BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team heads to Holland, Mich. for its second straight weekend tournament this Friday-Saturday, Nov. 17-18. There, the Titans will take on the University of Puget Sound Friday evening at 5:30 p.m. ET to begin the Hope Tipoff Tournament, and then either No. 21 ranked Hope College or John Carroll University Saturday, Nov. 18.
    Illinois Wesleyan rolls into the weekend with a 2-0 record following a pair of wins at the Cornell Classic, Nov. 11-12. IWU best host Cornell, 70-55, before knocking off Luther College, 87-79, Nov. 12. Puget Sound is level at 1-1 after splitting games at UW-Eau Claire, Nov. 10-11. The Loggers began the season with a 74-55 win over UW-EC, but fell to UW-Stout, Nov. 11, by a score of 72-59. Hope, which opened the season ranked No. 21 in the D3hoops.com Top-25, began the season with wins over Marian University, 90-48, and UW-Platteville, 75-59, Nov. 9-11. Rounding out the field, JCU holds a 2-0 mark ahead of the weekend. The Blue Streaks defeated Asbury, 70-44, and Alma, 60-48, at its home tournament, Nov. 10-11.
    Links on how to follow along can be found on the women's basketball schedule page of IWUsports.com.

LOCATION CHANGES & SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENTS: This weekend's tournament has undergone a few adjustments due to Hope hosting a NCAA volleyball regional this weekend alongside the four-team basketball tournament. Friday's games will now be played at West Ottawa High School, with IWU and Puget Sound tipping off at 5 p.m. ET. Saturday's games will be back in Devos Fieldhouse with the consolation game at 12:30 p.m. ET and the championship set for 2:30 p.m. ET.

TALE OF THE TAPE: Illinois Wesleyan holds a combined 2-2 record against this weekend's competition. The Titans are 2-0 against Puget Sound, with both victories coming in Tacoma, Wash. Most recently, IWU downed PS, 83-72, Dec. 18, 2015. The Green and White trails in the all-time series with Hope, having dropped each of the previous two bouts. Illinois Wesleyan could not overcome a shaky start in a 99-73 loss to the Flying Dutch in last year's Hope Tournament. Meanwhile, IWU and John Carroll have never met on the hardwood.

MILESTONE TRACKER: With 58 games played in her IWU career, Lauren Huber is just 90 points away from joining the 1000-point club. Huber scored 367 points as a freshman 505 as a sophomore, and now 38 this season to put her career total of 872. Additionally, the junior is just 28 rebounds away from 500 for her career, as she currently has 472 boards through 58 career games.

THE DEAN OF THE CCIW: The 2023-24 season marks the 26th year under the direction of Mia Smith, the longest tenured coach in the CCIW. Smith's 476 wins are the most among active CCIW coaches by more than 150. Additionally, Smith's CCIW wins are the second-most in league history.
    Under the tutelage of Smith, IWU has won 10 CCIW Championships and made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Titans won the 2012 NCAA Division III Championship following a fourth-place finish in 2011.

ALL-TOURNAMENT PICKS: Illinois Wesleyan was the lone team with two players on the Cornell Classic All-Tournament team, as Ava Bardic and Lauren Huber garnered the distinction.  Bardic made a team-high seven three-pointers and averaged 17.0 points and 3.5 assists per game over the two-game stretch, while Huber went for 19 points and 8.5 rebounds per contests.

LONG DISTANCE LOVE: WIth two games complete, Illinois Wesleyan has shown a new-found love from beyond the arc. In fact, IWU is shooting 50 percent from three-point range this season, the third-best clip in all of Division III. Sawyer White is seventh individually at 75 percent, while Mallory Powers' 71.4 clip is 13th-best nationally. Ava Bardic is 35th across Division III at 60 percent, while the trio at 1-2-3 in the CCIW statistical rankings.

CAPTAINS CALL: Lauren Huber, Caite Knutson, Kate Palmer, and Mallory Powers will serve as the captains for the Titans this season. Huber will lead IWU in the role for the second straight year, while Knutson, Palmer, and Powers garner the role for the first time.

