BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The final stop on its season-opening eight-game roadtrip sees the No. 23/24 Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball kick off College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play at North Central College Wednesday night, Dec. 4. Tipoff between the Titans and Cardinals is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside Gregory Arena.
Illinois Wesleyan heads into league play with a 5-2 overall record, most recently splitting a pair of games at the Midwest Challenge, Nov. 30-Dec. 1. North Central has compiled a 3-3 record on the year and will close out a five-game homestand when NCC hosts IWU Wednesday night. Most recently, NCC dropped a 70-56 home game to Benedictine, Nov. 26.
Links on how to follow the Titans' CCIW opener can be found on the women's basketball schedule page of IWUsports.com.
TITAN COACHES SHOW IS BACK!: Fans can catch Illinois Wesleyan Head Basketball Coaches Ron Rose and Mia Smith on the weekly Titan Coaches Show every Thursday night at 7 p.m. hosted by Legends Sports Bar and Grill located at 712 S. Eldorado Rd. in Bloomington. Those unable to attend the weekly talk can listen in on 98.3 FM WEXG.
WHAT A RUN: Illinois Wesleyan found itself down by 11 in the first period of play against DePauw, Dec. 1, in the Midwest Challenge Championship. The Titans battled back behind a 19-0 run that spanned nine minutes and 34 seconds across the first and second quarters. IWU benefited from buckets by five different players throughout the stretch and Kaia Bowen, Sydney Shanks, Brooke Lansford, Sam Munroe, and Riley Brovelli all knocked down shots for the Titans.
FRESHMEN FIRSTS: Freshmen Kelly Carlson and Hannah Smith worked their way onto the box score in IWU's rout of Rose Hulman, Nov. 30. Carlson scored the first basket of her career and grabbed four rebounds in seven minutes, while Smith pulled down two rebounds in nine minutes.
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT: IWU opened up the Midwest Challenge with a 68-34 throttling of Rose Hulman, Nov. 30. The Titans led the Fightin' Engineers from beginning to end, going up by as many as 38 in the fourth quarter. Illinois Wesleyan's 34-point victory is its largest win margin of the year and marks the most lopsided victory for IWU since topping North Park, 97-52, Jan. 23, 2019.
CCIW OPENERS: IWU has won four straight conference openers and will look to make it five in-a-row at North Central, Dec. 4. Illinois Wesleyan has started off the conference season off with wins against Carthage (2018-19 & 2017-18), North Central (2016-17), and Elmhurst (2015-16).
The Titans last CCIW opening loss came at North Central Jan. 3, 2015, when IWU was tripped up, 59-56.
ALL-TIME AGAINST THE CARDINALS: Wednesday's CCIW opener between the Titans and Cardinals will serve as the 76th chapter in a history that dates back 40 years. Despite North Central winning the first seven showdowns, including an 81-76 win in the initial meeting in 1979, Illinois Wesleyan leads the all-time series 46-29. Additionally, IWU is 34-10 against NCC under the direction of Mia Smith.
The Titans swept the Cardinals last season, defeating NCC 82-77 in Bloomington, Jan. 16, before completing the season sweep 78-68 in Naperville, Feb. 13.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: IWU went 2-0 against NCC in 2018-19, but will have to find a new recipe for success against the Cardinals this season. Illinois Wesleyan returns just 38 percent of its scoring from its wins over North Central last year, while the Cardinals bring back 75 percent of their buckets scored against IWU.
SCOUTING REPORT - NORTH CENTRAL: North Central heads into league play with a 3-3 overall record under second-year head coach Maggie McCloskey-Bax. The Cardinals finished last season with a 7-18 record (5-11 CCIW), but return an experienced core of players.
Alana Newsome and Allison Pearson pace the Cardinals offensively, averaging 13.3 and 13.8 points per game, respectively. The duo has combined for 21 of the team's 38 three-pointers, while Hadyn Braun is the only other Cardinal with more than three triples on the season. Lyndsay Brennan averages a team-best 5.7 rebounds to go along with 9.8 ppg.
As a team, North Central is shooting 36.3 percent from the floor and 31.4 from long range. The Cardinals have been strong at the free throw line, converting on 74.6 attempts, with three starters shooting better than 70 percent at the charity stripe.
BOUNCE BACK: When IWU hits the floor Wednesday, the Titans will look to bounce back from a heartbreaking loss to No. 11 DePauw in the Midwest Challenge Championship. In the past 60 games dating back to the 2017-18 season, Illinois Wesleyan has not lost back-to-back contests. The last time IWU came up short in two straight tilts was Nov. 21-26, 2017. The Titans dropped a 62-60 road game at UW-Whitewater before suffering a setback at the hands of WashU in their first game of the Midwest Challenge.
TITAN TRIO: Kendall Sosa, Sydney Shanks, and Riley Brovelli have been a three-headed monster for IWU's opposition so far this season. In fact, the trio are all ranked inside the CCIW top-15 in scoring. Sosa leads the league at 20.9 points a game, while Shanks sits seventh (13.9) and Brovelli is 15th (11.1).
Moreover, Illinois Wesleyan and Carthage are the only teams in the league with three players inside the conference's top-15.
DOUBLE THE POLLS: For the second straight week, Illinois Wesleyan finds itself ranked inside the D3hoops.com and Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top-25 polls. The Titans are slotted No. 23 in the D3hoops poll and sit 24th in the WBCA Coaches' Poll.
THE 49TH YEAR OF IWU WOMEN'S HOOPS: Illinois Wesleyan, now in its 49th year of women's basketball, has compiled a 648-468 overall record. IWU's .580 all-time win percentage includes a 295-185 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin mark.
THE DEAN OF THE CCIW: The 2019-20 season marks the 22nd year under the direction of Mia Smith, the longest tenured coach in the CCIW. Smith's 416 wins are the most among active CCIW coaches by more than 150. Additionally, Smith's 224 CCIW wins are the third-most in league history.
Under the tutelage of Smith, IWU has won eight CCIW Championships and made nine NCAA Tournament appearances. The Titans won the 2012 NCAA Division III Championship following a fourth-place finish in 2011.
CCIW PRESEASON PREDICTIONS: Illinois Wesleyan was predicted to finish second in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Preseason Coaches' Poll announced by the league office Wednesday, Oct. 30.
Wheaton enters the season as preseason favorites, having garnered 64 points and eight first place votes after winning their fourth title in the last five years last season. IWU came in second in the coaches' poll with 55 points and one first place vote. The Titans have won eight conference titles in program history, all under the direction of head coach Mia Smith. Illinois Wesleyan placed 22nd in the final D3hoops.com Top-25 at the end of last season.
Carthage earned 52 points, finishing third in the poll, followed by North Park and Augustana in fourth and fifth, respectively. North Central is slotted sixth with 29 points, with Elmhurst, Millikin, and Carroll rounding out the poll.
ON THE HORIZON: IWU will play inside the Shirk Center for the first time this season Saturday, Dec. 7, when the Titans host the Lady Reds of Carthage College in CCIW action. The Illinois Wesleyan-Carthage clash with serve as the first leg of a doubleheader with the IWU men's basketball team and will tipoff on the heels of the IWU track and field team's Titan Opener.
