April 1, 2003
2002-03 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL REVIEW
2002-03 WBB REVIEW
In second season under
Second year head coach
Things weren’t easy as a scheduling quirk had them on the road for the last six regular season games. After beating North Central by a score of 60-58 on February 1, Black had his team at 11-5 overall and 6-2 in the CCIW. Augustana went 3-3 on the rugged road trip to end the regular season at 14-8 and 9-5. The 9-5 record tied the Vikings for third place in the conference standings and qualified for the inaugural CCIW tournament where they were defeated in the first round by eventual champion Illinois Wesleyan.
It was an historic season for the Blue & Gold as senior Melissa DeRycke (Kewanee Wethersfield HS, Kewanee, IL) became the first Augustana player since Keesha Brooks in 1993 to earn first team all-conference honors. The Vikings also picked up significant victories over Wheaton (68-67 on December 10 at home) and Millikin (57-51 on January 22 at home and 45-44 on February 5 in Decatur, Illinois). The Vikings had lost 12 straight games to Wheaton before nailing the Thunder for the first time since winning 71-68 in 1995-96. The double dip victories over Millikin were especially sweet because the Big Blue had won 18 straight over the Vikings before this year.
DeRycke enjoyed an outstanding season and she finished her career in second place on the school’s field goal percentage list. She had a mark of .538 (284-528) and trailed only the .559 (476-852) set by Keesha Brooks from 1990-93. DeRycke scored 7.8 points per game and led the team in rebounding with 6.4 per game. She also shot .537 (72-134) from the floor to lead the team in field goal percentage. However, this Augustana team had balance throughout its lineup, as evidenced by the fact that nine different players started and eight finished with at least 6.0 points per game.
Kristen Pence (Rochelle HS, Rochelle, IL) led the team in scoring for the second consecutive year. She averaged 11.9 points per game this year after averaging 11.6 as a freshman. Right behind her in scoring was senior Becky Ince (Kewanee Wethersfield HS, Kewanee, IL) at 8.4. Ince was a third team all-conference selection and then was chosen as the team’s Most Valuable Player in a vote of her teammates at the end of the season. She was also named the Vikings Best Defensive Player.
Junior point guard Kristin Romolo (Washington HS, Washington, IL) came very close to setting a new school record for single season assists. She finished the campaign with 111 assists, just one shy of the school record of 112 set by Diane Garrison in 1983-84.
Senior Christina Rathe (Lake Zurich HS, Lake Zurich, IL) finished her career in top 10 in both field goal and free throw percentage. She ended up seventh in career free throw percentage with a mark of .721 (235-326) and also seventh in career field goal percentage at .476 (221-464).
2003 AUGUSTANA SUPERLATIVES
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Becky Ince
BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER: Becky Ince
VIKING SPIRIT AWARD: Christina Rathe
TOP REBOUNDER: Melissa DeRycke
NEWCOMER OF THE Y
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Kristina Nelson
CCIW ALL-CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM: Melissa DeRycke
CCIW ALL-CONFERENCE THIRD TEAM: Becky Ince
CCIW ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE: Melissa DeRycke
2002-03 CCIW Women's Basketball
Final Conference Standings
|------CONFERENCE-------| |--------OVERALL--------|
STANDINGS W-L Pct PF PA W-L Pct PF PA
Illinois Wesleyan... 11-3 .786 69.5 56.4 20-9 .690 70.0 59.3
Carthage............ 10-4 .714 62.5 58.0 16-10 .615 63.6 62.6
Wheaton............. 9-5 .643 65.6 58.9 19-7 .731 67.2 56.5
Augustana........... 9-5 .643 65.0 62.6 14-9 .609 68.1 63.0
North Central....... 7-7 .500 57.6 55.6 11-13 .458 57.1 57.1
Millikin............ 6-8 .429 56.0 54.6 13-11 .542 56.9 56.3
North Park.......... 3-11 .214 55.2 63.8 8-16 .333 57.4 60.5
Elmhurst............ 1-13 .071 48.3 69.7 6-19 .240 51.6 66.2
CCIW TOURNAMENT
February 28 – March 1, 2003
Shirk Center – Illinois Wesleyan University – Bloomington, Illinois
February 28 – Semifinals
Illinois Wesleyan 68, Augustana 59
Wheaton 72, Carthage 71 (OT)
March 1 – Championship
Illinois Wesleyan 54, Wheaton 53
* - Illinois Wesleyan wins automatic berth into the NCAA Division III tournament
2002-03 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Women’s Basketball All-Conference Team
First Team
Player | School | Pos. | Ht. | Yr. | Hometown (High School) |
*Katie Cantrell | Illinois Wesleyan | F | 5-10 | Sr. | Bloomington, IL (Normal Community) |
*Britt Jensen | North Central | F | 6-1 | Jr. | Lake Geneva, WI (Badger) |
*Rachel Newman | Carthage | F | 6-0 | Jr. | Madison, WI (East) |
Sarah Clark | Wheaton | G | 5-4 | Jr. | Madison, MS (Jackson Academy) |
Melissa DeRycke | Augustana | C | 6-0 | Sr. | Kewanee, IL (Kewanee Wethersfield) |
Second Team
Player | School | Pos. | Ht. | Yr. | Hometown (High School) |
Jennifer Clum | Wheaton | F | 5-10 | Sr. | Wheaton, IL (Wheaton Academy) |
Elisa Ettner | Illinois Wesleyan | G | 5-6 | Sr. | Marengo, IL (Marengo) |
Elizabeth Fletcher | North Central | F | 6-1 | Sr. | Chicago, IL (Loyola Academy) |
Tiffany McCrackin | Carthage | G | 5-6 | So. | Bolingbrook, IL (Romeoville) |
Megan Slattery | North Park | F | 6-0 | Fr. | Wilmette, IL (New Trier) |
Third Team
Player | School | Pos. | Ht. | Yr. | Hometown (High School) |
Brooke Bailey | Illinois Wesleyan | F | 5-10 | Jr. | Byron, IL (Byron) |
Sarah Harris | Wheaton | F | 5-10 | Jr. | Wheaton, IL (Wheaton Academy) |
Becky Ince | Augustana | G | 5-8 | Sr. | Kewanee, IL (Kewanee Wethersfield) |
Jenny Olson | Carthage | G | 5-5 | Jr. | Shiocton, WI (Shiocton) |
Amy Stoltz | North Park | G | 5-4 | Sr. | Des Plaines, IL (Maine West) |
“Most Outstanding Player”
Katie Cantrell, Illinois Wesleyan University
“Coach of the Year”
Elaine Gonya, Carthage College