PRESEASON PRAISE: Junior Lauren Huber was recognized as a Preseason All-American by D3hoops.com ahead of the 2023-24 season. A Fifth Team honoree, Huber was one of two CCIW players named to the 25-player list.

THE 53rd YEAR OF IWU WOMEN'S HOOPS: Illinois Wesleyan, now in its 53rd year of women's basketball, has compiled a 709-500 overall record. IWU's .591 all-time win percentage includes a 335-201 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin mark.

MEET THE NEWCOMERS: Illinois Wesleyan ushers in four freshmen as part of the incoming class as Sophia Feeney, Ellie Cahill, Anna Beyers, and Liv Meyers all enter their first collegiate season.
Feeney, a two-sport athlete for IWU, is a local product. The 5-foot-6 guard was a three-year starter at point guard, where she racked up all-conference, all-area, and other accolades in both volleyball and basketball at Normal Community.
Cahill, an accomplished prep athlete, graduated from Eureka, where she is the all-time leading points scorer. A nursing major at Illinois Wesleyan, Cahill was a four-year starter at guard and garnered all-state, all-area, and all-conference honors throughout her career.
A native of Pana, Ill., Beyers was a three-year start at Pana High School She was named the team's MVP as a senior and helped the team to a third-place finish in the 2A state tournament.
Meyers comes to IWU after a strong career at Elmwood High School. A four-year three-sport athlete, Meyers was a multiple time all-conference pick and also garnered all-state honors.

PRAIRIE STAR TURNED TITAN: Ava Bardic is the lone transfer in IWU's incoming class, joining the Titans by way of Illinois-Springfield. Bardic, a product of Stevenson High School, earned Great Lakes Valley Conference All-Freshman Team honors for the Division II Prairie Stars. She made 42 three-pointers, the most of any freshman in the league, and had the third-highest scoring average of GLVC freshmen at 11.1 ppg.

STAT STUFFERS RETURN: Illinois Wesleyan returns 78 percent of its scoring (1509-of-1940 points) from a season ago, including leading scorer Lauren Huber (18.7 ppg), Mallory Powers (10.4 ppg), Kate Plamer (9.8 ppg), and Caite Knutson (9.5 ppg). In all, IWU welcomes back five of its top six scorers. Additionally the Titans have Powers coming back from a season that saw injury limited her to just 11 games.
    On the glass, the Green and White sees 79 percent of last years production back in 2023-24. Returners accounted for 838 of IWU's 1094 rebounds last season, with Huber pacing the team with 10.2 caroms per contest.

TWO-SPORT STARS: Freshman Sophia Feeney and sophomore Sawyer White continue IWU's history of two-sport athletes. Feeney is a setter on IWU's volleyball team, while White is a Second Team All-CCIW honoree for the women's soccer squad.

CCIW PRESEASON POLL: Illinois Wesleyan was picked to finish second in an annual survey of the CCIW coaches as the league announced its preseason poll, Oct. 23. The Titans received  54 points.
Millikin topped the poll with eight first-place votes and 64 points, with Carroll coming in third. The Pioneers received one first-place nod and finished with 52 points. Wheaton ranked fourth (43 points), followed by Augustana (35), and Carthage (26). North Park (24), Elmhurst (14), and North Central (12) rounded out the poll.

HALF OF THE ALL-CCIW DUO RETURNS: Illinois Wesleyan saw Lauren Huber and Katelyn Heller reel in All-CCIW honors last season. Huber, a conference player of the year candidate, was a First Team pick, while Heller hauled in Second Team status.
Huber topped the Titans in scoring at 18.7 points per game and finished her double-double average with 10.2 rebounds a game.

HOME GROWN: For the second straight season, the Titans boast a fully-Illinois bred roster. This is just the fourth time since 2012-13 IWU has had a roster without any out-of-state players.

ON THE HORIZON: The Titans welcome UW-Whitewater to the Shirk Center Tuesday night, Nov. 21, for the Green and White's home opener. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.