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2025 CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament Champions
Kodiak Creative
86
Carroll (WI) CAR 18-9,12-4 CCIW
95
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 26-1,15-1 CCIW
Carroll (WI) CAR
18-9,12-4 CCIW
86
Final
95
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
26-1,15-1 CCIW
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Carroll (WI) CAR 12 24 16 34 86
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 23 25 19 28 95

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Women’s Hoops Wins CCIW Tournament Title

NCAA selection show set for Monday, March 3, at 2:30 p.m. ET

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The third-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team captured the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament Championship Saturday night, March 1, with a 95-86 win over second-seeded Carroll University inside the Shirk Center. With the win, the Titans move to 26-1 on the season and earn the CCIW's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the 11th conference tournament title in program history. The Pioneers close the season with a 18-9 record.

Senior Lauren Huber (Lombard, Ill.-Glenbard East) popped off for a season-high 28 points alongside a game-high 11 rebounds. Senior Mallory Powers (Amboy, Ill.-Amboy) added 22 points, aided by four three-pointers, as she moved within three points of 1000 for her career. The catalyst for the Green and White in the early goings, junior Sawyer White (Downers Grove, Ill.-Montini Catholic) tallied 17 points with a team-high three steals. Junior Ava Bardic (Lincolnshire, Ill.-Stevenson) also finished in double figures, notching 13 points.

Prior to the game, juniors Martha Lipic (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) and Payton Jacob (St. Joseph, Ill.-St. Joseph-Ogden) were recognized as the co-recipients of the CCIW Elite 26 Award. Modeled after the NCAA's Elite 90 Award, the honor is awarded to the sophomore, junior, or senior student-athlete(s) with the highest grade point average competing in the conference tournament championship. 

Illinois Wesleyan was incredibly efficient from the field, knocking down 34-of-63 shot attempts for a 54.0 clip. The Titans went 9-of-26 from distance and 18-of-25 from the free throw line. Carroll rebounded from a slow start to finish 28-of-58 from the field (48.3 percent), but went just 3-for-16 from beyond the arc (18.8 percent). CU took advantage of 29 free throw attempts, making 27.

Illinois Wesleyan corralled leads in points off turnovers (23-16), fastbreak scoring (15-13), and won the turnover battle, 18-15. The Titans finished with five blocks, with Powers posting a career-high four rejections. Carroll notched advantages in points in the paint (48-42), second-chance scoring (11-6) , and rebounding (31-30).

White powered IWU early, hitting a drive and a three-pointer to push IWU ahead, 5-4. The junior point guard forced a CU miscue, firing up the Titan crowd before Huber hit a bucket to keep the run going. 

Huber later drew a charge to give the Green and White a 14-10 edge into the first media. Out of the break, Bardic, White, and Huber came through with buckets to double up the Pioneers, 20-10. 

Carroll clawed back in the second quarter, cutting the lead to single digits and even a one possession game, but White found junior Sara Balli (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Lake Park) for a corner triple to push the lead to six, 30-24. Senior Caite Knutson (Maryville, Ill.-Collinsville) followed with an assist to Huber.

After stout defense from Balli and Bardic forced a jump ball, Powers drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key. Huber's late shot clock bucket reclaimed a double-digit Titan lead moments later. 

Knutson closed the half with a heady pass to Palmer for a bucket and then stepped in for a charge on the defensive end to set up another three-pointer by Powers. Corralling the ball beyond the arc, Powers took a jab step and then let a three-ball fly to send the Titans into the break with a 48-36 advantage.

Illinois Wesleyan weathered a few Carroll three-pointers in the third, but Palmer drilled a deep trey with the shot clock winding down to keep the home team in front, 63-50. After White knocked down a pullup jumper, Powers converted a tough baseline jumper late in the shot clock as IWU carried a 67-52 lead into the final 10 minutes.

The Titans stretched the lead to as many as 19 in the fourth quarter, but the Pioneers put on the full-court press late to try and spark a comeback. Ultimately, it was not enough to slow the Green and White as Illinois Wesleyan wrapped up the 95-86 victory.

IWU advances to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the second straight year and will learn its postseason path Monday, March 3. The NCAA selection show is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET and will air on ncaa.com.

 
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