BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The first of two trips to Wisconsin sends the 13th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team to Carthage College Wednesday, Jan. 21, for a midweek College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin clash. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. inside Tarble Arena.
    Illinois Wesleyan enters the week sporting a 12-4 overall record, highlighted by its 7-0 CCIW compilation. The Titans most recently overcame a 13-point deficit to knock off Wheaton College, 77-71, Jan. 17. Carthage carries an 8-8 record into Wednesday night and sits at 2-5 in league play. The Firebirds have won four of their last six outings, but host IWU eyeing a bounce back from a 77-67 loss at Millikin University, Jan. 17.
    Matt Sosler will call the action in an audio only broadcast on the CCIW Network, while the game will broadcast on Marquee Sports Network. Additionally, live stats will also be provided. Links can be found on the women's basketball schedule page of IWUsports.com.
20/20 VISION: Illinois Wesleyan's win at Wheaton, Jan. 17, featured 20-point performances from seniors Ava Bardic and Sawyer White. Bardic posted a game-high 26 points and White added 25. It is the first time two Titans have eclipsed 20 points in the same game since last season's CCIW Tournament Championship. In that game Lauren Huber scored 28 and Mallory Powers went for 22 to lead IWU to the league title March 1, 2025.
FACING THE FIREBIRDS: Illinois Wesleyan and Carthage have met on the hardwood 82 times ahead of Wednesday's CCIW clash with IWU holding a 53-29 lead in the all-time series. The Titans have won 18 of the last 19 against the Firebirds.
    Illinois Wesleyan won last season's initial meeting, 63-42, inside the Shirk Center, Jan. 15. Lauren Huber led the Titans with 15 points and seven rebounds, with Kate Palmer tacking on 10 points and seven boards. IWU rode a 39-17 halftime lead to the win in a low scoring affair. The Firebirds got payback with an 87-81 win over the Titans, Feb. 8, in Tarble Arena. The outcome snapped IWU's season-opening 20-game win streak.
CARDIAC KIDS: Since the start of the 2008-09 season, Illinois Wesleyan has posted 31 wins after trailing by 10-or-more points. The most recent comeback came against Wheaton, Jan. 17, as IWU overcame a 13-point third-quarter deficit to win, 77-71.
UPPING THE ANTY: Illinois Wesleyan has taken its play to another level through six league games, jolting out to a 7-0 start to CCIW play. The Titans are connecting on 42.9 percent of their shots (201-of-469) and have gone 49-for-156 from beyond the arc (31.4 percent) while averaging 77.9 points per game. IWU's offensive output has been far more productive with a nearly three percent increase in both overall field goal percentage and three-point scoring. Meanwhile, the Green and White is averaging almost seven more points per game. Illinois Wesleyan has scored 70+ points in every contest and has eclipsed 80 points twice.
GIVE & TAKE: Through 16 games, Sawyer White has thrived as a facilitator while also feasting on opposing ball handlers. White has dished out 76 assists on the year, a number that ranks 14th across Division III. On the other end of the floor, White has swiped a CCIW-best 60 steals. Her thefts are 12nd-most nationally.
    White's exceptional all-around play puts her in limited company as one of four Division III women's basketball players nationally to rank in the top-20 in both assists and steals. She joins Brookyln's Brianna Johnson (steals -10th & assists 3rd), Penn-State Abington's Amina Reed (steals - 11th & assists - 6th), and Penn College's Breana Valentine (steals - 14th & assists - 10th).
NOBODY HAS WON MORE: In her 28-year career at the helm of Illinois Wesleyan women's hoops, Mia Smith has won more CCIW games than any women's basketball coach in league history. Smith notched the 296th CCIW win of her career with Illinois Wesleyan's 85-52 win over Carroll, Jan. 3, taking sole possession of the top spot in conference history.
    With 299 wins to 95 losses in conference contests, Smith sits ahead of Millikin's Lori Kerans (295) for the title of all-time winningest coach in CCIW history.
Overall, Kerans holds the all-time record for wins with 556 in her 32-year career, as Smith lurks close behind with 537.
SHE TOOK IT: Senior Sawyer White snatched her 297th career steal six minutes into Illinois Wesleyan's game against Wisconsin Lutheran, Dec. 29, breaking the program's all-time steals record. White overtook the top spot on the all-time list as she surpassed Rebekah Ehresman, who accrued 296 during her outstanding career as a Titan from 2014-2018. This season, White has amassed 60 thefts, good for 12th-most in Division III this season as of Jan. 20.
    In the CCIW, White sits 93 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 322 career thefts ranked eighth-most among active women's basketball players across Division I, II, and III. She has the second-most steals to her name of any current NCAA Division III student-athlete, trailing only Hunter's Alexa Charles.
POLLING PLACE: Illinois Wesleyan remains in the national polls midway through the season. The Titans are 13th in the D3hoops.com Top-25 and tied for 15th in the WBCA poll.
  IWU is one of two College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin teams featured in both polls, as Carroll is 20th in the D3hoops rankings and 24th in the WBCA poll.
THE 55TH YEAR OF IWU WOMEN'S HOOPS: Illinois Wesleyan is in its 55th year of women's basketball and has compiled a 770-512 overall record. IWU's .600 all-time win percentage includes a 370-204 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin mark.
ON THE HORIZON: Illinois Wesleyan returns to the state of Wisconsin this weekend as the Green and White travels to Van Male Fieldhouse Saturday, Jan. 24. Tipoff against No. 20 Carroll is set for 2 p.m. and will be the first installment of a doubleheader with the IWU men's basketball team.
