WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[lmitzel]

IWU 68
NCC 61 (OT)

This one hurt a bit. The Titans led by 15 at the break and by 11 still after the third, but the Cardinals fought back to tie the game with 70 seconds to play. Unfortunately NCC ran out of gas in the extra session and only managed a single point in the extra stanza.

Mallory Powers: 20 pts, 10 reb, 6 stl
Caite Knutson: 13 pts, 6 reb
Kate Palmer: 11 pts, 8 reb, 4 ast
Sawyer White: 6 pts, 5 reb, 7 stl

Megan McClure: 19 pts, 7 reb
Jocelyn Trotter: 14 pts, 11 reb
Megan Duffy: 10 pts
Elle Sutter: 7 pts, 13 reb

[RogK]

Yesterday's was the fourth Elmhurst game I've attended this season and the fun that the players were having in November is pretty much gone. Many played tentatively, particularly in the 1st half, seeming concerned that a mistake will quickly land them on the bench.
It was my first look at Carthage. Marianna Morrissey showed superb athleticism, blocking 5 shots, grabbing 6 steals plus 9 rebounds, while scoring 18 via nice shooting (.500 eFG% and .800 FT%). Marianna's teammates put forth a similarly productive effort, each helping the cause.

[RogK]

Congrats to Olivia Rangel, CCIW Player of the Week!
https://cciw.org/news/2023/12/11/womens-basketball-carrolls-rangel-seizes-second-cciw-weekly-award.aspx
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[RogK]

Up-to-date NCAA stats show Millikin's Bailey Coffman #1 nationally with a .618 3FG% :
http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/ranking_summary?academic_year=2024&division=3&org_id=121&ranking_period=23&sport_code=WBB
That's rather acceptable isn't it, the equivalent of .926 2FG shooting (63 pts via 34 attempts).
Millikin is on top in team 3FG shooting at .426. Other than Coffman's 21-for-34, the rest of the Big Blue has made 57/149 3FGs for a very good .382.
Millikin's Elyce Knudsen is the top scorer nationally at 27.9 per game.
Augie's Kadence Tatum is #1 nationally with 77 total assists and 7.7 per game.

[RogK]

I attended Wheaton's 59-49 victory over Concordia Wisconsin.
Wheaton got out to a 16-2 lead, from which CUW slowly recovered.
With 2:04 left in the 4th Q, the game was knotted at 47. Lily Schwen then put Wheaton up 50-47 with a 3. Annika Richardson followed that with another 3 to make it 53-47.
Wheaton ultimately outscored Concordia Wisconsin 12-2 after it was 47-47, so one could say the Thunder started and finished the game strong. The part in between was not dazzling.
Erin Viergutz did very well for CUW, scoring 20 and grabbing 17 rebs in 28 min.
Caroline Sikkink didn't suit up for Wheaton, although she looked fine to me, walking around with no injury evident. We'll see if she returns to action on their California trip.

[lmitzel]

NCC 72
Edgewood 53

This was a tight game for most of it, especially in the first half as the Cardinals only took a two point lead to the locker room. But the margin was 8 after three, and the defense really clamped down in the final 20 minutes to deliver a victory.

Jocelyn Trotter: 25 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast
Megan McClure: 20 pts, 4 reb
Elle Sutter: 4 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk, 3 stl

Vivian Guerrero: 25 pts, 16 reb, 4 stl
Kenzie Senffner: 9 pts
Grace Vesperman: 4 pts, 5 ast

[RogK]

Marianna Morrissey scored 32 of Carthage's 60 pts in their 10 point win over St Norbert.
She made 2/3 3FGs, 12/16 2FGs and 2/4 FTs, also grabbing 4 steals and 8 rebs. Addison Ebeling led the team with 9 rebs in 23:00.
Also on Saturday, Elmhurst was defeated 82-74 by host Rose-Hulman. Grace Roland excelled for RHIT, with 10 rebs and 32 pts, missing a total of only 5 shots.
Kristin Bukata had a nice game for EU : 16 pts, 9 rebs, 4 assists and 3 steals.

