WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

Unfortunately, NP's Emily Czuhajewski went down with what may have been an ankle injury in the 2nd minute of the 4th quarter.
She did return to the bench area later in the quarter, using crutches.
A quick recovery is hereby wished to her!
I viewed portions of all four games' webcasts, although very little of the AUG-WHE game.

[lmitzel]

The other game not touched on raised my eyebrows when I was peeking at scores and seeing Elmhurst with a fairly sizable early lead over Carthage before the Firebirds came back and won 80-74.

Congrats to Tim Bernero on his 300th career win.

[RogK]

Yep, Elmhurst was up 39-30 at the half, but Carthage poured in 50 2nd half pts to attain the win.
Kate Matthews did quite well for Elmhurst : 2 steals, 4 assists, 7 rebs and 20 pts (1/2 3FG, 6/9 2FG, 5/6 FT).
for Carthage :
Lauren Knight, a very efficient 27 pts (also 3 assists) - 4/8 3FG, 3/6 2FG, 9/9 FT
Margueret Spear 16 pts
Destiny Antoine 11 pts
Bridget Barrett led all with 9 rebs

[Gregory Sager]

Unfortunately, NP's Emily Czuhajewski went down with what may have been an ankle injury in the 2nd minute of the 4th quarter.
She did return to the bench area later in the quarter, using crutches.
A quick recovery is hereby wished to her!
I viewed portions of all four games' webcasts, although very little of the AUG-WHE game.

AAAARGH! I didn't know that!

Speedy recovery to what I hope is merely a sprained ankle for Emily. NPU simply cannot do without her.

[Titan Q]

Pretty amazing to have 3 freshmen lead the way in a huge conference game vs the favorite...

* Kate Palmer: 20 pts, 4 reb, 3 assits

* Lauren Huber: 15 pts, 11 reb

* Mallory Powers:12 pts, 4 reb


IWU has a great, young nucleus to build around.  And they might be able to do some damage this year too.

[GoPerry]

Unfortunately, NP's Emily Czuhajewski went down with what may have been an ankle injury in the 2nd minute of the 4th quarter.
She did return to the bench area later in the quarter, using crutches.
A quick recovery is hereby wished to her!
I viewed portions of all four games' webcasts, although very little of the AUG-WHE game.

AAAARGH! I didn't know that!

Speedy recovery to what I hope is merely a sprained ankle for Emily. NPU simply cannot do without her.

Me too.  I've grown to really respect her steady game and quick trigger from the arc.

[Enginerd]

Pretty amazing to have 3 freshmen lead the way in a huge conference game vs the favorite...

* Kate Palmer: 20 pts, 4 reb, 3 assits

* Lauren Huber: 15 pts, 11 reb

* Mallory Powers:12 pts, 4 reb


IWU has a great, young nucleus to build around.  And they might be able to do some damage this year too.

IWU has looked like a completely different team since the WashU game. Last night is probably the best half-court defensive effort I've seen from IWU in years - they were really outstanding and would have beaten a lot of teams last night. It was obvious they were ready to play.

The depth of my CCIW knowledge does not extend much past IWU, whom I've watched play and kept up with for a long time, so last night was my first real look in 2-3 years at Millikin, and, despite the bad loss, I was VERY impressed with the assemblage of talent. They went from zero-to-sixty pretty quickly over the last handful of years with the talent they've been able to bring in. There are several kids on that roster that physically look more like Division II or low-Division I athletes and the Knudson kid has an extraordinary basketball-IQ and is destined to be a star. She must have been getting some low D-I looks at a minimum. Anyone have any idea how she wound up in Decatur? Small-town kid? Does she play an additional sport or something? Sometimes that's a draw as well. She's really, really good...like potential 1st team All American someday good.

I was a buyer on IWU early, but they are better at this point than even I thought they'd be. Kudos to Coach Smith. This has been a really good coaching job so far this season.

[iwu70]

Enginerd, totally agree with you on Coach Smith's coaching work this year . . . having faith and trust in her seniors, and then bringing the three freshmen along quickly.  The junior Heller a nice surprise on defense and some contributions on offense too. "Run and jump" has improved step by step as the season has moved on . . . and it is a mighty weapon now, for frustrating and turning over the opposition.  IWU has a clear strategy and identity:   pressure defense (full court or half court), speed the game up and push the ball, beating the other team down the floor, shoot the three ball well on rotating the ball on offense, and battling like crazy to keep the rebounding line close, even winning that line sometimes, like last night vs. MU.  I, too, have felt they have over-achieved -- since the Wheaton game.  Huber, Powers and Palmer give them a lot of weapons on offense, inside and out.  Huber has a nose for the ball off the boards that is unique, and fun to watch.  Last night, Palmer made 4, Lansford and Powers 2 treys each.  Kaia Bowen beat the MU bigs down the floor numerous times . . .  again, you win with who and what you got . . . and the Titans have found a pretty good formula in conference play.

Indeed, MU has some great talent . . . but it didn't always show last night, especially from their normally high-scoring bigs.  Knudsen is a unique and awesome talent at the D3 level. But, again, IWU played her tough in the first half, holding her to six points and leading at the half-time break by 18. 

We can discuss, argue about scheduling, but I think again, as in past years, a very tough early schedule has helped the Titans to be strong, well-conditioned and battle-tested now . . . with nine games to go.   

IWU'70

[RogK]

Staton, Coffman and Brown combining for 3 rebounds in 60 minutes of playing time should earn them a lecture from Coach Lett.
the updated standings :
7-0 IWU
7-1 MIL
4-3 NPU
3-3 CRL
4-4 CTG WHE
2-4 NCC
1-6 AUG
0-7 ELM
32 of the 72 conference games are done.

[Titan Q]

Anyone have any idea how she wound up in Decatur?

[41:57]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KqhB0zN6DY&t=2540s

[GoPerry]

Unfortunately, Wheaton's Annie Tate is definitely out for the rest of the season.

[RogK]

Hopefully she'll return healthy for the '22-'23 season.
Thanks for the report, GoPerry!

[Gregory Sager]

I'm sorry to hear that, GP. Losing a player like that not only diminishes Wheaton, it diminishes the league as a whole.

[iwu70]

Sorry to hear about Annie Tate . . . a big loss for Wheaton.  I was looking forward to seeing her play at The Shirk on February 12th.  Wishing her well for a full recovery for next year's season.

'70

[GoPerry]

Unfortunately, Wheaton's Annie Tate is definitely out for the rest of the season.

A big hole:  5'10" Jr Tate's 10 games this season:  18.8 ppg ( 44.5% FG, 76.1% FT)  9.5 reb/g, 32.6 mins/g



Looking on the bright side for Thunder fans, Tate's replacement in the starting lineup, 5'11" Fr  Annika Richardson:

First 11 games (sub) -  8.73 mins/game:        2.1 ppg, 9/28 fg (32.1%), 2/11 3fg (18.1%), 3/9 ft (33.33%),            1.9 reb/g,

Last 5 games (start) – 31.80 mins/game:    23.8 ppg, 43/78 fg (55.1%), 18/32 3fg (56.25%), 15/17 ft (88.24%),   6.4 reb/g,

Quite a dramatic lesson in stepping up when given the opportunity . . .