WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

Colleen has to get the Player of the Week, iwu70. Yes, she and Lexi certainly deserve consideration for 1st team, but so do multiple Carthage and Wheaton players. Those 3 teams may split the 5 1st team spots.
If Carthage goes 14-0, I'd expect them to get 4 seniors on all-CCIW. We'll see what happens.
Speaking of the Lady Reds, they did not need Stephanie K vs Augie, topping the visitors 80-53. Kasey Kleiner scored 15, Erin Quinn 12. Michelle Wenzel had 5 assists and made 4/4 FG, 3/4 FT. Haley Stercic had 7 rebs. Olivia Mayer made 5/6 FGs for Augie, along with 3 assists and a pair of steals.
Wheaton thumped Millikin 89-67; Ellie Zeller tallied 18, Katie McDaniels 17. Maris Hovee had 8 rebs and 4 blocks. Chantal Meacham added 11 pts, missing just 2 shots. Yip Ypya led Millikin with 12 pts (plus 5 rebs).
I attended an entertaining game : North Park 97, North Central 86. NC was up 54-36 at halftime, but NP dominated the 2nd, 61-32. A lot of credit to spread among the victors : Liz Rehberger displayed her speed while scoring 22 pts, Dominikque Williams picked up a double-double (10 and 12), Hannah Rehfeldt scored 12 pts on 9 shots, The Nikki provided excellent dribbling and smart passes. NP clobbered NC rebound-wise 72-42, thanks in part to Soly Roman (8 reb, 15 pts in 13:00) and Nicole Kruckman (11 r and 6 assists in 17:00).
Maryssa Cladis topped NC with 18 pts; teammate Sofia Svensson had 12 rebs and 3 steals in just 10:00, but could have shot better with her eyes closed.
Uzuri Williams and Kelsey Cooling contributed 13 pts each.
Slumping Larynn Shumaker was "rested" by Coach Roof. North Park's Brittany Pittas was absent.
Tess Godhardt made her NC debut after sitting out the league-mandated 12 months, having transferred from Elmhurst. She provided some excellent energy and enthusiasm for the Cardinals, although she did kinda run of out gas late in the game. She'll be a major positive for NC next season. Last time I looked, the stats had her switched with Natalie Gath, because the roster had their uniform numbers reversed.

[Gregory Sager]

We're going to have to check the North Park record book to see if the Vikings set the school record for rebounds last night, but I suspect that they might have. That total of 72 is a lot of boards -- and it's a staggering amount for a team that is normally not a good rebounding outfit. Unfortunately, the 38 turnovers that the Vikings picked up might've set a school record as well, or at least come close to it. Bad entry passes, bad cross-court passes, pockets picked, travels -- it was like a smorgasbord of turnovers for the Park in the first half. (Note my use of "smorgasbord" in honor of Sofia Svensson, the only Swedish student-athlete in the league who doesn't play for NPU. ) The Vikings not only coughed up a nine-point lead in the first half, they went from being up by a point with five minutes left in the opening stanza to being down by 18 when the halftime buzzer sounded.

As frighteningly bad as NPU looked over the course of those final five minutes of the half, they more than made up for throughout the entire second half, in which they outscored NCC 62-31. While much of the half was a series of tradeoffs, the Vikings matched that late-first-half run by North Central with one of their own. The fortunate thing about playing a System team is that teams of that ilk are not only capable of building big leads quickly, they can lose them just as quickly. In the space of a mere three and a half minutes in the middle of the second half the Vikings went on a 19-3 run to turn a 15-point NCC lead into a one-point NPU lead. And down the stretch the Vikings simply took over the game at the defensive end, as they held the Cardinals without a field goal over a final 5:52 in which the Vikings outscored the Cards by 16-4. NCC simply doesn't execute well in the half-court offensively, and since the Cards don't rebound well, either, the Vikings simply shut them down once NPU stopped giving the Cardinals transition chances.

