Wheaton sweeps weekly awards
Wheaton earned both of this week's College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin basketball player of the week awards.
With the men's and women's teams having successful runs on the west coast, junior guard Kent Raymond won the conference men's player of the week award, while sophomore guard Sarah Jones (Wheaton Academy) took the prize for the women.
Raymond averaged 28 points, 7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in leading the 15th-ranked Thunder (10-1) to a 2-0 record at last week's Caltech Holiday Classic.
He scored 22 point in Wheaton's 78-52 win over Dickinson College last Monday and then hit 34 points, including six 3-pointers, on Wednesday in a 72-65 overtime win against River College. The All-American scored the final 7 points in the overtime. Raymond also collected 10 rebounds and had 5 assists.
Wheaton will host Carthage at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the CCIW opener.
Jones helped lead Wheaton women (8-3) to a pair of victories last week, averaging 19 points and shooting 73.9 percent from the field. She was also 4-for-7 from 3-point range.
In a 73-66 win at Chapman University last Thursday, Jones scored a career-high 21 points, with a 10-for-14 effort from the field. She scored 17 points in the second half to help the Thunder rally from a 15-point halftime deficit.
The Chapman win marked Beth Baker's 400th career victory as Wheaton's coach.
Jones then scored a game-high 17 points to help the Thunder (8-3) to a 69-41 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
The Thunder women will open CCIW play tonight at Elmhurst.
DuPage: While guard Tim Niles continues to show why he is an All-American, Chaparrals coach Don Klaas also leans heavily on two other team leaders -- Ryan Tyszkiewicz (Willowbrook) and Otis Scarver (Naperville North).
"These three are my returning starters from last year's team," Klaas said. "All three are solid, good kids and the relationship I have with them is the reason I stay in coaching. It is what makes coaching fun."
In recent action, DuPage downed Morton College 68-56 last Friday and for the first time in 10 years, the Chaps defeated Sauk Valley Community College 82-61 the following day.
Scarver and John Shodipo (Lisle) each tallied 12 points to share the scoring lead in the Morton game.
Niles led the scoring with 19 points in the Sauk Valley win. Robert Odumuyiwa (Downers Grove South) was also outstanding with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
COD will play at South Suburban College today and then will host Kennedy King on Thursday.
Benedictine: Prior to last Saturday's 75-52 win over Concordia, Benedictine senior center Tamika Curtis was honored for breaking the Eagles' school scoring record at Elmhurst earlier in the week.
On Saturday Curtis had game highs of 24 points, 19 rebounds and 4 blocked shots to key the Eagles' win. Benedictine is now 4-7 overall and 2-3 in the Northern Athletics Conference.
Men's basketball: Junior guard Jared Bailey scored 33 points, including four 3-pointers in a losing effort as the Benedictine men's team lost 82-72 to 14th-ranked Elmhurst last Wednesday. Bailey, who shot 12-for-16 from the field, also had a team-leading 4 assists and 3 steals.
North Central: The men's basketball team hopes to have injured top scorer and rebounder Chris Drennan back for Wednesday's CCIW opener against Illinois Wesleyan.
In five contests, all Cardinals victories, Drennan a 6-foot-5 junior forward, was averaging 18.8 points and 8 rebounds.
In Drennan's absence North Central went 1-5 but transfers Matt Rogers and Jeremy Williams picked up some of the scoring slack. Rogers is averaging 18.5 points, while Williams is averaging 11.3.