Thursday, February 24, 2011

It's conference tournament weekend! (In Division III)

The women's team registered one of their most dominant wins of the season on Senior Night this past Saturday.

The IWU women's basketball team will once again host the conference tournament this Friday and Saturday after becoming the first CCIW team ever to win four straight regular season titles. The Titans, who are ranked 7th in the latest D3hoops.com poll, slipped up just once in the conference season with a home loss to Carthage, posting an impressive 13-1 record.

But as fate would have it, Carthage finished the season as the four seed meaning the Titans will have a chance to avenge that loss tomorrow. If they win, they'll face the winner of the Wheaton-Millikin match-up on Saturday. While the Titans handled Millikin easily in their two match-ups, they escaped with a narrow two-point victory in their home contest against Wheaton.

The path to the conference tournament was slightly more stressful for the men's team. Injuries and inconsistent play had them at 8-5 in the CCIW and set up a win-or-go-home game against 3rd-ranked Augustana on Tuesday. With the score tied, Doug Sexauer hit a short jumper with one second left to give the Titans a two-point lead. Augustana managed a decent shot at the buzzer, but it banged off the rim, sending IWU to North Central on Friday to begin a conference tournament they likely need to win if they want to advance to the national tourney.

IWU needed overtime in both of their games against North Central this season, winning at home and losing in Naperville. If they win Friday, they'll face the winner of the Augustana-Wheaton game.

Best of luck to both teams this weekend!

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