But it all came back to beating that press. After turning the ball over 29 times in the first half, the Vikes only turned it over seven times in the second. The NPU inbounders did a much better job of visually locating the bigs at mid-court and hitting them with inbounds passes, and then the bigs did a great job of immediately hitting the streaking guards (usually Przybyslawski and Rehberger), who then attacked the basket. The surprising thing, though, was that NCC looked more gassed at the end of the game than did NPU. You just don't expect to see that in a team that played a dozen different players for double-digit minutes. The System is designed to wear down an opponent, but the exact opposite happened. Amanda Crockett recognized that and down the stretch had Nicole Kruckman stationed outside the lane. She then ran cutters down the lane that Kruckman hit for easy layups, since the Cards simply didn't have the legs to stay in front of anybody at that point.

It was a great comeback win, and the Vikings certainly needed it. But they're going to have to put two good halves together on Wednesday at Wheaton. They won't be able to get away with those five-minute hiccups like the one that they had last night. But at least they're back in fourth place for the moment and have their destiny in their own hands again.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg, that is a TON of rebounds - I dare say that in a majority of games, both teams together don't get that many.  Of course, that also means that there were a TON of missed shots.

[Gregory Sager]

True, although the breakneck pace of a System game means that there's that many more shot attempts.

NCC attempted 82 field goals, but the Cards average 79 FGA per game in CCIW play, so they were pretty close to par. (To keep last night in perspective, the Cards attempted 104 FGs against Aurora and 98 against Ripon.) They missed 56 of them, for a shooting percentage of 31.7%, but even that's not that far off of their CCIW season percentage of 35.7% (which is last in the league by a country mile). NPU shot fairly well from the field, hitting 37 of their 76 attempts for 48.7% -- not as good as the league's mark of 51.3% against North Central (although that can be explained in part by the fact that the Vikes shot a lot more treys against North Central than teams usually shoot), but still not that bad.

The real outliers were fouls and free-throw misses. A total of 54 fouls were called between the two teams; that's high even for a North Central game (the average # of fouls called in a CCIW contest involving the Cardinals is 45). And neither team distinguished itself at the line; NCC missed 16 free throws and NPU missed 14. Toss out the nine deadball rebounds, and that's still an extra 21 caroms after missed FTs that constitute a part of those rebounding totals. That's a lot.

[iwu70]

Yes, I noticed Kuzmanic did not play vs. AC.  I guess she's resting up for the game @ The Shirk!

Selecting the All-CCIW teams this year will be tough -- so many good and deserving players.  Lots of veteran and experienced seniors playing well in their final few games of college play.  Four games to go now for most teams.  Sure hope IWU can win out, host the CCIW tournament, win the AQ or get some consideration for the D3 dance.  I think they are very deserving.  CC does have a good shot at 14-0 in CCIW play, no doubt.  With their fine record, they are in the D3 dance for sure.

IWU70

[Mr. Ypsi]

I confess to not following individual players like I should.  Are any beyond Kuzmanic and McMahon absolute locks?

And is Stephanie Kuzmanic a lock for POY, or does Colleen McMahon have a chance?

(And, yes, I realize that the rematch of Carthage @ IWU will have an impact [as well as the conference tourney], but wondering if posters see the race as already a done deal.)

Just checked out the CCIW stats: Michelle Wenzel of Carthage also seems to be consistently high in several categories.  And Maris Hovee of Wheaton seems to be a freak of nature in rebounds and blocks.  Would posters judge these also to be locks for first team all-CCIW?

[Gregory Sager]

Maris Hovee isn't Wheaton's best player, Chuck. She is a rebounding machine, but Ellie Zeller mints the money for Wheaton. They'd be dead in the water without her.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Maris Hovee isn't Wheaton's best player, Chuck. She is a rebounding machine, but Ellie Zeller mints the money for Wheaton. They'd be dead in the water without her.

OK.  Hate to stint my Titans, but would Kuzmanic, Wenzel, McMahon, Zeller, and Hovee be a decent guess at first team, or am I leaving someone obvious out?

The Titans are so balanced that even if they win the conference I'm not sure they get more than Colleen on the first team (though probably 3 more on second and third).

[Kinda like the men: even if they win, Ziemnik is the only real candidate for first team, and he is not an MOP candidate.  They should get plenty of players named overall, but not real high.]

