WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[lmitzel]

NCC 80
Millikin 69

Ameli Sanchez took a page out of Kennedy Hartwig's book and broke a 49-all tie after three quarters with a four point play to spark an 8-0 run and the Cardinals were able to put the Big Blue away down in Decatur. When you score 27 points off 23 turnovers (including 13 steals, all while allowing just four off 10 yourself), you're usually gonna have a good time.

Kennedy Hartwig: 24 pts, 4 reb
Ameli Sanchez: 16 pts
Jocelyn Trotter: 6 pts, 9 reb, 4 stl

Bella Dudley: 19 pts, 5 reb
Izzy Hay: 11 pts, 8 reb
Nikkel Johnson: 11 pts, 7 reb

NCC was without Biz Daly tonight; not sure what was going on there, but I'll take a win at the Griswold Center, especially since this is Maggie McCloskey-Bax's first in her tenure at North Central. The last Cardinal win in Decatur came during the final System season under Michelle Roof in 2016-17.

[iwu70]

IWU has the big game at Carroll tomorrow, 2 p.m.  If the Titans can win this one, they have a good shot at winning out and going undefeated in conference play.

It looks like Leah Palmer has won a starting position now, with Robinson and Lipic coming in off the bench in the rotation, along with Epps and a few others.  Sara Balli is back from a foot/ankle injury and played 19 minutes in the win over Carthage last game. 

Sears and L. Mahlum still out.

Good luck Titans for this big game.

IWU'70

[iwu70]

IWU loses to Carroll 68-48.  About the worst I've seen the Titans play in a number of years.  Yes, give some credit to Carroll's defense.

However IWU shooting 27%, missing numerous open shots and layups, and 17% from three.  Poor ball security.  You can see the problem.  The Titans just seemed out of sorts today.  They got within 9 in the 4th Q, but then Carroll pulled away with several key treys.

Both teams now 8-1 in CCIW play, so the league race is on now.

IWU'70

[lmitzel]

NCC was in another tight one, trailing Elmhurst by 3 going into the fourth. But the Cardinals opened the frame on a 12-2 run capped by back to back threes from Grace Keiffer and Cate Uhren, and cruised to the finish line from there.

Jocelyn Trotter: 22 pts, 7 reb, 2 stl
Kennedy Hartwig: 11 pts
Grace Keiffer: 10 pts, 6 reb, 6 ast

Sierra Gibson: 13 pts, 4 reb
Natalie Harry: 12 pts
Kristin Bukata: 9 pts, 7 reb, 10 ast

[iwu70]

IWU needs to get back on track after that ugly loss @ Carroll.  They have Millikin in Decatur this Wednesday.  IWU now 13-5, likely dropping in the new poll, still tied with Carroll for the lead in the CCIW race at 8-1. 

'70

[iwu70]

IWU drops to 19th in the new Week 8 Poll.  Carroll rises to #16. 

Seven games to go . . . I guess it comes down to who loses a road game, who slips up in the stretch run for the regular season championship -- IWU or Carroll.  IWU certainly needs to re-group after that horrible performance last Saturday. 

IWU'70

[lmitzel]

I guess it comes down to who loses a road game, who slips up in the stretch run for the regular season championship -- IWU or Carroll.

If they tie at 15-1, that'll be with a head to head split and wins over everyone else. IWU would have the tiebreaker based on head to head point differential (IWU +13), which I don't think I've ever seen the tiebreaker come down to before.

I'll end up doing my usual Excel scenario sheet at some point. I'm not doing it now because I'm not building a spreadsheet with 4.3 billion rows. Maybe in a week when it's a little less than 17 million.