleyan slipped in front at the five-minute mark, 49-48. Some of the offensive problems for North Park were caused by better footwork and positioning by the Titans in their press, but a lot of it was just thoughtless and easily-read long passes up the floor that the Titans were able to intercept. But the biggest problem was that string of missed one-and-one front ends that caused NPU to have empty possessions at a time when Michelle Bilek of Wesleyan was hitting two straight treys from the left elbow on consecutive possessions to turn a 48-46 NPU lead into a 52-50 advantage for the visitors that they would not relinquish. NPU continued to miss shots from the floor in the last couple of minutes, while Wesleyan pulled away by going 5-6 from the FT line.

Kamauria Acree led NPU with 13 points, while Shaina Yalda and Dominikque Williams had ten apiece. Sarah Peterson had a really remarkable game. She only scored a modest nine points, but she hauled in 12 rebounds, dished out 6 assists (to only two turnovers), and had five blocks and five steals as well. It was just an amazing overall performance. She pulled up lame in the waning seconds of the game, and while the NPU training staff doesn't think that her injury was too serious, she's still in some pain and was not putting weight on her leg when she left the building. I certainly hope she's OK. NPU is very dependent upon her all-around game, as one could tell from tonight's box score. Colleen McMahon led all scorers with 19 for the Titans, while Katy Seibring contributed 14 and 10.

It was a deeply disappointing loss. You can't help but feel as though you cheated yourself when you led for almost the entire game but came away empty, mainly because you couldn't make your free throws. But the Vikings have no time to hang their heads over this one, as the CCIW schedule doesn't afford the chance for extended navel-gazing. NPU's gotta bounce back and get ready for Elmhurst on Saturday afternoon at Faganel Hall.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg,

It would make me feel better (and be a boost to the whole conference, whose only viable candidate for the top 25 in the near future just lost to Augustana!) if you would in the future refer to IWU as 'the defending national champion Titans'.

Thank you.  (No charge for the advice.)

[RogK]

I saw the 85-74 Carthage win at North Central. Carthage's Cailee Corcoran set a new league record of 24 rebounds in a conference game. Her team needed just about all of them.
It was a tight battle throughout, with a 78-74 Carthage lead late, but they got a little breathing room thanks to a free throw and hoop from Erin Quinn. NC squandered its remaining possessions.
Other Lady Reds who did very well include Michelle Wenzel who tallied 22 pts, 12 rebs and 3 blocks in 20:00 and Kristi Schmidt who had 20 pts and 8 rebs. But possibly no one was more important for Carthage than very reliable point guard Stephanie Kuzmanic (13 pts, 8 assists, 6 steals); she played 35:00 in a hectic game and her total of 7 TOs was not bad, considering how much dribbling she did through pressure.
Defensively, Carthage did a fine job limiting NC's lowpost scorers Larynn Shumaker and Emily Murphy to a combined 13 pts. NC's Sophie Newson scored 11, while teammate Michelle Todd had 9 rebs and 3 steals.
North Central's Lauren Hernandez unfortunately got landed on by one or two larger players and suffered what looked like a bad injury to one of her knees. She is a good all-around player and I'm guessing NC will be without her for several games. Get well soon!

[Gregory Sager]

Greg,

It would make me feel better (and be a boost to the whole conference, whose only viable candidate for the top 25 in the near future just lost to Augustana!) if you would in the future refer to IWU as 'the defending national champion Titans'.

Thank you.  (No charge for the advice.)

Chuck,

Go jump in the lake.

(No charge for this advice, either.)

[RogK]

In that Elmhurst/Millikin game, Elmhurst made 22 of 34 2FG att. The Jays' Karen Senette had a nice game, hitting 5 of 6 FG att, including 2 threes, made 4/5 FTs, had 5 assists and 1 TO. Alyssa Saklak poured in 28 pts for the Big Blue; she thereby got her CCIW scoring avg up to 18, good enough for 3rd, behind the McMahons, Fiona and Colleen (not related). Fiona's conference-play FG pct is at .806, which is adequate, but she could stand to raise it some. (ha)

[Backseat Driver]

Some more thoughts from last night's Wheaton/Augie game:

Augie absolutely blistered the nets in the first half, and that's pretty much how they won the game. They came out fired up and ready to defend their home court after getting blasted by Carthage, and they did what they needed to do to win. Wheaton could've probably done a better job with defensive pressure and closing out, but Augie hit their shots.

