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SCOTS SCOOP – Jan. 17, 2007 – Vol. 7, No. 23
RED HAWKS DOWN!
For the first time in school history, the Monmouth College basketball
programs posted a sweep over Ripon.
Entering Saturday’s doubleheader, the women had lost 11 straight games to
the Red Hawks, but sophomore Melissa Gorski (Arlington Heights,
Ill./Buffalo Grove) made 11-of-12 free throws in the final 6:23, scoring a
career-high 22 points as the Fighting Scots prevailed 73-66.
The men provided a fitting encore, taking the Red Hawks to the wire for
the third time in the teams’ last four meetings at Glennie Gym. The
previous barnburners saw Jim Dibble and Travis Miller make game-winning
free throws with one second left. This time, the winning free throws came
from senior Caleb Bennett (Avon, Ill./Avon) at the 0:26 mark, and Ripon’s
Paul Wise missed an off-balance shot at the buzzer to allow the Scots to
escape with an 80-79 win.
The victory capped a big two-game homestand for the men, who also defeated
Beloit 80-73 on Friday night. Both victories could be filed under the
“team win” category, as several players stepped up to fill the void left
by leading scorer Joe Terwelp (Quincy, Ill./Notre Dame), who remained out
of the lineup with the flu.
“With us playing without Joe and Ripon coming in with a very experienced
lineup and a 5-0 record (in the Midwest Conference), a 10-point Ripon win
would have been expected,” said MC coach Terry Glasgow. “I thought the
game turned on three keys. First, we played pretty good defense all day
long, and especially against Bo Johnson. We hit our free throws when we
needed to (19-of-20 for the game), and our defense in the last 26 seconds
when they were trying to set up a game-winning shot was very, very good.
He got a shot, but it was under duress.”
Against the Bucs, juniors Corey Turner (Coal Valley, Ill./Moline) and Andy
Moore (Marseilles, Ill./Ottawa) had career highs of 15 and 13 points,
respectively. Bennett made big contributions in the Ripon win, as did
senior Josh Reschke (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo). Both players scored 10
points, and junior Jesse Hackett (Manito, Ill./Midwest Central) added a
career-high six.
“That’s what you’ve got to be ready for in college,” said Glasgow. “Kids
that may be in front of you might drop out of school, they might get ill
or injured or they might have personal problems. When the opportunity
comes, you’ve got to be ready to step up and play. This flu was a bad deal
for Joe, but it represented an opportunity for somebody else.”
Regular leading men Raun Singleton (Roseville, Ill./Roseville) and Blaise
Rogers (Forest City, Ill./Midwest Central) were also on their games.
Singleton scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the final four minutes
vs. Beloit and added 13 against Ripon. Rogers had 30 points and nine
assists over the weekend, leading the Scots vs. the Red Hawks with 17
points.
Glasgow credited Moore, Rogers and Reschke for their roles in holding down
Johnson, who scored a combined 44 points in Ripon’s season sweep of
Monmouth a year ago. Johnson, who “didn’t have the kind of afternoon he’s
accustomed to,” according to Glasgow, had just six points on 2-of-9
shooting on Saturday.
Added the coach, “We had five guys in double figures, and nine of our 10
players who saw action against Ripon played double-digit minutes (and the
other player nine). It was just a really good weekend for us, and it did a
lot for our confidence.”
The conference’s parity was not lost on Glasgow, who noted that the
league’s two one-loss teams, Carroll and Ripon, have only been beaten by
the Fighting Scots. Monmouth, in turn, has been beaten by Knox and
Illinois College teams that are in the league’s lower half.
“Anybody can beat anybody,” he said. “We need to pick up a win or two on
the road and defend our home court.”
The Scots’ next three games will be on the road, and Monmouth has to
believe they are all winnable, as they come against teams currently
fourth, ninth and seventh in the conference. Monmouth’s record of 3-4 is
good for sixth.
As for the women, head coach Melissa Jones was pleased her team was able
to pull out a victory over the Red Hawks and stay in the league race, but
she realizes there’s work that needs to be done.
“We did a much better job of staying organized and running our offense,”
said Jones of the Scots’ effort vs. Ripon, which also included 13 points
and 15 rebounds from junior Ashley Yeast (Sciota, Ill./West Prairie). “We
had a good balance of penetration and ball movement. Defensively, we did a
much better job of dominating the boards (45-32). The bad news is that we
still had too many turnovers (32). We can’t afford that many turnovers
this weekend.”
The Scots’ opponents for their Friday-Saturday road doubleheader are St.
Norbert and Beloit. The game with St. Norbert is especially big, as the
Green Knights are one spot ahead of Monmouth in the MWC standings.
“We were averaging 22 turnovers a game before the weekend, and I’m sure
that went up,” said Jones. “With Mallory (Mulvihill) out, we don’t have a
junior or a senior guard. We’ve had a lot of young people handling the
ball, but we’re getting to the point where our young people should have
enough experience and be handling it better.”