[RogK]

I attended yesterday's Elmhurst win, 73-59 over Lawrence. It was an entertaining game, although sloppy on occasion. 26 turnovers by Lawrence and 25 by Elmhurst. Defensive energy caused many of those turnovers, but not all.
It could have been a higher scoring game for another reason, if Lawrence had tried to score quickly after getting through the Elmhurst press. They did so basically only in the last 4 minutes of the game.
Lawrence's Mallory Meyer topped all scorers with 22, while teammate Sophie Morey led the Vikings with 9 rebs, adding 10 pts.
The Bluejays had 4 players tally 11 or more :
Shanyce Makuei 20 pts, 11 rebs, 6 assists, 4 steals (and 9 turnovers -- almost a triple double but not the sort one would brag about completely, just most of it!) 
Nariyah Smith 15 pts
Tyreshia Sessions 11 pts and 5 steals (nice work by her)
Lindsay Novak 12 pts in about 14 minutes via 4/7 3FGs (I thought she made a 5th three, a while after I saw her listed with 12 pts on the scoreboard, but evidently I mis-remembered).
The other 'jays contributed to the win as well.
Elmhurst played with a good amount of enthusiasm (even joyfully at times), which I had noted regarding them in November.

[RogK]

I also went to IWU's 73-63 win at U of Chicago. A hard-fought game between two very athletic rosters.
Lauren Huber was there; her injured foot is still recovering -- I heard she likely will be playing in January, which would be excellent news for the already-strong Titans.
This game was my first seeing IWU's Ava Bardic, who led all with 24 pts. She is talented and quite agile.
Caite Knutson scored a very efficient 21 (6/10 2FG, 9/11 FT).
Shooting was a bit off for both teams, but intense defense on both sides should be credited.

[Gregory Sager]

I also went to IWU's 73-63 win at U of Chicago. A hard-fought game between two very athletic rosters.

I saw you on the livestream. You looked like you had the world by the tail, lounging there all alone in the west-end bleachers.

[RogK]

It is expensive to buy a whole section of seating like that, but I like to be surrounded by my peers. (no urination jokes please!)

[RogK]

Congrats to Marianna Morrissey, new CCIW Player of the Week!
https://cciw.org/news/2023/12/18/womens-basketball-carthages-morrissey-nets-weekly-cciw-womens-hoops-award.aspx
= =

[Gregory Sager]

It is expensive to buy a whole section of seating like that, but I like to be surrounded by my peers. (no urination jokes please!)

It was nice of you to buy up that section and thus pitch in to help. We all know how badly the U of C needs the money.

[RogK]

Their endowments are so large, I hear they need a staff of 13 or 14 full-time employees just to shred annoying small currency, like fives, tens and twenties.

[Gregory Sager]

Gallaudet 64
North Park 59

Victoria Perry: 19 pts, 9 rebs, 3 stls
Caroline Long: 18 pts, 13 rebs
Lauren McKnight: 8 rebs

The Vikings died the death of a thousand cuts in Gallatin, TN this evening in the opening round of the Music City Classic. Although their shooting from the field was abysmal yet again (22-68, .324 FG and 3-20 .150 trey), they played such solid defense (for the most part) and dominated the boards so completely (53-40, including 19-12 on the offensive glass) that they gave themselves a chance to win. But they simply gave away the ball too many times -- 23 turnovers, almost half of which were unforced -- to earn the W, with several of the most egregious turnovers coming in crunch time.

The Vikings did show great moxie in coming back from sizeable deficits on more than one occasion, including an eight-point run to start the fourth quarter that gave them their only lead of the game at 51-50. But even if you miss more than two-thirds of the shots you take, you miss all of the shots you didn't take because you lost the ball before you could get a shot off. And that's tonight's lesson: Protect the ball better.

Great night for freshman center Caroline Long, who set new career highs in both points and rebounds in registering her first-ever collegiate double-double. The Vikings invariably did better on pretty much every possession in which she got a touch in the paint.