The Vikings employed a full-court defense last night, which for some reason seemed to bother Wheaton (surprising given that the Thunder's previous 2 opponents were IWU and NCC). It's not necessarily reflected in turnovers (12 for Wheaton), but more in the types of shots that Wheaton took. It seemed that Wheaton often took quick shots after getting through the press. Give Augie credit for taking Wheaton out of its normal flow.

The Thunder also attempted 31 threes, by far their most of the season. Granted, a good chunk of those attempts came in the final minutes as the visitors tried to claw back into the game. But the reality is that Wheaton is a different team without Lauren Graham and Maris Hovee on the floor. Without those two in the paint, a lot more pressure falls on the perimeter players to get open and knock down long range shots. It's just harder to consistently score that way. I don't know the status for either of the starting posts, but it sure would be great to have them back.

Two big home games for the Thunder coming up against Millikin and North Park. Wheaton and Millikin have a long-standing rivalry, and North Park is right in the thick of the CCIW race.

[RogK]

Interesting analysis, Backseat Driver. Augie has had some ups and downs, but that was a big win for them.
I also concur with the importance of Graham and Hovee as you described it.
I'm figuring on seeing the Augie at NC contest Saturday. It could be real test of ballhandling if both sides press the whole game. Not an easy game for the refs, either.
Hey, what did you mean about long-standing ribaldry between Wheaton and Millikin? Oh wait. Rivalry, never mind!

[RogK]

Only two teams have scored 70 against Millikin so far : Washington U (St L) 71 and Carthage 83.
Millikin has allowed .343 3FG shooting overall and .404 in the 3 CCIW games. So, I'll predict that Wheaton will make 12 of 26 on Saturday.

[Backseat Driver]

Only two teams have scored 70 against Millikin so far : Washington U (St L) 71 and Carthage 83.
Millikin has allowed .343 3FG shooting overall and .404 in the 3 CCIW games. So, I'll predict that Wheaton will make 12 of 26 on Saturday.

The problem for Millikin is that they are averaging 57 points per game on offense (both overall and in CCIW play). So teams haven't needed to score 70 to beat them.

[Backseat Driver]

Hey, what did you mean about long-standing ribaldry between Wheaton and Millikin? Oh wait. Rivalry, never mind!

That would take things to a different level entirely. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Interesting analysis, Backseat Driver. Augie has had some ups and downs, but that was a big win for them.
I also concur with the importance of Graham and Hovee as you described it.
I'm figuring on seeing the Augie at NC contest Saturday. It could be real test of ballhandling if both sides press the whole game. Not an easy game for the refs, either.
Hey, what did you mean about long-standing ribaldry between Wheaton and Millikin? Oh wait. Rivalry, never mind!

+k for undoubtedly the first usage EVER of 'ribaldry' and 'Wheaton' in the same sentence!

[Backseat Driver]

Interesting analysis, Backseat Driver. Augie has had some ups and downs, but that was a big win for them.
I also concur with the importance of Graham and Hovee as you described it.
I'm figuring on seeing the Augie at NC contest Saturday. It could be real test of ballhandling if both sides press the whole game. Not an easy game for the refs, either.
Hey, what did you mean about long-standing ribaldry between Wheaton and Millikin? Oh wait. Rivalry, never mind!

+k for undoubtedly the first usage EVER of 'ribaldry' and 'Wheaton' in the same sentence!

Indeed

[RogK]

And in fact, none of our conference's women's basketball coaches have inclinations toward significantly vulgar language as far as I know.

[Gregory Sager]

... and I hope it stays that way.