In terms of this weekend’s matchups, Jones said that Yeast would play a
key defensive role for the Scots, drawing St. Norbert’s Bianca White and
Beloit’s Katie McCool. White is third in the league in scoring and second
in rebounding, while McCool is the reigning MWC Performer of the Week.
Yeast remains second in Division III with her average of 13.2 rebounds.
She is six rebounds behind the leader, 5-foot-11 senior forward Lashannen
Hogue of John Jay College. Yeast is ranked fifth among all NCAA women’s
players, regardless of division.
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
What turned out to be a very upbeat weekend for Monmouth basketball got
off to a slow start Friday, as the favored Scots fell 70-67 to Beloit’s
women.
Although they eventually grabbed a second-half lead, the Scots can blame a
slow start for the defeat. The Bucs led the entire first half, going ahead
by as many as 12 points before settling for a 34-29 halftime advantage.
Beloit’s full-court pressure had the Scots off their game for big chunks
of the first 20 minutes. Monmouth had two different streaks of five
straight scoreless possessions and another of four.
“On Thursday, we spent a lot of time practicing bringing the ball up
against pressure,” said coach Melissa Jones. “We were sloppy all practice
long, and that’s how exactly how we played Friday. They say you play how
you practice, and that was certainly the case.”
Beloit’s lead was still 12 at 47-35 in the second half when Ashley Yeast
took over. She scored on three straight trips down the court, twice
following offensive rebounds, to provide all the offense in a 6-0 run, and
the Scots really took off moments later when Beloit’s 6-foot-3 center,
Katie McCool, headed to the bench with her fourth foul. Monmouth scored on
eight straight possessions to take a 58-56 lead.
It was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way, and the key play occurred with
nine seconds left. Leading by one, Beloit missed two free throws, but the
rebound on the second attempt was tipped out of bounds, and possession was
awarded to Beloit. Given a second chance two ticks later, the Bucs cashed
in at the foul line, meaning the Scots had to hit a last-second
three-pointer. Freshman Elise Waldorf (Glasford, Ill./Canton) got off a
shot, but was not able to make it.
Laura Jahn (Palos Park, Ill./Stagg) led the Scots with 20 points and
grabbed nine rebounds and Yeast added 16 points and 13 boards.
“Laura’s been playing very consistently,” said Jones of the senior
forward, who also scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds against
Ripon. “She’s done a great job for us offensively, and she’s developing
her leadership skills even more.”
Angie Meehan had 22 points for the Bucs, including the key free throws
with seven seconds left, and McCool had 13 points and 10 boards.
“It was a frustrating game,” concluded Jones. “Going in, we felt we were
better than Beloit.”
The good news is that the Scots won’t have to wait long for a second
chance. They play at Beloit on Saturday at 1 p.m.
FREES FALLING
Big victories over Ripon and conference records of 3-4 aren’t the only
things that the women’s and men’s teams have in common. Both squads can
point to their performances at the free throw line as a major reason for
their recent success, and they each have one individual who is threatening
to break school records in the category.
Raun Singleton and Melissa Gorski have both distinguished themselves at
the foul line this season and are shooting 88.5 and 85.4 percent,
respectively. Singleton already owns the single-game free throw mark
thanks to his 15-of-15 performance earlier this year against William Penn,
and he is within range of Bryan Horton’s season mark of 90.6. That record
requires a minimum of 50 attempts, and Singleton has qualified with 52
(making 46). He is currently ranked 13th in Division III.
The career category calls for 100 attempts, and the former Illinois
Central College player is not there yet. He attempted just 18 in his first
season at Monmouth, so he needs 30 more free throws in the Scots’ next
nine games to be eligible. At his current pace, though, Singleton would
both qualify for the record and break it. He’s on pace to shoot 88 free
throws this year, and his MC career accuracy of 88.6 percent is ahead of
Mark Mendez’s record 83.9 shooting from 1981-83.
Gorski’s free throw shooting has heated up from her freshman season, when
she shot 68.9 percent. She’s made 32-of-36 since the Scots returned from
Christmas break, improving her career accuracy to 74.6 percent. She needs
just two attempts to qualify for the season record (Michelle Perry’s 82.4
in 1988-89) and she has enough attempts to qualify for the career mark
(75.0 by Mary Hollinrake from 1983-85). Her clutch performance against
Ripon moved her up to second on the list, pushing her past former teammate
Courtney Scherrer (73.8) and her coach, Melissa Jones (73.6).
As a team, the Monmouth men shot a woeful 59.7 percent from the foul line
in 2005-06. Their 35-of-40 accuracy over the weekend raised their
percentage this year to 72.9. Blaise Rogers went 15-of-16 during the
Scots’ last three games to improve his mark to 72.9, while Caleb Bennett’s
8-of-9 accuracy vs. the Red Hawks has lifted him to 72.4 percent.
