Sunday, February 6, 2011

Catching up with my favorite teams

My apologies to all those out there who anxiously await updates on those lovable System teams, I've been on another little hiatus. Not to fear, I'll get you caught up in one single post. Hang on, it might just blow your mind. To keep things simple, I'll provide the latest news on each of the teams we regularly follow under a header with its name. No confusion that way, right?

Here we go:

Grinnell

We have to start with the original team, right? The NCAA Division III men's team at Grinnell haven't lost since we last checked in, running its winning streak to five consecutive games. That includes a couple of un-System-like final scores, including a 79-65 victory over 12th-ranked St. Norbert on Saturday in the Midwest Conference.

A day earlier, the Pioneers ran away early and blew out conference foe Ripon 110-83, with Matt Chalupa providing a career-high 24 points on an 8-for-16 performance on 3-pointers. Pretty spiffy, right? Against St. Norbert, Griffin Lentsch was the man, going off for 18 points and missing only one of five attempts from beyond the arc.

Another player really stepping up lately is sophomore guard Dominique Bellamy, who had provided a spark off the bench in each of the games during this Grinnell hot streak. He is averaging 13.8 points while shooting 59 percent from the field and 75 percent at the line, with at least 10 points in each game.

One of Bellamy's best efforts came earlier this week against Lake Forest, another conference opponent who makes it a priority to slow down the Pioneers' attack. The plan was successful, as the final score was 87-76 in favor of Grinnell, at the time the lowest point total of the season for coach David Arseneault's team. Bellamy had 17 points in this one, making 5-of-7 from the field and 2-of-3 on 3s, while grabbing eight rebounds and totaling two steals.

The final four of these Ws were at home in the friendly confines of Darby Gymnasium, and three of the final four games on the schedule for the Pioneers are on the road, beginning Wednesday night at Monmouth. Game time is 8 p.m. EST, as Grinnell continues to climb in the Midwest Conference standings. Remember, only the top four (of 10 teams) qualify for the conference tournament. Here's a look at the standings, with MWC record first, followed by the overall:

St. Norbert....................12-3, 16-4
Ripon............................10-5, 12-8
Illinois College..............9-5, 13-6
Lawrence.......................9-6, 10-10
Grinnell.........................8-6, 13-6
Carroll...........................8-6, 10-9
Lake Forest....................7-7, 9-10
Beloit.............................7-7, 8-11
Monmouth....................1-12, 3-15
Knox.............................0-14, 1-18

The Pioneers finish up with games at Monmouth, home against Illinois College, at Knox and at Lake Forest. Certainly, four winnable games, and four losable games, as well. The conference is very evenly matched this season. The best of luck to Coach A and his team, and I'll keep you posted.

Olivet Nazarene

The NAIA women's team coached by Doug Porter simply continues to get better, running its winning streak to 11 games with two more victories this week. Up to No. 15 in the national coaches' poll, the Tigers won their pair of games by an average score of 105-73, including a 104-65 rout of Indiana-South Bend. The Titans had won 14 of their previous 15 games, yet still couldn't contain ONU.

Danielle Tolbert led five players in double figures with 16 points for the Tigers. In the previous game, a 106-81 victory on the road over Robert Morris University, Simone Coburn carried the way with 18 points as ONU sprinted out to a 66-38 lead at halftime.

Coach Porter's team steps out of conference Tuesday when it hosts Holy Cross College, then returns to Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play Saturday against the University of St. Francis (Ill.), also at home. Here's a look at the Division I CCAC standings as we head into the second half of the conference round robin:

Olivet Nazarene...........................5-0, 20-4
Saint Xavier.................................4-1, 16-6
Indiana-South Bend....................3-2, 18-5
Robert Morris..............................1-3, 15-8
Roosevelt....................................1-3, 13-10
St. Francis...................................0-5, 7-17

ONU has home games with St. Francis and Robert Morris, and travels to Saint Xavier, IU-South Bend and Roosevelt to complete its schedule. We'll check back with the Tigers next week.

