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2024 CCIW Women's Basketball Regular Season Champions
Kodiak Creative
77
North Central (IL) NCC 12-13,7-9 CCIW
94
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 21-4,14-2 CCIW
North Central (IL) NCC
12-13,7-9 CCIW
77
Final
94
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
21-4,14-2 CCIW
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
North Central (IL) NCC 17 18 16 26 77
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 24 25 28 17 94

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Women’s Hoops Claims CCIW Regular Season Title, No. 1 Seed in Tournament

Titans will host semifinal and championship rounds of league tournament, Feb. 22-24

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team took down North Central College, 94-77, Saturday, Feb. 17, inside the Shirk Center in its regular season finale to claim the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Regular Season Championship. It is the 10th regular season championship in program history for IWU, as well as the first since 2022.

The Titans (21-4) share the league title with Carrroll University as both teams finished the year with a 14-2 CCIW record. As a result of IWU sweeping the regular season series against CU, Illinois Wesleyan will serve as host to next week's CCIW Tournament. Semifinal games will be played Thursday, Feb. 22, at 5 and 7:15 p.m., while the championship game is slated for 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24.

Junior Lauren Huber (Lombard, Ill.-Glenbard East) led the Titans with a 24-point, 11-rebound double-double, while also adding in a trio of assists. She was one of five players in double figures for IWU as juniors Mallory Powers (Amboy, Ill.-Amboy), Caite Knutson (Maryville, Ill.-Collinsville), Kate Palmer (Geneva, Ill.-Geneva), and sophomore Ava Bardic (Lincolnshire, Ill.-Stevenson) posted 10+ points. Powers finished with 14 points, eight boards, and tied for the game-high with three steals. Knutson tallied 12 points off the bench on 4-of-6 shooting, with Palmer and Bardic adding 11 points apiece. Bardic and Knutson tied for the team lead with four assists each. 

North Central led for much of the first half, before White and Knutson sparked Illinois Wesleyan. White hit a jumper before Knutson's bucket trimmed the deficit to two, 9-7, at the 4:54 media timeout.

Feeding off the energy from a heady defensive deflection from Knutson, Powers pulled the Titans within one, 13-12, on a putback. Free throws from Knutson and Powers gave IWU its first lead of the day, 16-15, with 1:47 remaining in the period. IWU went on to close the quarter on an 8-2 run that featured three buckets from Huber and a layup from Knutson to carry a 24-17 advantage into the second stanza.

Three-pointers from Powers, Palmer, and sophomore Sara Balli (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) helped the Green and White stretch its lead to as many as 19 over the next 10 minutes.

Coming out of halftime leading 49-35, the Titans kept their foot on the gas en route to the 94-77 victory as IWU celebrated seniors Launi Chanthanboury (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles North), Megan Moody (Gibson City, Ill.-Gibson City/Mevlin-Sibley), Taylor Tarver (Oswego, Ill.-Oswego East), and Emma Kornak (Geneva, Ill.-Geneva).

As the top-seed in next week's tournament, Illinois Wesleyan will have to await the results of the quarterfinal round. Fourth-seeded North Central College will play host to No. 5 seed Augustana College, while No. 3 seed Millikin University will host sixth-seeded Elmhurst University Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. Full details on next week's CCIW Tournament can be found by clicking here.


 
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