WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwu70]

CCIW women's programs at 56-19, .746.  Not bad at all.  All programs with a winning record so far.

IWU70

[iwu70]

IWU plays #21 Salisbury first, then either Montclair State or Baruch.  A tough tourney.  Article in today's Pgraph about it where Mia Smith compares this four-team tourney to a NCAA tournament sectional.  Titans always playing a very tough pre-CCIW schedule.  Looks like a 1-1 foray east to me, so the Titans would come into CCIW play at 7-4.  We'll see.  Hope the Titans surprise me and come home with two impressive Ws.

8-3 would be nice.

IWU'70

[AndOne]

I don't know how tough NCC's pre-conference schedule has been but, with one more victory, the Cardinals will enter conference play with a perfect 11-0 record in only their 2nd season of running "the system." They won 11 games all of last year.
It seems a little surprising that they haven't rec'd any votes in the Top 25 poll. At least in the ORVs. Maybe 11-0 will do it. 

[iwu70]

AO, agreed. Really thought NCC women should be getting some attention, some votes.  Amazing scoring outputs to date. I think they will enter CCIW play at 11-0.   Will be interesting to see how they fare against my Titans in the first game of the CCIW race.  Titans, when playing well, are a pretty good defensive team, so we'll see.  Challenge for the Titans is rebounding the ball and finishing games with the lead.  Losing Beoletto was a big loss, in defensive play and senior leadership.  The IWU sophomores and the two highly-touted freshmen are going to be thrown into the CCIW fires early on, immediately.  IWU has a bright bright future with these players, but perhaps not this year.  We'll see how fast they develop, how fast Mia Smith gets them to do what she has in mind, given their particularly skills and talents.  Titans sorely need some size in the paint.  Oh for Cristina or Karen Solari. 

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

I don't know how tough NCC's pre-conference schedule has been but, with one more victory, the Cardinals will enter conference play with a perfect 11-0 record in only their 2nd season of running "the system."

This is the third season that NCC has run the Grinnell system, Mark, not the second. Two years ago the Cardinals went 13-13 in their system debut.

[AndOne]

Gee, sorry professor. The 2 is right next to the 3 and, being late for the party, my fingers were flying! 

[iwu70]

In what must have been a wild, crazy hack-fest, the Titans go down to #21 Salisbury 57-51 in NJ.  The Titans trailed by 13 at the half after what must have been the worst shooting performance by a Titan squad in many a moon.  They came back in the second half, got within 3-4 points, but could never overtake Salisbury.  The horrendous shooting makes me think this team has a bit of bi-polarity or Jekyl and Hyde or something.  At points in the first half, the Titans were at 20% shooting and 15 % from the FT line.  Maybe just good defence?  The final tallies weren't much better -- 20-73 from the field for 28% and a horrendous 6-21 from the charity stripe.  The Titans shoot 60% from the FT line and they win the game.  Sad.  I'm sure Mia Smith thinks this is unacceptable too!  No team will win games, however tenacious in coming back, with shooting at these percentages.

Holness 19
Reaber 8 and 14 -- but a horrendous night shooting
Ehresman 9

Maybe too much holiday cheer -- not sure?

Titans now face a pretty good Baruch team, now 4-5, that went down to #8 Montclair State in the earlier game.  Hope the Titans can regroup, get some practice at the FT line, and come back to win the consolation game tomorrow.

Titans now 6-4 on the season.  Not a happy outing vs. Salisbury.  An opportunity lost.

IWU70

[iwu70]

Correction:  Apparently the Titans did come back in the second half to tie Salisbury, force OT.  Titans outscored 12-6 in OT to go down by a final score of 57-51.  Holness trey tied the game at 45 all at the end of regulation. 

Ugly -- 6-21 from the FT line.  Molly McGraw had to stay in Illinois with the flu.  Tough loss.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Gee, sorry professor. The 2 is right next to the 3 and, being late for the party, my fingers were flying! 

Oh, that tricky, tricky keyboard layout.

[iwu70]

Sadly, the Titans lost to Baruch in the consolation game in NJ, so going 0-2 out east.  This is a team of streaks, and long periods without scoring did the Titans in today.  So, the pre-CCIW portion is over and the Titans stand at 6-5.  A tough set of games, to be sure.  Hopefully, it will prepare the Titans well for the tough CCIW road ahead.  Clearly now IWU has to win the AQ, win the conference crown to go dancing later in the year.  I think Molly McGraw was sorely missed out east.

IWU70

[iwu70]

NPU women over #22 St. Mary's.  Looks like the NPU women are for real this year.

NCC scored 68 in the first half vs. Eureka.  Cruis'n. 

CCIW play to commence very soon now.

IWU7-

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 64
#22 St. Mary's (MN) 62

Rachel Torres: 16 pts, 5 rebs, 5:2 a:to
Liz Rehberger: 15 pts, 5 rebs, 3 stls
Nicole Kruckman: 7 rebs
Soly Roman: 6 rebs

This was a very solid win for the Vikings, coming off of a tough Texas road trip. The Vikings almost blew an 11-point halftime lead, as SMU closed to within 47-45 with six and a half minutes remaining, but a 10-0 run over the next two minutes gave the Park the cushion it needed to see it through a final Cardinals run.

It was good to see Rachel Torres have a strong game in NPU's final pre-conference tuneup, as she had struggled throughout November and December.

This was exactly the kind of game you want your team to play four days before the conference slate starts, against the right kind of opponent. The Vikings look like they're ready for Millikin on Saturday.

[robertgoulet]

NCC women rolled over Eureka last night.

SHOOTING AN NCAA RECORD 80 3s. Ridiculous!

Also tied an NCAA record with their 5th consecutive 100 pt game.

[iwu70]

Will be very interesting to see how NCC and IWU match up in the opening CCIW context this Saturday.  NCC is, no doubt, rolling from an offensive point of view, IWU a pretty good defensive team, but struggling to score and rebound the ball.  NCC's offensive stats, production are amazing, so far.

Let's hope Molly McGraw is recovered, able to play this weekend.  IWU surely missing the injured senior, Emily Beoletto, out for the season with a knee injury.

Go TITANS!

IWU70

[Madison135]

IWU70, I read all your comments and some just don't make sense. You said kasey Reaber had a terrible night shooting but erhsman had the same shooting percentage 3-13 but you seem not to mention it. Looking at combined stats from New York trip Reaber had second most points, lead team in rebounding and assisits and 2nd in steals. Seems like you bash her a lot and never give her credit. How about giving her some credit she is basically playing with one arm and coach has her playing a 4 position and guarding all the 6 footers which takes even more energy. She is in top 3 of every category iwu has except 3pt shooting because she doesn't shoot them. Also seems like you give all the props to the kids that live near bloomington.  You also mention numerous times that the really miss Emily beoletto and could use her. Which could be true but she averaged 2 points and 1.6 rebounds a game last yr.  your acting like she is oliva lett and scores 20 a game. Just my opinion.