WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

Here's a short report on the Titans' second game in Baltimore -- at Johns Hopkins.  They won the tournament beating Salisbury on Sunday 90-72 after trailing by double digits 5 minutes into the second half.  A great comeback, limiting Salisbury to 26 second half points after allowing 48 in the first half. 

McMahon 23 points and Tournmament MVP
Baltes 16  6 REBs 6 assists
Jackson 14 and 7 and All-Tournament team
Seibing 12
Taylor Reaber 7 REBs off the bench

Titans shot 45%, 45% from long-range, and 73% from the charity stripe.

A very good start, with Colleen McMahon having a monster weekend.

Next up a tip-off tournament Friday and Saturday @The Shirk vs. Cornell on Friday and a very stiff test vs. UW-SP on Saturday.  We'll really know more after that game.

Congrats to Coach Smith and all the Titans on an outstanding first weekend tournament championship.

GO TITANS.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Congrats to NP on their big win.  134 points.  You don't see that everyday, even in a "system" game.  Impressive.  Looks to me like NP will challenge the traditionally strong, top teams -- IWU, CC and WC -- this year. 

Looking forward to the weekend tip-off tourney @The Shirk and seeing this new edition of the Titans first hand. 

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

It's much too early to talk about NPU being a challenger for anything. I think that a lot of the speculation in here about who is going to finish where in the CCIW is speculation with a very limited amount of information behind it, as it seems like every team lost some very important players from last season. Moreover, most CCIW teams seem to have at least one, if not several, newcomers who are already contributing. NPU and NCC are certainly good examples of that.

The only clear-cut reality in this league, as far as I can see, is that Carthage is going to be awesome again. The Lady Reds look absolutely loaded this season. I'm pretty sure that every coach in this league will be following Tim Bernero's vapor trail.

[RogK]

Speaking of newcomers that are contributing already, Katie McDaniels leads Wheaton by far in minutes played with 68. Another Thunder freshman Chantal Meacham has played 50 minutes in the 2 games.

[iwu70]

Carthage lost its first game vs. Northern Ohio.

I hear you Greg, very early to know much, but you have to admit your NP women are looking encouraging to start out, wouldn't you admit? 

IWU actually doesn't have much new in terms of the starting line-up.  Only lost key piece was Gardner, (yes, Bilek too off the bench), and with Jackson's return, the line-up looks awfully familiar and strong:  Baltes, McMahon, Jackson and Seibring -- with two returning all-CCIW players, and two others very experienced and war/road-tested.  Only new piece still being explored is the fifth starter -- so far Kasey Reaber, though that could change, and what Mia does with the rest of the rotation, contributions by Taylor Reaber, Beoletto and some of the newbies.  I agree with you that CC is the team to beat, and is very good -- no doubt -- but the Titan squad is pretty solid.  They had a pretty good opening weekend, esp. with better play in the paint with Seibring and Jackson, and McMahon having a break-out time in scoring.   You can say I'm just a homer with Green-tinted glasses (all true), but I think this Titan squad is going to contend, be pretty good and pretty tough, toughened by the CCIW season.  We've already discussed here the kind of games they are playing in the next 6 weeks.  If they come out 7-4 or 8-3 I'll be delighted. 

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

The school is Ohio Northern, not "Northern Ohio", and the Polar Bears were nationally ranked in the preseason poll, just as were the Lady Reds. ONU went 29-2 last season and ran the table in the OAC. All of which goes to say that it's not a terrible opening-game loss for the Lady Reds, especially since it was played on ONU's floor.

And, yes, I am encouraged by the start to NPU's season. But it's a young and unproven team. I don't believe in hyping young and unproven teams. My philosophy is this: Let's see how the Vikes do tonight on the road against a Monmouth team that went 20-5 last year, and go from there.

[iwu70]

Good point, Greg -- yes, a good team CC played, quite clearly.  But, a loss is a loss -- and the Titans will surely take some losses against ranked teams in the pre-CCIW portion, too.  IWU's schedule is a nightmare.

I'll watch for the score on NP tonight against stiffer fare and see how they do.   I'll be interested.

On the Titans, the fifth starter may change and adapt -- looks like Holness is getting substantial minutes and Mia Smith has also spoken highly of the senior Reaber, Taylor, esp. when REBs are needed.  Some experimentation is likely to go on for a time.

IWU70

[iwu70]

NP loses tonight 80-68 to Monmouth.

(Greg, I see what you mean).

iwu'70

[Gregory Sager]

Monmouth 80
North Park 68

Brittany Pittas: 19 pts, 9 rebs
Rachel Torres: 11 pts, 6 rebs
Nikki Przybyslawski: 11 pts
Dominikque Williams: 8 rebs
Annie Shain: 5:1 a:to

NPU got ambushed in this one. The Vikings didn't score for the first five and a half minutes, and found themselves down by 20 about halfway thru the first half. They fought back to cut the Scots' lead to seven with about six minutes left, but another run put the hosts back up by 18, and NPU trailed at the half by 49-35.

Monmouth went up by 20 again five minutes into the second stanza, 59-39, a lead at which the Vikings slowly ate away. But they never got closer than 11, and eventually they lost by 12. I think it's safe to say that the game was really won by Monmouth in the first five minutes of the contest.

NPU was outrebounded, and didn't protect the ball very well, either (26 turnovers).

Nights like last night are to be expected with a young team such as NPU, especially against an outfit that's coming off a 20-5 season and which starts four seniors and a junior. But the fact that the Vikes fought back and were competitive after spotting Monmouth 15 points to start the game was very encouraging.

NPU will host Aurora (0-1) on Saturday afternoon.

[iwu70]

Thanks, Greg, got it. 

All best,
IWU'70

[iwu70]

Congrats to Ms. McMahon from Elmhurst on CCIW Player of the Week.  I thought IWU's McMahon would win it with her 22 and 23 weekend, but the Elmhurst version of McMahon also had an outstanding first weekend.

More great basketball from the McMahons to come.   

IWU70

[RogK]

Greg, out of curiosity I asked a Polish-born friend here at work to pronounce Przybyslawski.
What he said sounded like Pshibaswofski. I think that's pretty close to how Nikki said it.
Another example my friend here gave of an L sounding like a W is the Polish city Lodz, which is pronounced something like "woods."
Anyway, to avoid eventually injuring yourself during your webcasts, you could just call her Nikki or The Nikki.

[Gregory Sager]

That's basically how I've been pronouncing it, except for the part about the 'l' sounding like a 'w'. Thanks for the tip.

[iwu70]

I'm still for "Pwoman."  Zman it shall be, all season.

'70

[iwu70]

Speaking of good competition, we're going to learn a lot about how tough, how good the Titans are in the next week or so as the IWU women play #25 Cornell, #23 WI-SP, and then #4 WI-Whitewater.  Hope the Titans are eating their Wheaties. 

IWU'70