Rogers can trace his accurate shooting to a change in routine. Previously,
he was one of few players with a “catch-and-shoot” style, hoisting his
free throw immediately following the pass from the referee. Now, Rogers
has a more conventional three-bounce-pause-single-bounce routine that has
paid big dividends (hey, you can’t get this kind of information anywhere
else … we don’t call it “Scots Scoop” for nothing!).
NIEMEIER EARNS HIGH MARKS IN EIGHT EVENTS
If you’ve been around a while, perhaps one of your best memories from
swimming was the amazing performance of Mark Spitz at the 1972 Olympics.
Spitz competed in seven events and won them all.
Monmouth junior Kurt Niemeier (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) didn’t win
seven times at the Grinnell Invitational last weekend, but he did flirt
with a Spitz-like effort, bringing home high finishes in all eight of his
races. He led the Fighting Scots to a third-place finish out of nine
teams, as Monmouth’s 210 points trailed only Luther (788) and Grinnell
(506).
In his four individual events, Niemeier also had to swim in preliminary
rounds, meaning he raced 12 times in two days. He posted personal bests in
the 200-yard freestyle (1:49.47) and the 100-yard backstroke (58.29), and
he wound up with two seconds, a fifth and a sixth in his individual swims.
In relays, he and teammates Dan Campione (Blue Island, Ill./St. Rita) and
John Kaiser (Hanover Park, Ill./Glenbard North) were models of
consistency, as they placed third in all four of their relays. Freshmen
Jonathan Peterson (Burlington, Iowa/Burlington) and Matt Travnik (New
Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) were on two of the squads each.
Had the Grinnell Invitational been the Olympics, Niemeier would have
walked away with two silver medals and four bronze ones.
His accomplishment of reaching four “A” finals was equaled on the women’s
side by freshman Annie Lane (St. Louis, Mo./Kirkwood), who set two school
records in the process. Lane established new marks in the 1650-yard
freestyle (19:07.19) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:28.12). She finished
with a second, a third, a fourth and a sixth as Monmouth placed ninth out
of 12 teams. Grinnell topped Luther for the team title.
Also reaching “A” finals were Peterson, who took second in the 100-yard
breaststroke, and sophomore Sarah Christensen (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg),
who was fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Campione swam in three “B” finals, freshmen Josh Van Swol (Frankfort,
Ill./Lincoln-Way East), Peterson and Kaiser were in two apiece and
freshmen Jack Clifford (Rantoul, Ill./St. Thomas More) and Travnik each
qualified for one.
The Scots’ next big meet will be right back in the Grinnell pool Feb.
9-11, but in the meantime they’ll compete in dual meets at Pepper
Natatorium on Jan. 19 vs. Augustana and Jan. 26 vs. Coe.
MORE GRIDIRON HONORS FOR DANIELS & CO.
The latest football honors to be announced are the 2006 All-Region
teams from Don Hansen’s Football Gazette, and four Fighting Scots have
landed on the organization’s All-West Region squad.
Leading the way is senior Dante Daniels (Waukegan, Ill./Gurnee-Warren),
who was one of three running backs on the first team. Daniels was named
the all-purpose performer on the second team, which also included senior
offensive tackle Joe Freitag (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart-Griffin).
Senior Evan Haffner (Canton, Ill./Canton) was the third team punt returner
and an honorable mention selection at kick returner, and senior tight end
Shane Gordon (Abingdon, Ill./Abingdon) also received honorable mention.
WATCH THE SCOTS ON THE ’NET
For years, fans and parents have been asking “Is there any way we can
watch Monmouth College basketball and football games on the Internet when
we can’t get to them in person?”
Last weekend, the Midwest Conference provided an emphatic, “Yes!”
Through the conference’s agreement with media technology firm Penn
Atlantic, conference games in women’s and men’s basketball games will be
available online for the rest of the season. The webcasts, which started
last Friday, come at a perfect time for Scots’ fans, who might not be able
to make the long trip to the Wisconsin towns of De Pere and Beloit this
weekend, or to Lake Forest, Ill., next Tuesday night.
To follow the Scots on-line, the cost is $5.95 per game. The games can be
accessed at
www.midwestconference.tv.
Sports information co-director Dan Nolan, a veteran of 18 years of radio
broadcasting, handled the play-by-play duties for last weekend’s games
against Beloit and Ripon, with assistant softball coach John Goddard
serving as the analyst.
“This is a great service to be able to provide for the Fighting Scots
fans,” said Nolan. “The responses I've heard so far were very positive. I
was apprehensive about calling a game since it had been so long since I
had been on the air (seven years). Fortunately, we had four exciting games
that came down to the wire. The barn-burners helped me relax and just call
the game.”
Future home games are likely to be staffed by students involved with the
college’s MC-TV.
“I'm looking forward to our students taking over the webcasts, “ Nolan
added. “It will be a great learning experience for them while providing
excellent sports coverage for Monmouth fans around the world.”
Approximately 100 people around the nation tuned into the first set of MWC
webcasts last weekend, and the conference expects that number to rise as
word gets out to parents, alumni and fans.
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