WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Backseat Driver]

Huge game at the Shirk Center tonight between Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan. As has been mentioned, the loser of this game can pretty much forget about catching Carthage.

Wheaton has not won against IWU in Bloomington since February 11, 2006. The leading scorers in that game were Elizabeth Fox and Mallory Heydorn (so in other words, it's been a little while). However, in more recent history, the Thunder has won its last two games against the Titans (both at King Arena).

I think the two most important things for Wheaton tonight are 1) Get ahead early, and 2) shoot well from the perimeter. Both of those things have been problems for the Thunder in Bloomington over the last 6 years.

For Illinois Wesleyan, I think the Titans must 1) Find a way to contain Brooke Olson, and 2) make Wheaton's post players defend on the perimeter. Brooke has torched IWU for 41 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in the last two meetings. The Thunder's advantage in the post could be neutralized if IWU is able to draw Maris Hovee and Hannah Considine away from the basket on the defensive end.

I expect this game to be close and hard-fought. I've seen enough ugly losses at the Shirk Center to feel uneasy about this game, but I think Wheaton can win if they do the two things I mentioned above.

[Backseat Driver]

Millikin over North Park, 48-40. Still a tight race for that 4th seed.

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin 48
North Park 40

A complete and utter disaster for NPU. The Vikings were up by 8 with twelve minutes left, sailing right along, and all of a sudden they couldn't hit a shot. Worse, they weren't even able to get a shot off on about half of their possessions, as they made one turnover after another. MU outscored the Park, 20-6, in the final ten minutes, and that was all she wrote. NPU turned the ball over an astonishing 29 times in this game; they were only averaging 16 cough-ups a game coming in, and although the very tough overplay defense of the Big Blue had a lot to do with it, a lot of those turnovers were unforced errors. NPU must've traveled close to a dozen times.

Brittany Czaplicki (20 pts) took over the game down the stretch for the Big Blue. She would do a U-curl around a high ball screen, and NPU had no answer for it.

I'm afraid that NPU may have dug a hole from which it cannot extricate itself.

[Mr. Ypsi]

The game at the Shirk is as good as advertised.  Titans jumped out quickly, 16-6, but I never expected that sort of domination to continue.  It is Titans 36, Thunder 35 at the half.

[Mr. Ypsi]

The Titans led non-stop for the first 36 minutes of the game, but clearly never by enough.   The Thunder finished out the game 14-4 to win by 8, 75-67.  Brooke Olson and Breanna Bohlen each scored 27; for the Titans, Katy Seibring had 18, Colleen McMahon 15, and Lexi Baltes chipped in 11.

[iwu70]

Titans go down by 7 to WC at the Shirk.  It was the Olson - Bohlen show for WC, with each scoring 27.  The Titans ran out of gas, shot it poorly in the final 7-8 minutes and had poor perimeter defense on the two WC trey shooters.  I'm pretty sure there will be a rematch of this game in Kenosha in the CCIW tournament, if current standings hold.

Seibring, McMahon and Bilek had good games for the Titans.  WC came well prepared for run and jump and the Titans shot a poor percentage from threeland.

To get in the DIII dance, I think the Titans now have to win the CCIW AQ.

IWU70

[Titan Q]

To get in the DIII dance, I think the Titans now have to win the CCIW AQ.

Based on in-region record, this was true well before this loss.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Bob, you beat me to it.  Alas, the defending national champion doesn't get a bye into the tourney!

[Backseat Driver]

I think the two most important things for Wheaton tonight are 1) Get ahead early, and 2) shoot well from the perimeter. Both of those things have been problems for the Thunder in Bloomington over the last 6 years.

I expect this game to be close and hard-fought. I've seen enough ugly losses at the Shirk Center to feel uneasy about this game, but I think Wheaton can win if they do the two things I mentioned above.

What I meant to say was that Wheaton needed to fall behind early, and then catch fire at the end to pick up the W.

Brooke Olson and Breanna Bohlen played like seniors tonight, carrying the team to victory. It's great to see them play at such a high level and lead the Thunder to a big road win. They understand what it takes to win and they just kept playing even when they were down big. Things were starting to look bleak down 10 with just over 10 minutes left, but Wheaton showed tremendous poise in chipping away and eventually taking complete control of the game in the final minutes.

All Wheaton can do is keep winning, and hope to get some help to catch Carthage. They'll need a strong performance on both ends of the floor on Wednesday night at North Park.

