WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[lmitzel]

NCC into the win column, 62-59 over Benedictine. Will write up more after the men's game.

[lmitzel]

NCC 62
BenU 59

Natalie Stavropolous- 17 pts
Allison Pearson- 10 pts, 6 reb
Lexie Hernandez- 10 pts
Megan Duffy- 9 pts, 4 reb

Megan Duzansky- 16 pts, 6 reb
Sara Smith- 11 pts, 6 reb
Brianna Lake- 7 pts, 7 reb

The Cardinals trailed by 9 at the break, but fought back to take the lead on a Hernandez 3 with just under four minutes to go. Tied at 59 with less than a minute to go, Natalie Stavropolous split four free throws and Megan McClure a pair to push the hosts through.

[iwu70]

IWU with a big win over Eureka tonight @ Eureka.   Final was 87-55, with a big 32 point second Q.

Powers still out with the ankle injury, so the freshman, Mahlum got the start tonight, her first.

For Eureka:

Hannam 15
Stotler 11
Rogers 9

For IWU:

Palmer 21 on 5-7 from three, 2-2 FTs, finding her stroke at long last
Heller 18 with 7 assists
Huber 11 and 9
Carlson, her best game as a Titan, 14 and 6
Knutson 7

Titans shooting 54%, 33% from three. Winning the rebounding battle 43-32.  Still way too many TOs at 23.  This team plays very fast, but still turning it over way too much.    Eureka had 26 TOs, with IWU playing better "run and jump" tonight.

A good win, IWU now 3-2.

'70

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst also got its first win of the season with a 74-61 triumph over Dominican at Faganel Hall. A 26-10 advantage for the hosts proved to be the difference in this game. Ella Riley paced the 'jays with 20 points, while Taylor Harazin double-doubled with 17 and 12, and Kendall Schieppe added 14. Anna Kleszynski also grabbed a dozen boards, and M.C. Brown grabbed nine, as EU wound up with a prodigious 55 rebounds against the offensively-challenged Stars.

Carthage upended Lake Forest up on the North Shore tonight, 70-62. Ayanna Ester led the way off the bench for the Flamefowls with 18 points, with Marguerite Spear right behind with 17 and Bridget Barrett contributing ten (plus four steals). Nice rebounding nights for Lauren Knight and Destiny Antoine with seven apiece, while Knight had a notable 5:1 floor game. Congrats to head coach Tim Bernero, whom I'm sure takes special satisfaction from beating his alma mater.

Illinois Wesleyan disembowled hapless Eureka, 87-55, as Kate Palmer scored 21, Katelyn Heller added 18 (along with a sparkling 7:1 floor game), Kelly Carlson contributed 14 off of the bench, and Lauren Huber had a fine 11 and 9 night. Laura Mahlum added seven rebounds to the winning cause.

And Wheaton dumped Ripon, 67-59, at King Arena. WC trailed by four going into the fourth quarter, but caught fire in that final stanza and managed to keep the Red Hawks at bay with a minimum two-possession lead over the course of the final 3:49. Annika Richardson had a nice 20-point night for the winners, and she was aided by Caroline Sikkink (17), Ellie Cassel (11 and 11, with five steals), and Lily Schwen (a fine 8:2 a:to ratio).

Chicago topped Carroll, 70-61, at Ratner. Kate Christian had 11 and Emilie Wizner 10 to lead the Pioneers, who also got nine rebounds from Allison Thompson.

[RogK]

I attended the Carroll loss at U Chicago.
Carroll allowed 20-for-34 2FG shooting by the Maroons.
I thought Carroll's Lauren Soyke and Emilie Wizner contributed positively in a variety of ways. Brooke Foster did alright.
The Pios need a vast amount of improvement to match the impressive level of play that they achieved last season.

[GoPerry]

And Wheaton dumped Ripon, 67-59, at King Arena. WC trailed by four going into the fourth quarter, but caught fire in that final stanza and managed to keep the Red Hawks at bay with a minimum two-possession lead over the course of the final 3:49. Annika Richardson had a nice 20-point night for the winners, and she was aided by Caroline Sikkink (17), Ellie Cassel (11 and 11, with five steals), and Lily Schwen (a fine 8:2 a:to ratio).

It was 2 ½ quarters of pretty mediocre Wheaton play until the Thunder found some inspiration and played 15 minutes of intense quality basketball on both ends of the court to tie and then extend to close it out.  If they can capture that intensity and effort more consistently, who knows what they can do?  This was a gritty win.

[lmitzel]

Side note, I did talk briefly to Mitrese Smith (she was in civvies tonight) after the men's game at the hangar tonight. She said she's feeling better and is hopeful to get cleared soon, which was good to hear.

I also heard from talking to some folks that between a possible knee injury during the soccer season and the possibility of the transfer portal that Elle Sutter may not be back. Unsure what exactly is going on there; it would be a big loss for the Cardinals to go down their All CCIW First Teamer.

[lmitzel]

Make it two in a row after probably the best I've seen the NCC women play in a while, taking down Concordia-Wisconsin 81-73.

It was a tight game with 9 ties and 10 lead changes, but a 10-0 Cardinal run spanning the final two minutes of the third into the first possession of the fourth gave the Cardinals a 63-56 lead and they didn't trail again. NCC hit an absurd 75 percent of its three's (so I had a good night) and maybe more impressive, 91 percent of its free throws.

