Thrilling Thirty-Two

There's no name for the second round of the tournament, so I made up my own. I've included some pictures from the first round game at the Shirk Center. It was a great atmosphere with an announced attendance of 1,800.

IWU advanced to the Thrilling Thirty-Two (aka second round) of the NCAA tournament Friday night with an 80-51 victory over Ohio Wesleyan. The Battling Bishops, who finished the season 17-12, are a decent team but clearly didn't belong on the same court as the #1 ranked Titans. It was a 39-28 Titan lead at halftime, but the Titans came out swinging in the second half, starting on a 22-4 run to all but seal the deal.

Just to give you an idea how good this team is: Despite this being the first round of the national tournament, bench players Sarah Cotner, Jessica Hinterlong, Karen Solari, Stacey Arlis, Amanda Murray and Brittany Hasselbring all played at least six minutes. In all, 15 Titans played in the game.

IWU shot 53% compared to just 31% for Ohio Wesleyan. Four Titans were in double figures: Heydorn 17, Solari 13, Sheehan 12 and Cotner 11. IWU advances to play presumably the toughest foe they've faced in over three months, as they take on 9th ranked UW-Eau Claire Saturday night at 7pm.

The second round game will be a fascinating clash of styles. Eau Claire defeated DePauw 62-50 Friday, and allows just 51 points per game. They have a 6-5 center and size all around, and thus prefer to play a half court game as opposed to the Titans who love to run. Whichever team can force the other to play their style will most likely prevail. Hopefully the Titans can exploit Eau Claire's zone defense with a strong shooting performance, as well as force the action downcourt to take advantage of their superior athleticism. The Titans will also hope Christina Solari doesn't get into foul trouble against her 6-5 opponent, as they don't have another significant frontcourt presence to take on the 6-5 Ellen Plendl if Solari has to sit.

Go Titans!