[iwu70]

Ypsi and Q, you guys are so so smart.  What would I do without you!?     I think we all agree that this year's edition of the Titans don't have enough firepower to overtake CC, especially after the WC loss, and probably won't get into the DIII tourney this year, save for the miracle of winning two games in Kenosha in the CCIW tournament.  It could happen, but very unlikely now.  In a game like the one vs. WC, it was very evident that Shelby Jackson is significantly missed and that injuries and departures have played a big part in hurting the Titans chances this year.  The Titans are way too perimeter oriented this year and when the treys don't fall, the Titans do.  14-7 is a very respectable record given all who the Titans have played, but it's not going to cut it to get to the post-season, almost for sure.  For the future, we can be very happy with the emergence of Katy Seibring and her excellent season, the good play of Lexi Baltes and Collen McMahon, though Gardner and Bilek will surely be missed next year.   The strength of the bench, development of the newbies seems to be rather weak, so I hope Mia has a big recruiting class coming in for future seasons.

IWU70

[RogK]

Carthage continues undefeated in CCIW play, topping Augie 67-46. Cailee Corcoran had 18 pts and 6 steals. Stephanie Kuzmanic had 10 pts, 6 assists, 6 rebs, 4 steals. Haley Stercic hit 4 of 5 threes. Kristi Schmidt scored ten, as did Augie's Amy Hicks and Jessica Baids.
North Central is now tied with North Park at 4-6 following a 105-93 win over Elmhurst (3-7). Five players on each team scored in double figures. NC was led by 19 from Larynn Shumaker, while Karen Senette had 18 for EC. This game featured 24 tied scores (25 if you count 0-0), the last being 86-86. Fiona McMahon didn't play; not sure why. EC still won the rebounding 50-40, but the TOs went 30-19 in NC's favor.
NC's point guard trio combined for 14 assists and just 3 TOs.
The two games I saw were decided at the last moment : NAIA Roosevelt edged Cardinal Stritch 66-64 with 2 FTs and Lake Forest got a last-second hoop to edge Knox 89-88.

[Backseat Driver]

Wheaton's Breanna Bohlen was named the CCIW Player of the Week today. Much deserved, and a huge testament to Breanna's work ethic and commitment to the team. She has dealt with so many injuries in her Wheaton career, that I don't think anyone would have thought less of her had she walked away from basketball. But there's no quit in her, and she has battled through it all and had a productive career for the Thunder. Her perseverance has paid off this year, and I was thrilled to see her have such a great performance on Saturday.

[thunder38]

Agreed BD, Bohlen has certainly had plenty of chances to throw in the towel and it is great to see her finally healthy and having an All-Conference caliber year.

Obviously Wheaton is now the favorite if anyone is to track down Carthage and they will need help, ironically in the form of the Titans, to track them down. If Wheaton can work itself even with the help of a Titan win on Saturday, Wheaton would have the #1 seed thanks to the sweep of IWU.

[thunder38]

Maybe some others with a better lay of the land can help me out here but at 17-3 but with a soft strength of schedule, where does Wheaton sit in the Pool C conversation. At the very least, assuming they lose to Carthage next Saturday and then lose the tournament semifinal they would head into Selection Monday at 21-5.

[Gregory Sager]

Maybe some others with a better lay of the land can help me out here but at 17-3 but with a soft strength of schedule, where does Wheaton sit in the Pool C conversation. At the very least, assuming they lose to Carthage next Saturday and then lose the tournament semifinal they would head into Selection Monday at 21-5.

You've overlooked the fact that one of Wheaton's games was against a non-regional foe, NAIA Clarke. That game won't count towards Wheaton's in-region winning percentage. In other words, Wheaton will go into the CCIW tourney having played only 24 relevant games in the eyes of the selection committee, rather than 25.

If Wheaton wins out until the conference tourney semifinal, save for another loss to Carthage on February 16, WC would be sitting at .800 (20-5) in region on Selection Monday. If Wheaton wins out until the conference tourney final (presumably a loss to host Carthage), save for that loss on February 19 to the Lady Reds, WC would finish at .808 (21-5) in region. Either way, the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance would be a shoo-in for a Pool C slot, regardless of SOS, because the in-region winning percentage would be so high. I'm pretty sure that no team with an .800 in-region winning percentage has ever been left out of either the women's tournament or the men's tournament since the NCAA set up the pools system as its current basketball tourney format for D3.