[iwu70]

Ypsi, guess it depends who finally wins the CCIW crown.  Aren't All-Conference decisions made before the conference tournament?   CC hard to de-throne, but I'm hoping the Titans have their best game of the season at The Shirk vs. CC on the 15th.  A great game coming our way soon.  Seems IWU the only team now that can really come close to pinning a loss on Carthage. Wheaton didn't put up much resistance the other night.  Kuzmanic looks like the MOP to me, but if the Titans win, host the tourney, Colleen could be the choice too -- or co-winners.  I think Lexi Baltes is a first team All-CCIW candidate.  Do agree with Greg about Zeller and WC.  Seems Seibring and Jackson will make second or third teams.  So many talented seniors this year,  Stercic and Wenzel surely first-team candidates too.  Some tough decisions.  Looks to me like Colleen McMahon will win the scoring title if she keeps up her amazingly consistent season of scoring the ball.  Not often anyone in CCIW, especially in the women's game, finishes a CCIW season over 20 ppg.  Pretty special players who can do that, with consistency of 20+ per game over the long CCIW and regular season.  Colleen's numbers are impressive and consistent -- and the game is about scoring points afterall.  Of course, there's much more to it -- and Lexi Baltes makes all kinds of contributions too on defense, with steals, with assists, running the team, and a pretty good scoring record herself this year. 

Titan men may get two first teamers in CCIW this year -- if they finish it out and beat WC on the last day of the regular season.  I'd say Davis and Zman or perhaps Zman and Overstreet.  Wish there was a "sixth man of the year award."  Perhaps Dortch would have won it last year, likely Mayberger this year.  Bench depth is going to continue to play a role down the stretch and the Titans are so lucky in this regards . . . and most teams have avoided the injury bug so far this season too.  Knock on wood.

Look forward to the final few conference games, the tourney and then the D3 dance.  Should be lots of fun.  Titan women need to just keep winning and then we'll see if they get some Pool C love.  Don't know if 19-8 will do it.  Of course, the AQ beckons . . . on March 1st. 

Hope winter soon wanes for you'all and you have the big thaw soon.  What a tough tough, never-ending winter. 

Also hope IWU posts up a piece on how much was raised by the "Pink Zone" games and effort.  A really good contribution by IWU athletes and atheletics for a great cause.  Kudos to all involved, all supportive and generous.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Isn't the CCIW giving a "newcomer of the year" award now too?  Who would that be?  Any candidates, any nominations?

IWU70

[RogK]

Greg, can you clarify this? The roster passed out to the fans on Saturday had Natalie Gath as number 4 and Tess Godhardt as 3. As the broadcaster, did you get a roster based on the official one submitted to the scorer's table? Did that one also have the wrong numbers? Godhardt wore number 4; I don't think Gath got in the game at all. The stats still attribute Godhardt's play to Gath. Can't this be fixed?
Also, if NC submitted the wrong uniform numbers to the scorer's table, a technical could have been assessed, right? Can the offficials initiate such a tech, or would North Park have needed to point it out?
Or did NC correctly submit number 4 for Godhardt?

[RogK]

My guesses for 1st team candidates (with 3/4 of conf play done) :
C : Kuzmanic, Wenzel, Stercic
IW : McMahon, Baltes
W : Hovee, Zeller, McDaniels (remember we all couldn't imagine how Olson could be replaced?)
E : McMahon
Whichever four of those aren't 1st team are easy choices for 2nd team.
That would leave six more all-CCIW spots, with Kristi Schmidt, Shelby Jackson, Rachel Torres, Maryssa Cladis, Brittany Czaplicki as strong possibles. Seibring, too. The team that gets 4th place could have a 2nd player. Someone from Augie?
update : Colleen McMahon is indeed the new CCIW Player of the Week - - congratulations to her.

[Pat Coleman]

Also, if NC submitted the wrong uniform numbers to the scorer's table, a technical could have been assessed, right? Can the offficials initiate such a tech, or would North Park have needed to point it out?

The officials could note this, I suppose, but it would require them knowing the players.

[badgerwarhawk]

Generally the official are made aware of errors by the scorer.  In WHITEWATER the procedure to fill in the score book goes like this.  First the scorer will take a game program to the coach and ask them to review it for any changes.  The coach then makes whatever corrections are necessary.  Then the scorer will advise the coach that they will enter the information in the score book taking the corrections into account.  The scorer will also request that the coach check the information entered into the score book once it is completed and initial the score book after they have reviewed the entries.  It's worked out pretty well.   

[RogK]

That's thoroughly thorough, badgerwarhawk. The box score has been fixed on cciw.org, so the league stats are good.