Glenville State

The NCAA Division II women's team coached by Bunky Harkleroad have won three of its four games since we last checked in, including an 86-68 victory Saturday at home over Seton Hill. The Pioneers really spread the wealth in this one, with Kristen Golden (17 points and 10 rebounds) and Beth Deren (11 points) the only two players reaching double figures.

But eight others had at least six points and Glenville State held Seton Hill to 29 percent shooting in the second half.

In the previous game, a 97-91 victory on the road against Davis & Elkins, Tiffani Huffman had 20 points off the bench for the Pioneers, while Deren added 17. Mishae Miles carried the load in the W before that one, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds (also off the bench) as Glenville State beat Wheeling Jesuit 96-74, also on the road.

You sense the theme? Coach Harkleroad has plenty of offensive options, which makes shutting down the top-scoring team in Division II very difficult. Tenisha Wilson leads the team with an average of 17.1 points, followed by Woodmore (14.0) and Autumn Davis (11.0), but several others are capable. Huffman "averages" only 5.3, so you see what I mean?

Here's a look at the standings in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which makes the Big East look tiny:

West Liberty......................................13-2, 18-3
Charleston........................................14-3, 18-5
Glenville State....................................13-3, 15-6
West Virginia Wesleyan......................10-4, 12-5
Fairmont State....................................10-6, 13-7
Seton Hill............................................10-6, 14-6
Pitt-Johnstown....................................9-6, 11-8
Shepherd............................................9-7, 11-9
Concord.............................................7-8, 10-9
Ohio Valley.........................................7-9, 11-8
West Virginia State..............................5-10, 7-14
Wheeling Jesuit....................................5-11, 6-14
Davis & Elkins......................................3-13, 5-17
Alderson-Broaddus.............................2-14, 2-18
Bluefield State.....................................1-16, 2-19

Coach Harkleroad and his team finish up with home games against West Virginia Wesleyan (Thursday), West Liberty (Feb. 19) and Ohio Valley (Feb. 26) and travel to Charleston (next Saturday), Concord (Feb. 14) and West Virginia State (Feb. 23). Here's wishing them the best of luck.

Galesburg HS

Coach Evan Massey's girls' team from Galesburg, Ill., continues to keep it going, winning all four games since we last heard from the Streaks. This included two in the Western Big 6 Conference, setting up a de facto championship game this coming Thursday night against Moline.

In a non-conference matchup against Bloomington HS on Jan. 29, Galesburg broke its own state record by making 22 3-pointers in an 88-47 victory. The score at halftime was 55-18, removing any doubt about the outcome, and when Sadee Hamilton made a shot from beyond the arc in the final 2 minutes, the Streaks had another record.

The conference victories weren't quite so "pretty," for lack of a better description. Galesburg slugged its way past United Township 61-58 two days before the blowout of Bloomington, then added a 69-58 victory over Alleman this past Thursday before the season finale against Moline.

The Streaks narrowly beat Dunlap 53-50 to improve their record to 24-5, but the conference title is what is important now. Since 1990, Coach Massey and Galesburg have won 12 Western Big 6 championships, with Moline winning six. No other school has more than two. From 1990 through 2004, the Streaks finished on top in 11 of the 15 seasons, an amazing run of success.

Here's hoping they add another one Thursday.

Eisenhower HS

The boys' team in Blue Island, Ill., coached by Mike Curta finally saw its winning streak end at four with a 118-100 loss to Shepard on Friday night. It dropped the Cardinals to 6-4 in the Suburban Red Conference, decreasing their chance of winning a title for the first time in 28 years.

Here were Eisenhower's numbers:

- Attempted 95 shots (goal is 80)
- Attempted 64 percent of its shots from 3 (goal is 40 percent)
- Rebounded 20 percent of the misses on offense (goal is 35 percent)
- Forced 15 turnovers (goal is 26)
- Attempted 11 more shots than Shepard (goal is 24)

Coach Curta's team did set the state record for 3-pointers in one season, with its 18 in this one, giving the Cardinals 297 on the season. The old mark was 286, set in 2004-05 by Lincoln in 36 games. Eisenhower has played only 22 games.

