BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - With final exams wrapped up and winter break underway, the 13th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team dips back into College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play Saturday, Dec. 13, at Elmhurst University. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. inside R.A. Faganel Hall and will kickoff a doubleheader with the IWU men's basketball team.
    Illinois Wesleyan makes the trip to the suburbs sporting a 6-2 overall record. The Titans sit tied atop of the league standing at 2-0 alongside Elmhurst and No. 14 Carroll University. IWU posted conference wins at Augustana College and at North Central College, Dec. 3-6. The Green and White most recently took down NCC, 75-66, at Gregory Arena, Dec. 6. Elmhurst has enjoyed a strong start to the season and enters the weekend 4-2 on the year. The Bluejays' 2-0 CCIW mark includes wins over Millikin University and Wheaton College. EU  has won back-to-back games including an 80-53 blowout against WC, Dec. 6.
    A live stream and live stats of each contest will be available on the women's basketball page of iwusports.com.

THE DEAN OF THE CCIW: In her 28-year career at the helm of Illinois Wesleyan women's hoops, Mia Smith ranks second all-time in CCIW victories but is closing in on the top spot. With 294 wins to 95 losses in conference contests, Smith needs just two league victories to surpass Millikin's Lori Kerans and overtake the title of all-time winningest coach in CCIW history. With a win Saturday, Smith woud tie Kerans' mark of 295 CCIW victories.
    Overall, Kerans holds the all-time record for wins with 556 in her 32-year career, as Smith lurks close behind with 531.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Mia Smith and staff signed a key transfer earlier this week as Leah Palmer announced she was joining the Titans following the fall semester. Palmer, the younger sister of former IWU standout Kate Palmer, comes to Illinois Wesleyan as a redshirt freshman following one and a half years at NCAA Division II Lewis University.
The Geneva, Ill. native was a four-year letterwinner at Geneva High School, where she scored 1731 career points and pulled in 711 career rebounds. She was an all-state pick as a senior and averaged 21.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.5 steals per game at GHS.

TURNING UP A NOTCH: Since conference play got underway Dec. 3, senior Ava Bardic has taken her play to another level. The Lincolnshire, Ill. native is averaging 24.5 points per game through two CCIW contests. She has connected on 44.4 percent of her shots (12-of-27) and 78.6 of her free throws (22-of-28). Bardic's elusiveness and shifty ballhandling has seen the senior convert 9-of-12 shots inside the arc.
Bardic's 24.5 points per game lead the CCIW in league play, while her 4.5 steals per game are second-most.

LIGHT WORK FOR LEYDEN: Freshman Caitlin Leyden registered the third double-double of her young career Saturday, Dec. 6, at North Central. Leyden hauled in a team-high 10 rebounds alongside 18 points to help lead IWU past NCC. Leyden's three double-doubles are second-most in the conference trailing only North Central's Jocelyn Trotter (4). Meanwhile, they are third-most by a freshman in NCAA Division III this season. Howard Payne's Caitlyn Parsons (5) and SUNY Canton's Kate Grainger (4) lead the rookie double-double list, while Leyden is one of five freshman with three-or-more this season.

WE'LL TAKE THAT: Saturday's road win at North Central saw Illinois Wesleyan's high-pressure defense cause the Cardinals fits. NCC turned the ball over 29 times, the most by the Cardinals since the 2019-20 season. That year, IWU forced NCC into 31 turnovers in a 90-63 victory Feb. 19, 2020. Futhermore, North Central's 29 miscues marked the first time this season it had turned it over 20+ times.

SHE'LL STILL TAKE THAT: Senior Sawyer White, who has been equally as well-known for her bench griddy celebration, was originally made famous for wreaking havoc on the defensive end throughout her Titan career. With 288 steals in her career, White needs just nine to surpass current all-time steals leader Rebekah Ehresman, who accrued 296 during her outstanding career as a Titan from 2014-2018. White ranks second on the all-time steals list, ahead of Sydney Shanks (233). Her sophomore season, White set the program's single season steals record with 112 takeaways.
In the CCIW, White sits 116 steals behind Millikin's Jennifer Falbe, who had 404 takeaways in her career as a Big Blue from 1996-2000. In White's sophomore season, she set a single season steals record with 112, which ranks second all-time in a single season in league history.
    Moreover, White's 288 career thefts ranked eighth-most among active women's basketball players across Division I, II, and III. She has the second-most steals to hear name of any current NCAA Division III student-athlete, trailing only Hunter's Alexa Charles.

BATTLING THE BLUEJAYS: Saturday's CCIW clash will mark the 86th all-time meeting between Illinois Wesleyan and Elmhurst since the two first tangled during the 1981-82 campaign. The Titans own a 69-16 edge in the all-time series and have won 17 straight against Elmhurst. Additionally, IWU is 51-6 against EU under Mia Smith.
    Last season, the Titans swept the regular season. After blowing by the Bluejays, 93-56, Dec. 14, 2024 in Bloomington, IWU escaped Elmhurst with a narrow win Feb. 1, 2025. The Green and White held off a fourth-quarter comeback from EU to earn a 64-61 win. Ava Bardic put up 26 points on an incredibly efficient shooting performance, while Lauren Huber posted a 17-point, 16-rebound double-double.

THE 55TH YEAR OF IWU WOMEN'S HOOPS: Illinois Wesleyan is in its 55th year of women's basketball and has compiled a 764-510 overall record. IWU's .599 all-time win percentage includes a 365-204 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin mark.

POLLING PLACE: Illinois Wesleyan remains in the national polls through the first few weeks of the 2025-26 season. The Titans are 13th in the D3hoops.com Top-25 and No. 16 in the WBCA poll.
    IWU is one of two College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin team featured in both polls, as  Carroll is 14th in the D3hoops rankings and tied for 22nd in the WBCA poll.

ON THE HORIZON: The Titans take a break from conference play and kickoff a three-game non-conference stretch Tuesday, Dec. 16, with a trip to the University of Chicago. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at the Ratner Athletic Complex and will see Mia Smith go up against IWU graduate and UC head coach Michelle Gardner-Bilek.