KENOSHA, Wis. -- The No. 17-ranked Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team clinched at least a share of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) regular season title on Saturday, Feb. 17 with an 85-77 victory over Carthage College at Tarble Arena. Senior Rebekah Ehresman led the Titans with 21 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

With a win the Titans improved to 21-3 overall with a 14-1 record in CCIW play. Carthage fell to 17-7 with a 10-5 mark in the conference. Both teams have clinched spots in the CCIW postseason tournament with the Titans currently occupying the No. 1 seed with Carthage the No. 3.

With a win on Saturday the Titans clinched at least a share of the CCIW regular season conference title, the eighth in program history. Illinois Wesleyan was previously named the regular season champion in 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and in 2016. 2016 saw the Titans share that honor with Wheaton College, who currently sit one game back of the Titans heading into the final game of 2017. Illinois Wesleyan can clinch the outright league title for the first time since 2012 with a win over Elmhurst College on Tuesday.

Both sides were evenly matched shooting the ball on Saturday with the Titans finishing 30-of-71 (.423) from the floor opposed to a 28-of-67 (.418) performance by the Lady Reds. Illinois Wesleyan was successful from the charity stripe converting on 16-of-19 attempts which included and 8-for-8 performance from Ehresman.  IWU won the rebounding battle for the eight time in their last 10 games, hauling in 42 boards (12 offensive) to 39 for Carthage. The Titans won the turnover battle 16-12 while scoring 24 points off turnovers.

Following Ehresman's 21 points was fellow senior Molly McGraw who chipped in 19 alongside four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Other double figure scorers were junior's Maddie Merritt (12) and Ashley Schneider (10). Schneider matched Ehresman for the team-high in rebounds with nine in addition to two blocked shots. Freshman Sam Munroe tied for the game-high in assists with four off the bench.

A 3-pointer from Bailey Gilbert put the Titans in an early 13-point hole with three minutes remaining in the first quarter, but a an 11-0 run from the Titans cut the Lady Reds lead to 19-17 heading into the second quarter. With Carthage's lead back up to seven points the Titans went on a 14-0 run to take a 31-24 lead. Carthage battled back within two, but a lay-up from Ehresman gave Illinois Wesleyan a 39-35 edge at the break.

Morgan Harris briefly gave the Lady Reds a 52-51 lead with two minutes to play in the third quarter, but back-to-back baskets from freshman Raven Hughes gave the Titans back their momentum. A jumper from Merritt in the closing second of the third gave IWU a 59-57 advantage heading into the final quarter. Continuing from Merritt's jumper, the Titans went on a 10-0 run to force a Carthage timeout.

Midway through the fourth McGraw started to heat up, hitting a turnaround jumper followed by a four-point play to bring the Titan lead back up to 14. Carthage continued to battle back, cutting the Titan lead to as few as four, but Ehresman knocked down four consecutive free-throws to ice the game for IWU.

The Lady Reds were led in scoring by Madie Kaelber's 19. Five other members of the Carthage squad finished in double figures with 12 from Gilbert, 11 from Sammie Woodward, 11 from Autumn Kalis, 10 from Harris, and 10 from Rachel Szydlowski. Szydlowski led the team in rebounding with nine and Harris led the team in assists with four.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Illinois Wesleyan concludes their regular season with a game at fourth-place Elmhurst College at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20. A win over the Bluejays will give the Titans their first outright conference title since 2012, the year they also won the NCAA Division III national championship.

CCIW TOURNAMENTS: If the Illinois Wesleyan men and women both host the postseason CCIW tournaments, it would be the first time it has ever occurred ... The women's semifinals would be on Thursday (Feb. 22) and the men's semifinals would be on Friday (Feb. 23). Both title games would be Saturday (Feb. 24) with the women's game at 2 p.m. and the men's game at 7:30 p.m. ... The CCIW women's tournament has gone on for 15 seasons, started in 2003, while the men's tournament has taken place since 2006 (12 years) ... The women's tournament field is set with IWU, Wheaton, Carthage and Elmhurst ... The men's tournament field is also set with IWU, Augustana, North Central and Wheaton.