Game Notes: Illinois Wesleyan University @ North Central College (1/18/12)

Final Score
(25)Illinois Wesleyan 87, NCC 53

Summary
The Titans (12-4, 5-0) never trailed, hitting their shots early and fairly often. The Cardinals (6-10, 0-5) got as close as 3 in the middle of the opening half before Wesleyan started to pull away. The Cardinals kept it around 10, ultimately trailing by 13 at the break. I had talked to Geoff Clark and he said either the Cardinals would come out and make it a game or see Wesleyan break it open. The latter happened, as the Titans got off on a 13-2 run to start the 2nd half, leading by as much as 34 late.

Key Stats

• NCC: 19-49 FG (38.8%), 4-16 3PT, 11-19 FT (57.9%). Bad shooting nights tend to bite you. And this one wasn't necessarily terrible overall, but there were a number of forced shots, and shooting 25 percent from deep usually doesn't help. Free throw percentages need to go up too; you have to take advantage of scoring opportunities with a stopped clock... especially when trailing.
• Bobbi Johns (NCC): 4-6 FG (2-4 3PT), 10 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl. Her first career start, and her first mention in Confessions of a Sportscaster. She did a good job hitting shots tonight, and took them in the flow of the offense to hit double figures for the first time. She's got a lot of potential as the point guard of the future.
• Olivia Lett (IWU): 9-14 FG (3-5 3PT), 5-6 FT, 26 pts, 8 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl. The CCIW's leading scorer showed why she's at the top tonight, topping her average (20.3 coming into tonight). She scored her team's first 5 points, and had 17 at the half. She was hitting from pretty much everywhere and could have easily had more if she played more than the 28 minutes she was on the floor.

Cardinal Turnover Watch
Yikes. They took a step back tonight, turning the ball over a whopping 30 times. They had 11 at the half, and it just went downhill from there. Granted, Illinois Wesleyan played an extremely tough full court press that the Cardinals had a lot of trouble with (13 of the 30 turnovers were steals). But there were some mistakes in the halfcourt set too that caused problems. The leading culprits were Emily Murphy and Bobbi Johns (5 apiece) with Helen Muleya and Sophie Newson each giving it up 4 times. They need to cut down on these turnovers if they want to stay in games. It didn't help that the Titans only turned it over 14 times tonight.

Final Thoughts
For all the facepalming I do at the scorers' table and all the depressing remarks I seem to be making about this team lately, the one thing I cannot question is their heart. Even down 30 late, they weren't just going through the motions, they were hustling and trying to make a game of it. They weren't going to roll over. Wesleyan has long been a power in the D-III women's basketball scene, and the Cardinals have routinely been blown out by the Titans, but they didn't give up even though it would have been easy to. They will have to continue to show that heart on Saturday in Decatur as they take on Millikin, and I will have another report a week from tonight after what will hopefully be the second straight win for the Cardinals.