BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The 14th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University women's basketball team travels across state lines to Van Male Fieldhouse on the campus of Carroll University for the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament this weekend. The semifinals will take place Friday, Feb. 27, with IWU taking on No. 3 seed Carthage College at 5 p.m. Top-seeded Carroll and sixth-seeded Wheaton College will battle in the 7:30 p.m. bout. The championship contest is set for a 7 p.m. tipoff Saturday, Feb. 28.
    The Green and White enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed, earning a bye into the semis. Illinois Wesleyan holds a 20-5 overall record, most recently downing Augustana College, 86-68, Feb. 21. Carthage, winners of three of its last four, punched its ticket in the semifinal with an 80-77 triumph over fifth-seeded Elmhurst University in the quarterfinals, Feb. 24. The Firebirds travel to in-state rival CU sporting a 15-11 record.
    Matt Sosler will have an audio-only broadcast from Waukesha, while the games will also be live streamed on the CCIW Network. Links to the both broadcasts as well as live stats can be found on the women's basketball schedule page of IWUsports.com.

CHAMPS AGAIN!: With its win over Augustana, Feb. 21, Illinois Wesleyan claimed a share of the CCIW Regular Season Championship. Completing the league slate with a 15-1 record, the Titans tied Carroll for the title. It is the program's 12th league championship.

DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I'M FEELING 22: The final CCIW Player of the Week award came the way of Ava Bardic, Feb. 24, as the senior garnered the first weekly award of her career. Bardic is  the second Titan to earn the honor this season, joining Sawyer White (Jan. 5).
    She averaged 21.0 points per game on 14-of-33 shooting (42.4 percent) while going 5-of-12 from beyond the arc. The senior guard made 9-of-12 free throws, while adding in eight steals, five rebounds, and four assists.

TITANS IN THE CCIW TOURNEY: Illinois Wesleyan is no stranger to the CCIW Tournament having appeared in the field in 25 of the 26 seasons since the league began hosting one in 2003. IWU missed the CCIW Tournament in 2015, but has appeared in the championship game 19 times. Overall, Illinois Wesleyan has amassed a 32-9 record in the CCIW Tournament since 2003, while Carthage sits at 8-15 in the league tournament all-time.

ALL-CCIW TRIO: The Titans saw three land on the All-CCIW squads as Ava Bardic and Sawyer White were unanimous First Team All-CCIW picks. Caitlin Leyden, who was voted the CCIW's Newcomer of the Year, reeled in a spot on the second team.
Additionally, Mia Smith and her staff of Brian Ehresman, Kate Bullman, Sammi Matoush, and Chad Cusac were tabbed CCIW Co-Coaching Staff of the Year alongside Carroll.

IWU AS THE NO. 2: Since the tournament began in 2003, the No. 2 seed has posted a 22-19 record and has claimed five total titles. IWU has been the most successful second-seed, winning the championship in 2019, 2020, and 2022. Wheaton (2004) and Carroll (2024) are the only other programs to win the title in the No. 2 spot, while a seed outside of the top-two has never won the tournament.

TURNS OUT, IT WAS ALWAYS LEYDEN: Freshman Caitlin Leyden has put together a strong all-around rookie campaign for the Green and White. Leyden is averaging 9.3 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game through 25 contests. She has started in all but one game and is shooting 46.2 percent form the floor, while registering 61 steals, 43 assists, and 15 blocks.
    The only freshman named to an All-CCIW team, and one of just two underclassmen, Leyden was a lock for CCIW Newcomer of the Year. She is the first Titan to receive the honor, which the conference began dolling out in 2013.

BATTLING THE FIREBIRDS: Friday's semifinal showdown will mark the 84th all-time meeting between Illinois Wesleyan and Carthage. With the first meeting coming during the 1986-87 campaign, the Titans own a 55-29  mark in the all-time series. Throughout the last decade, Illinois Wesleyan has met CC 21 times with IWU coming out victorious in 20 of them.
    The Titans swept the regular season meetings by scores of 74-52 and 64-52. In the initial meeting back in Kenosha Jan. 21, Ava Bardic led IWU with 22 points. Leah Palmer added a near double-double (19p-9r), while Caitlin Leyden was not far behind with 15 points and nine boards. In the rematch in Bloomington Feb. 11, Bardic once again led the Titans, this time finishing with 21 points. Leyden added 16 points, while Sawyer White tallied 10. Palmer posted nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.
    Illinois Wesleyan and Carthage have met in the CCIW Tournament a total of five times, with IWU holding the upperhand, 4-1. Three of the five bouts came in the conference tournament championship, while the two met in the semifinals in 2011 and 2019. The Titans took the 2011 tilt, 77-69, behind 20-point games points from Stacey Arlis (24) and Olivia Lett (21), while Arlis added 14 rebounds. Maddie Merritt's 19 points powered IWU to a 78-59 victory in 2019.

GIVE & TAKE: Through 25 games, Sawyer White has thrived as a facilitator while also feasting on opposing ball handlers. White has dished out 112 assists on the year, a number that ranks 27th across Division III. On the other end of the floor, White has swiped a CCIW-best 88 steals. Her thefts are 15th-most nationally.

R-N-J BRINGS IN STEALS ALL DAY: Illinois Wesleyan's full-court run-and-jump press has rattled opponents this season, specifically in conference play as IWU was +141 in the turnover margin over the 16-game slate. The Titans' tenacious defensive effort has come on the back of the top-three swipers in the CCIW. Sawyer White led the league with 61 steals, good for a 3.8 average per game, while Ava Bardic was second with 46 (2.9 spg). Caitlin Leyden rounded out the one-two-three sweep with 42 thefts (2.6 spg).
    For the season, Illinois Wesleyan has compiled a +7.16 turnover margin, good for 23rd-best nationally. The Green and White sits 29th with 23.12 turnovers forced per game and is 23rd with 13.4 steals per contest.

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 88 thefts, good for 15th-most in Division III this season as of Feb. 25.
    In the CCIW, White sits 53 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 350 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.

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.  With 311 wins to 96 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 545.

AVA BARDIC APPRECIATION POST: In her final season donning the Green and White, Ava Bardic has put together a sensational senior year. Bardic has scored 487 points this season, 30 points more than her 30-game total from 2024-25. The Lincolnshire, Ill. native has already made a career-best 174 field goals and is carrying a career-high 46.3 field goal percentage into the league tournament. Overall, Bardic's 487 points rank 20th-most in Division III this season, while her 19.5 average is 23rd-best.

POLLING PLACE: Illinois Wesleyan remains in the national polls midway through the season. The Titans are 14th in the D3hoops.com Top-25 and 16th in the WBCA poll.
    IWU is one of two College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin teams featured in both polls, as  Carroll is 12th in the D3hoops rankings and 18th 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 779-513 overall record. IWU's .600 all-time win percentage includes a 379-205 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin mark.

BARDIC JOINS IWU'S COMMA CLUB: After eclipsing the 1000 career point mark at the tail end of last season, Ava Bardic became the 28th member of Illinois Wesleyan's 1000-point club Saturday, Dec. 13. The Lincolnshire, Ill. native, who scored 312 as a freshman at NCAA Division II University of Illinois-Springfield, put up a game-high 24 points at Elmhurst. She accomplished the feat in just 67 games donning the Green and White. As of Feb. 26, Bardic's 1328 points as a Titan rank ninth in program history. She trails eighth-ranked Mallory Heydorn by 11 points.