Illinois Wesleyan women’s basketball coach sets CCIW wins record amid tight competition
National rankings, record-setting performances, and close finishes have marked the last two weeks of College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) women’s basketball. Two teams, Illinois Wesleyan and Carroll, remain nationally ranked in both the D3hoops.com and WBCA Top 25 polls.
Illinois Wesleyan reinforced its standing with an 85-52 win over Carroll. The victory was notable for head coach Mia Smith, who achieved her 296th career CCIW win to become the conference’s all-time winningest coach. Senior guard Sawyer White was recognized as CCIW Student-Athlete of the Week after scoring a career-high 37 points against Carroll, tying a school record with eight three-pointers and adding eight steals. White also earned a spot on the D3hoops.com Team of the Week and recently became her program’s all-time steals leader. She now has 305 career steals, ranking second among active NCAA Division III players.
The Titans secured another significant result by defeating No. 19 Bethel in non-conference play with a last-second layup from Sara Balli following a pass from Ava Bardic.
Augustana continued its strong performance with four consecutive wins to move to 3-1 in league play. The Vikings claimed a narrow road victory at North Central after late-game heroics from Jazmeriah Jones and Kadence Tatum. Augustana leads the conference in several defensive categories, including scoring defense (57.3 points per game), field goal percentage defense (.356), and rebounding margin (+5.9). Wins over Loras and Dubuque rounded out their recent stretch, highlighted by Cali Papez’s double-double against Dubuque.
Several individual players are making national impacts statistically. Elmhurst guard Kristin Bukata leads Division III in assists per game (7.9) and is tied for the conference lead with six double-doubles this season. Carroll’s Natalie Gricius is averaging 21 points per game, placing her tenth nationally in scoring average. Carthage guard Nora Ahram recorded a perfect shooting night with 21 points against North Park.
Illinois Wesleyan ranks fourth nationally in free-throw percentage at 79.2%, led by Ava Bardic (.846) and Sawyer White (.879).
Veteran athletes reached milestones during this period as well. Wheaton senior Kate Oliver became just the 23rd player in program history to reach 1,000 career points and followed up with a personal best six steals to help secure a win over Millikin.
North Central remains atop the conference for scoring offense at 72.5 points per game and demonstrated resilience by overcoming a nine-point deficit to defeat North Park behind Kennedy Hartwig’s career-high performance at the free-throw line.
Bench production continues to be important across CCIW teams; North Central leads in bench scoring while Elmhurst saw significant contributions from reserves during recent games.
Defensively, Carthage leads CCIW teams in blocks per game thanks to efforts from Malia Green and Taelor Paulsen.
Recent non-conference results have provided momentum for several programs entering deeper league play: Millikin’s Nikkel Johnson leads high-volume shooters in field goal percentage; North Park posted a decisive win over Beloit; Carthage closed out last year with an efficient team effort against Luther.