WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU takes down Calvin, 103-81.  Carissa Verkaik FINALLY graduated, but Calvin is still very solid and entered the Shirk at 5-2.  Carissa's younger sisters combined for 21 points and 13 rebounds, but that's a sub-par game for Carissa!  McMahon and Seibring had 25 points each (Katy also had 8 boards), as did the Reabers (Kasey with 17, Taylor with 8 ).  All five starters were in double digits and none were still in the last quarter of the game; all 15 on the roster saw action.  Gabrielle Holness came off the bench to lead the Titans with 9 rebounds in only 14 minutes of play!

The Titans move to 5-4 - they will be VERY battle-tested by conference play!  If they can even make the national tourney, they may have a fairly deep run.

[iwu70]

Great win by the Titans.  Congrats to Mia and all the team members.  Really glad to see this win.

Merry Christmas to all the Titans and to all the CCIW chatsters.

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

As an indication of just how battle-tested the Titans will be, their 4 losses are to teams now 27-9, their 5 wins are against teams now 27-14.  Nary a cupcake in the bunch!   8 of the 9 have winning records; Chicago is 5-5.

[iwu70]

Really nice to see Katy Seibring have such a strong game:  25 points, 8-12 from the field, 8-10 at the line, 8 REBs, no fouls.  Colleen McMahon is really picking it up her scoring this season too -- one of the quickest first steps in women's D3 hoops.   Now averaging about 18 per game.  Also nice to see the team finding the role players, good performances by the Reabers, and some support off the bench.  Holness is going to be very good. 

Titans clearly have gone through a tough gauntlet, will fear no opponent going forward.  Would be delighted if they are able to get two wins in Texas and finish this pre-CCIW run at 7-4.  A major achievement.  Two pretty tough games still to go.

IWU70

Ypsi, Merry Christmas, my friend.  ms

[RogK]

Congratulations (slightly belated) to Melanie Schwerdtmann, CCIW Player of the Week!
I've been preoccupied enjoying the warm breezes of South Florida and doing airplane photography (amateur, just like my writing quality here) at Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Saw a lizard and a raccoon today in urban settings.

[Gregory Sager]

Heidelberg 87
North Park 75

Rachel Torres: 15 pts, 6 rebs, 5:3 a:to
Brittany Pittas: 15 pts, 4:1 a:to
Dominikque Williams: 11 pts, 6 rebs
Nikki Przbyslawski: 10 pts, 7 rebs
Nicole Kruckman: 6 rebs, 4:0 a:to

NPU was beaten yesterday by a very good Heidelberg (9-2) team that was very deep. The 'berg used ten players for double-digit minutes, and there really wasn't any dropoff between the first team and second team. Their whole game plan was to run the Vikings out of the building, and it worked. NPU jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead, but Heidelberg immediately countered with a 21-2 run, and was never headed again -- the visitors, in fact, went into the locker room at the half with a commanding 18-point lead. The Vikings got as close as 45-40 five minutes into the second half, but a 10-2 run by the 'berg quashed that comeback, and NPU never got closer than nine the rest of the way.

Very disappointing loss, because the Vikings squandered a ton of points along the way. They missed an amazing number of layups and bunnies, as can be seen by the FG stats of several players who do all of their shooting within five feet of the basket: Nicole Kruckman (3-7), Dominikque Williams (5-10), Soly Roman (1-4). Brittany Pittas, who has as pure a stroke as any Viking I've seen over the past six or seven years, went an uncharacteristic 6-17 from the field. The proverbial lid was on the basket. Very frustrating to watch.

NPU (6-4) will look to bounce back on New Year's Eve, as the Vikings will host Dubuque (6-3) in their non-conference finale.

[iwu70]

Good luck to the Titans in Texas -- for the two games in San Antonio.  Hoping for two Ws, a tournament win, and completing the gauntlet at 7-4, a truly amazing achievement.  Truly.

Travel well, Titans, and have fun down there -- play well.  San Antonio is a nice city. 

Merry Christmas to all the Titans, Titan fans and D3 chatsters here on the CCIW Women's roundball board.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Congrats to IWU's Katy Seibring on CCIW Player of the week honors.  A good way to go into Christmas.  Keep it rolling, Katy, and keep it rolling Titans, in Texas.

(Actually, could have been Colleen McMahon too). 

IWU70

[RogK]

OK, since things are sleepy on these pages, I'll offer a forecast for the 14-game conference season standings :
Carthage
Illinois Wesleyan
Wheaton
Elmhurst
North Central
North Park
Millikin
Augustana
Now that ought to get some blood boiling.

