WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[RogK]

The two conference games not yet mentioned each saw a team shoot 38 FTs.
Augie shot 38 in their 101-91 win over North Central. Three Augie players were in double figures for pts and rebs : Chaney Tambling, Amy Hicks, Andrea McNally. Molly Etheridge had a big game, scoring 27 and had 9 rebs, 9 TOs, 4 assists, 3 steals. Olivia Mayer also did quite well, with 9 assists and 6 steals.
NC did nicely from three-land 18/40 (Lauren Hernandez made 4 of 5 for example), but their other activities didn't add up to enough.
Elmhurst also shot 38 FTs, as they beat North Park 71-63. Katie Swanson led the 'jays with 17 pts, while Fiona McMahon grabbed 14 rebs. Brittany Pittas had 18 pts for the visiting Vikings.

[RogK]

Since we still have the situation that none of these five teams has defeated Carthage, IWU or Wheaton, here are the standings for games among the five :
Elmhurst 2 - 0
Augustana 1 - 0
North Park 1 - 1
North Central 1 - 2
Millikin 0 - 2
This way of looking at things may become moot, but presently is unmoot.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU is really digging itself a hole. The Vikings are going to have a hard time climbing back out of it.

[iwu70]

Carthage sounds very tough to beat -- so many weapons.  We all know how good Kuzmanic is.  Tremendous player.  And CC is the premier three-ball shooting team this year, for sure.  Mia Smith will have her hands full developing a plan to slow CC down.  Should be two really great games upcoming -- WC @ IWU, then IWU visiting Kenosha.  Looking forward to these games.

IWU70

[RogK]

Greg, I know you'd prefer North Park to be 4-0 or 3-1 at this point, but they are just 1 game out of 4th place.
If things go their way tomorrow (they beat Augie and NC beats EC), they'll be tied for 4th.
Ten regular season games remain for all, so we'll see. I still foresee Elmhurst getting into the CCIW playoffs, but all 8 CCIW teams are competitive. It may not get decided much in advance of round 14.

[iwu70]

Titans up 45-37 over WC at halftime.

IWU'70

[iwu70]

Titans up 16 with about 12 minutes to go in the second half.  Run and Jump doing its dirt. Big big TO advantage again.

If the Titans play like this they can go far.  They are playing excellent basketball even in the half court sets tonight.  Great passing and cutting.  Offense comes from defense.

Go Titans!  Keep it rolling.

IWU70

[Gregory Sager]

Final from the Quad Cities:

North Park 53
Augustana 50

Nicole Kruckman: 13 pts
Soly Roman: 7 rebs

Molly Etheridge: 13 pts, 6 rebs
Chaney Tambling: 11 pts
Amy Hicks: 10 pts, 8 rebs
Marissa Pezzopane: 7 rebs

This one was a defense-dominated struggle the whole way. NPU led almost the entire second half, but was unable to pull away from a doughty Augie squad that had a chance to tie on the final possession but missed a low-percentage trey attempt. NPU didn't shoot well at all -- the normally reliable Brittany Pittas missed a lot of open treys from the left side, and Augie's bigs gave the visitors a lot of trouble when the Park drove to the basket -- and was outrebounded by 11. But NPU is a quicker team, and they really bothered Augie on every possession except for transition; Augie turned the ball over 25 times.

Any road win in the CCIW is a good win. This one wasn't pretty, but North Park will certainly take it.

[Gregory Sager]

Incidentally, webcaster Brendan Casey (my guess is that he's an Augustana student), did a really nice job calling this game.

[iwu70]

WC hung tough, played hard, got back to within 5 but Titans win over WC 93-85.  A big win in CCIW.

McMahon 26
Jackson 17 and an overall very effective offensive game
Baltes 13
Seibring 12
Holness 11
K. Reaber 8

Ellie Zeller a monster game for WC  27.

Titans now up and coming 11-5, 5-0.  Great game upcoming vs. CC in Kenosha.

IWU70

[RogK]

Carthage topped Millikin 73-63. Stephanie Kuzmanic led the scoring with 21, Kristi Schmidt poured in 18, Michelle Wenzel had 14 pts, 14 rebs. M's Jasmine Johnson did well with 17 pts, 8 rebs, 3 blocks, 3 assists, 2 steals.
I saw the 111-92 NC win over EC. It was a close game most of the way, but NC used a frenzied few minutes to establish a safe-ish lead. The Cardinals had 7 in double figures. Bobbi Johns had 16 pts, 6 assists and 5 steals, Kimberly Wilson tallied 15 and Maryssa Cladis's 4 steals were big.
Elmhurst's Fiona McMahon had 16 pts, 15 rebs and was a notable defensive factor, altering shots. Melanie Schwerdtmann led all with 22 pts. Claire Monroe had 11 pts, 6 rebs and 7 assists.

[iwu70]

For those of you who have seen CC and IWU in person, what's your take on the upcoming clash of undefeated teams in the CCIW -- IWU @CC?  Could be 6-0 CC vs. 6-0 IWU, for the title game of the first go 'round in the CCIW season cycle.  Titans surely playing a lot better and CC with so many weapons, such a strong experienced team as well. 

Should be a great game . . . and an important away game for the Titans men's team that night in Kenosha, too.

Player of the week this week?  Kuzmanic or Coleen McMahon? 

Nine games to go . . . all the seniors knowing the time is now.  Within about a month, we'll be to the CCIW tournament time.

'70

[Mr. Ypsi]

New poll is out: Carthage up 2 spots to 12; Wheaton fall 8 slots to 20.  IWU received one point - their first since week 2.  (They had 72 points in the preseason poll; good for 28th.  In week one they lost 26 points but rose to 27th.  Since then they had received no love at all.)

[iwu70]

Congrats to Carthage's Stephanie Kuzmanic for CCIW Player of the Week.  Much deserved, though I do hope Colleen McMahon wins it one of these weeks too, as she's having a great season, perhaps winning the scoring title in the CCIW this year.  Kuzmanic had a terrific set of games last week no doubt, esp. against Wheaton.  A great player.  Titans will have to attend to her, clamp down on her, just like the men did on Peters vs. WC. 

Glad to see the Titan women getting a little bit of love in the rankings.  I think they are much much better now than earlier in the year and surely better than their record of 11-5, 5-0.  They just gotta keep at it, keep climbing, keep winning.  Would love to see them rain on the Carthage parade up in Kenosha.  Will be interesting to see what impact "run and jump" has on the experienced Carthage team.  Otherwise, could be a game of half-court sets.  Titans have improved immensely in this regard in the recent few games.  An up-tempo game favors the Titans, a half-court set game, probably favors CC.  But, could be closer than many expect.

Titans play NCC first, then travel to Kenosha to wrap up the first cycle, the first go'round in CCIW play. 

GO TITANS!!!

IWU'70

[RogK]

Since we still have the situation that none of these five teams has defeated Carthage, IWU or Wheaton, here are the standings for games among the five :
Elmhurst 2 - 1
North Park 2 - 1
Augustana 1 - 1
North Central 2 -2
Millikin 0-2
iwu70, let's wait and see what pace the IWU/Carthage game is played at. I'd say both teams can be comfortable in a fast or slow game. Note that Carthage scored 119 vs NC and has many games scoring in the high 80s and low 90s.
Yes, Colleen is having a very fine season; even if she doesn't get a player of the week honor, I'm sure she'll be properly recognized on the all-conference team.