Here are some other thoughts from Coach Curta:

"Only met 3 goals and just got physically dominated by a team of stronger seniors to our youngsters. Clearly evident by the offensive rebounding percentage. This is the first time during the season that we played the same team twice and they did a nice job of spreading us out and attacking with quick dribbles and bullet passes up the sideline for a ton of 2 on 1 chances early on . Down 39-19 after one, we tried to vary our presses a bit to slow them down, but not much luck.

"Played better in the second half, but could see in our kids eyes a bit of distrust in what we were doing. After halftime, we went with hold and on-denial (System terms, don't sweat it) and got back in with a 35-23 quarter. Kids energy was great and I think we might have learned finally that playing System ball means we are never out of a game. At one point cut the lead to six and could never get 'over the hump.' I did like our change in demeanor and approach and I think this game will serve us well as we move forward with the System.

"We tried not to make this too big a game, but this was a new experience for all of our kids to play a game in conference with meaning this late in the season. We had some of our younger kids let the moment get to them, but also had some kids step up and seize the moment. Good learning experience, but not what we were looking for. Now get the treat of going on the road to play a terrific Galesburg team who will probably be similar in attack and the physical nature that we saw tonight."

Catch that? Eisenhower traveled to face the Galesburg boys' team, which is ranked seventh in the state. The Streaks, who had a 15-game winning streak stopped a night earlier at Rock Island, won 104-83. The Cardinals (11-12) did add to their state record, finishing 15-for-51 from beyond the arc to increase their total for the season to 312.

Eisenhower returns to the court Tuesday at home against Richards. I hope the Cardinals get another winning streak going!

Wabasha-Kellogg HS

The girls' team coached by Glen Irvin up in Minnesota, forced to go away from The System for a time because injuries, had perhaps its biggest victory of the season this past Tuesday, beating Dover-Eyota 73-62. The margin actually was 20 with about 5 minutes to go before Coach Irvin went with his delay game.

And for the first time in his three-year tenure, the Falcons had five players reach double figures. They were Nicole Alexander (22 points), Emily Huth (13), Taylor Lerum (12), Amanda Feils (11) and Kalyn Biever (10). Breanna Hall didn't score as much as her teammates but finished with nine steals.

Here are the numbers:

- Attempted 78 shots (goal is 80)
- Attempted 25 3-pointers (goal is 40)
- Rebounded 42 percent of the rebounds on offense (goal is 40 percent)
- Forced 40 turnovers (goal is 20)
- Attempted 20 more shots than Dover-Eyota (goal is 15)

Way to go, Wabasha-Kellogg! The best of luck to Coach Irvin and his team down the stretch.

North Shore HS

The girls' team from Glen Head, N.Y., coached by Keith Freund, stayed on a roll in Conference A-III, moving its record to 11-2 and 8-0 in the conference with a 73-58 victory over Floral Park last Saturday. Sophomore Erin Sheerin led the way with 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Amanda Johansen added 15 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.

The day before, the Vikings rolled past Manhasset 74-42, thanks mostly to a 25-6 opening quarter. The score after three quarters was 65-28 before Coach Freund backed off the pressure. Liz Sheerin went for 13 points and four steals in this one, and Johansen added 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Juniors Bridgette Lincoln (12 points) and Laura Wefer (nine points, five steals and three assists) had career highs in points.

The best I can tell, North Shore returns to the court Tuesday night at Floral Park. I'll keep you updated.

Jackson CC

The women's team from Jackson, Mich., moved above .500 for the first time since its opener with a 105-90 victory over Ancilla in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association on Saturday. The Jets have won 10 of their past 13 games to improve to 11-10, and 6-3 in the conference.

Erika Bullock and Nicole Wurster each had 20 points for Jackson, with Caitlyn Owens (19 points) and Davielle Thomas (13) also reaching double figures. The Jets finished 19-for-63 from beyond the arc, with Wurster and Owens each making four 3s.

Jackson leads all divisions of the National Junior College Athletic Association in scoring with 101.8 points a game.