Natalie Stavropolous: 23 pts (13-15 FT), 7 reb, 4 ast
Grace Keiffer: 13 pts
Lexi Hernandez: 12 pts
Megan McClure: 9 pts, 10 reb, 3 blk

Emily Hafemann: 24 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast
Abby Buchholtz: 12 pts, 6 reb
Lily Guerra: 12 pts

Cardinals open CCIW play in Waukesha on Wednesday.

[iwu70]

In the first day of the Midwest Challenge Tournament in Greencastle, IWU over Depauw 71-58.  Four Titans in double figures and all four with 6-8 rebounds each (Palmer, Kuutson, Huber and Heller).  Powers still out, Carlson getting the start this time.   IWU will play Wash U in the championship game on Sunday.  The tough pre-CCIW schedule continues.  Wash U beat Rose-Hulman.

A good win for the Titans, now 4-2.

'70

[Gregory Sager]

North Park 57
Olivet 47

Esther Miller: 14 pts, 6 stls
Kathryn Keehn: 10 pts
Victoria Perry: 7 rebs, 3 stls
Aaliyah Parker-Fox: 6 rebs

Pretty uninspired outing by the Vikings in southern Michigan today, as they shot well below 30% from the field and from long distance, and never really pulled away from an inferior team. Still, a win is a win, and it's always a good win whenever you have to travel such a long way to get it.

[iwu70]

Any day you beat Wash U and win the Midwest Challenge Championship is a good day. . .

IWU 67 Wash U 52 -- a dominant defensive performance by the Titans!

A career day for Lauren Huber -- 31 and 12, with 5 steals and three assists

IWU:
Huber 31 and 12
Mahlum 12
Palmer 10

Coach Smith using a wide rotation with some IWU starters in foul trouble early from the "run and jump" pressing.

Wash U:
Arnott 14
Matosh 12
Rich 10

Two really good wins in Indiana . . . Titans go to 5-2 on the year . . . a good result in this very tough schedule they play, pre-CCIW season.

IWU'70

[iwu70]

IWU will be even stronger when Mallory Powers returns from her ankle injury.   Let's hope she's cleared to return by Wednesday evening when the Titans start their CCIW campaign hosting Elmhurst at The Shirk, 7 p.m.  When she went out, Mallory was IWU's leading scorer. 

This Titan team has many weapons, scorers, and is so far playing great team defense. 

'70

[Enginerd]

IWU will be even stronger when Mallory Powers returns from her ankle injury.   Let's hope she's cleared to return by Wednesday evening when the Titans start their CCIW campaign hosting Elmhurst at The Shirk, 7 p.m.  When she went out, Mallory was IWU's leading scorer. 

This Titan team has many weapons, scorers, and is so far playing great team defense. 

'70

Everyone (at least IWU fans lol) were panicking last year after a few early losses, especially to a pretty good RHIT in the Midwest Challenge. I told you at that time, IWU, along with anyone else that would listen, that the program has the right kind of kids to play the way they want to play, and that it was simply a matter of time. I knew they'd put it together towards the end of the season. I told you so!

I don't know what kind of X's and O's coach Coach Smith is, but she's damn-near a genius recruiter. She doesn't just re-load with good players year after year, she goes out and continually finds exactly the right kind of kids to fit into her system. I'm sure they have pretty good financial aid as well, but I'm sure everyone in the CCIW is fairly similar in that regard, and you still have to find the right kids and convince them to buy-in to your program - and I'm not sure anyone in the entire country does it as well as Coach Smith. I'd stop well short of describing myself as a fan of IWU's women's BB program, but I'm definitely an admirer.

They'll of course have to stay healthy and have a few things break their way, but this year's IWU squad might really make some noise in March. I would LOVE to see them play Transylvania!

[RogK]

I attended the Carthage at U Chicago contest yesterday, won by the hosts, 80-72.
Chicago's Grace Hynes dazzled the audience with her 33 pts, 15 from 3FG (5/8), 14 from 2FG (7/14) and hit all 4 of her FTs.
Four teammates each scored in the 10-13 range.
Carthage got 18 pts and 4 assists from Lauren Knight; meanwhile Ayanna Ester scored 16 from just 9 FG att for an excellent .888 eFG%. Addison Ebeling scored 9 while missing only 1 shot.
Each team committed only 8 turnovers.
Carthage has increased its scoring throughout the season so far : 36 49 51 63 70 72. At that rate, we can expect ...

[iwu70]

Enginerd, I agree with you and share the admiration for Coach Smith.  She does recruit well, with her assistant coaches, and always seems to find some of the right kind of players to play in the style and system she has developed at IWU.  She's a good in-game coach as well.  Right now, the Titans are very deep and talented and most of the key players (save for the senior, Heller) are freshmen and sophomores and/or have three more years (including this one) to play, due to covid.  So, things do look bright for the IWU program.   They always play this tough pre-CCIW schedule so they often have 3-4 defeats going into the CCIW season.  They are also battle-hardened for the CCIW campaign.  I expect that again this year.   Coach Smith has a formula for the team being truly ready to finish out the CCIW games and be ready for March, should they qualify.  I'm very positive about this team this year, especially as the fabulous freshmen from last year (Huber, Palmer and Powers) and now very experienced CCIW-level players.  Knutson, as I've mentioned, is a very useful addition . . . and now another good freshmen class, 3-4 of whom are already playing regularly and contributing.  We'll see how far they can go.   And, for several more years to come. 

IWU'70