NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Defending College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) champion Carthage was picked to win the 2014 CCIW women's basketball title according to a preseason coaches' poll announced Monday.
The Lady Reds (24-5, 13-1 in 2013) won the poll with 49 points and seven first place votes and are coming off a CCIW regular season and tournament title in 2013. The regular season title was their first since 1996 and the tournament title was the first-ever in school history. Carthage advanced to the second round of the NCAA postseason last year.
Wheaton (22-6, 11-3), an NCAA postseason team in 2013, was second in the poll with 41 points. The Thunder made their first NCAA appearance since 2007 last year after tying for second during the regular season and advancing to the conference tournament title game.
2012 national champion Illinois Wesleyan (18-8, 11-3) placed third in the poll with 39 points and one first place vote, followed by Millikin (8-16, 3-11) in fourth with 27 points and Elmhurst (11-14, 5-9) in fifth with 25 points.
North Central (13-13, 6-8), coming off its first CCIW Tournament appearance in school history last season, placed sixth in the poll with 23 points, followed by Augustana (7-18, 2-12) and North Park (14-11, 5-9) in a tie for seventh with 10 points apiece.
Voting is done by the CCIW's head women's basketball coaches. Each coach votes for the seven other schools in the conference in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (seven points for first, six for second, etc.). Coaches do not vote for their own teams.
The 2013 poll was announced in conjunction with the
CCIW Women's Basketball Coaches Chat on Monday, October 28.
2013-14 CCIW Women's Basketball Poll
|
Rank |
Team |
Points |
First Place
Votes |
|
1 |
Carthage |
49 |
7 |
|
2 |
Wheaton |
41 |
|
|
3 |
Illinois Wesleyan |
39 |
1 |
|
4 |
Millikin |
27 |
|
|
5 |
Elmhurst |
25 |
|
|
6 |
North Central |
23 |
|
|
T-7 |
Augustana |
10 |
|
|
T-7 |
North Park |
10 |
The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services eight member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2012-13 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,400 academic all-conference recipients, 15 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-Americans, 30 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients, 68 all-Americans and one national championship team.