Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

SWIC splits with national powers

Women's team off to slow start

Heading into the Southeastern (Iowa) College Tournament last week with games against a pair of national powers, Southwestern Illinois College coach Jay Harrington said he would have been satisfied with a split.

With a 70-68 win over Marshalltown (Iowa) College along with a 75-73 setback to the host school, SWIC got its split. But Harrington was anything but satisfied.

"One of the worst feelings in the world for a coach is to lose a game by giving it away. Against Southeastern, we gave it away by making some very bad decisions down the stretch," Harrington said. "It was a game we should have won. We just didn't finish the job."

The game matched SWIC, ranked sixth in the NJCAA Division I poll against No. 13 Southeastern Iowa. Getting inspired play from sophomore Mykel Cleveland (18 points), the Blue Storm (2-1) jumped out to a 19-6 lead early in the first half before Southeastern (Iowa) caught fire.

SWIC trailed by as many as six points but rallied to tie the game. The second half featured 11 ties and 12 lead changes heading into the final few possessions.

Trailing by one, SWIC sophomore Kenny Leverette attempted a shot in the final few seconds but missed.

"Kenny hit a shot with 1.9 seconds left against Marshalltown the previous night to win the game and it was basically the same play we ran against Southeastern." Harrington said. "He got fouled. You can see his elbows get slapped as he was going up. But on their (Southeastern's) court, the call wasn't made."

Not many calls were made in favor of the Blue Storm over the weekend. SWIC was outshot 42-20 from the foul line against Marshalltown and 30-10 against Southeastern Iowa.

"As bad as the officiating was, and in my humble opinion, it was pathetic, the officials didn't beat us. We beat ourselves. We didn't execute the way we needed too and we made just two horrible passes in the last minute."

SWIC, which played at Mineral Area College on Tuesday, was led by freshman Aaron Nelson in the win over Marshalltown. Nelson scored 15 points.

SWIC women

There was some good news and some bad news for coach Mike Juenger's womens' squad which opened its 2009-10 season with a pair of losses at the State Fair Community College Tournament in Sedalia, Mo.

The good news? A much improved defense, which shined despite a 57-38 loss to State Fair and a 51-47 loss to Moberly.

The bad news?

"We just couldn't score. We shot 41 percent against Moberly, which isn't bad. But we only had 39 shots and we committed 26 turnovers. The next night against State Fair, we shoot 26 percent from the floor," Juenger said. "You would think that giving up 51 and 57 points to a pair of top programs like these two, we should win at least one of them.

"I was thrilled with the way we played defense. That was great to see."

The Blue Storm stayed with Moberly, a perennial national power, for 40 minutes. Getting 13 points from freshman Haylee Althoff and 11 from sophomore Serena Grapperhaus, SWIC trailed by just one point with time running down.

Freshman Hillary Johnson missed a layup in the closing seconds and Moberly wrapped up the game from the free throw line.

"With 10 freshmen it's going to take time for us. We were right there in the last few seconds with a chance to beat a very good team. I see that as very encouraging," Juenger said. "Even against State Fair we were within 10 to 12 points the entire second half before they got a few late baskets on layups.

Sophomore Lauren Timmerman paced SWIC in the State Fair game with eight points.