[iwu70]

RogK, no blood boiling from me.  From what I've seen so far, I basically agree with your line-up.  I might even have WC ahead of my Titans, just to show my green glasses aren't too too dark green.  It will be a good CCIW race and I don't think CC will run away with it.  Lots will depend on injuries and how teams defend home court.  My Titans have a chance, but still think CC is the favorite.  Hope IWU can win these two remaining games in Texas and finish the amazing gauntlet of tough games 7-4, an amazing feat. 

Happy New Year to all -- yes, the Year of the Horse coming soon.  Did I mention it?

Best and Happy New Year to all the CCIW chatsters.

IWU70

[RogK]

At the moment, Stephanie Kuzmanic has 42 more assists than TOs; pretty dang good. The rest of the top 5 are doing very well : Devin Vaughn at plus 25, Erin Quinn at plus 23, Karen Senette at plus 20 and Bobbi Johns at plus 17.

[iwu70]

IWU 0ver Howard Payne in Tx. -- in OT 93-87. 

Lexi Baltes with the first triple double in IWU women's program history:

14 pts., 16 REBs and 13 assists.  Now that is great PG play.

Shelby Jackson 24 and 9

Titans were down 8 with 50 seconds to play, tied the game and rolled in OT, shooting 5-5 from the field in OT.  Guess that's called the "big Mo" -- when the tied (tide) turns.

Congrats to Coach Smith and all the Titans, now 6-4.  IWU plays #26 Trinity of TX. tomorrow, another tough game. 

IWU70

[iwu70]

Titans go down to #26-ranked Trinity University of Texas, 86-71 in San Antonio.  McMahon with 17, Baltes 15, but the Titans shot it poorly overall, and esp. from treyland, and got outrebounded.  Therein lies the story.  Seems Katy Seibring is either injured or ill, as she had another poor outing.   

Titans finish the pre-CCIW gauntlet with a winning record at 6-5, but barely.  They open CCIW play at Elmhurst next week.  I think the Titans will contend, but may not have the overall firepower and three point shooting to overcome CC or WC this year.  Gardner's perimeter shooting is sorely missed.  This is a solid, experienced senior group, very good defensively and with no give-up in them, but that may not be enough in CCIW competition.  I'd predict at this point 10-4 in CCIW play putting the Titans at 16-9, 17-8 or so, probably not strong enough to get into the dance.  They surely didn't shy away from playing an absolutely tough schedule up to now.  We'll see if that pays off when it comes to conference play.  They basically have to win the AQ to get into the Dance. 

Happy New Year all -- hope the Titans get a chance to rest and celebrate, see something of the city in Texas, before returning to the cold and wintry prairie, and the new gauntlet of games in the CCIW race.

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

Titans go down to #26-ranked Trinity University of Texas, 86-71 in San Antonio.  McMahon with 17, Baltes 15, but the Titans shot it poorly overall, and esp. from treyland, and got outrebounded.  Therein lies the story.  Seems Katy Seibring is either injured or ill, as she had another poor outing.   

Titans finish the pre-CCIW gauntlet with a winning record at 6-5, but barely.  They open CCIW play at Elmhurst next week.  I think the Titans will contend, but may not have the overall firepower and three point shooting to overcome CC or WC this year.  Gardner's perimeter shooting is sorely missed.  This is a solid, experienced senior group, very good defensively and with no give-up in them, but that may not be enough in CCIW competition.  I'd predict at this point 10-4 in CCIW play putting the Titans at 16-9, 17-8 or so, probably not strong enough to get into the dance.  They surely didn't shy away from playing an absolutely tough schedule up to now.  We'll see if that pays off when it comes to conference play.  They basically have to win the AQ to get into the Dance. 

Happy New Year all -- hope the Titans get a chance to rest and celebrate, see something of the city in Texas, before returning to the cold and wintry prairie, and the new gauntlet of games in the CCIW race.

IWU70

They missed the good stuff - sunny and forties Friday-Sunday!  Haven't checked the weather in Bloomington, but just came back from Aledo (20 miles south of Augie) yesterday (where my sister and mom are located): the quad-cities are expecting 0 to -10 by Tuesday, with wind chills of -30.

I'm very grateful for the moderating effects of the Great Lakes.  Central Illinois is 5-10 degrees hotter in the summer and 5-10 degrees colder in the winter than Ypsi.  Nonetheless, once our snow-shoveling younger son leaves the area, we are probably snowbirds!  (We DO get more snow than central Illinois; but fewer 'blizzards'.)

[iwu70]

Yes, good to get away from winter if possible.  Sunny, warm and in the 60s here in Hong Kong, though we have pretty dirty air so there's often a kind of orange-ish haze.  Not much fun, not much good for the lungs.

I see Carthage stuck it to No. 8 WI-WW tonight 91-77.  CC is playing very well.  Will be tough to de-throne them.

IWU70