NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Carthage was chosen to win the 2011-12 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) women's basketball title according to a preseason poll conducted by the CCIW's head coaches Thursday.

The poll was announced in conjunction with the CCIW’s third annual Women's Basketball Coaches Chat, which took place via the CCIW website.

Carthage (17-9, 8-6) won the poll with 45 points including four first place votes. Four-time defending champion Illinois Wesleyan (27-6, 13-1) was second with 44 points including three first place votes after finishing fourth nationally last season.

Wheaton (19-7, 11-3), a team that advanced to the CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament final last season, was picked to finish third with 38 points including one first place vote.

Millikin (17-9, 9-5) finished fourth in the poll with 33 points, followed by Elmhurst (10-15, 5-9) with 24 points, North Park (9-16, 3-11) with 20 points, North Central (8-17, 4-10) with 11 points and Augustana (7-18, 3-11) with nine points.

Voting is done by the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin'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 may not vote for their own teams.

2011 CCIW Women's Basketball Poll 

Rank	Team	Points	First Place Votes
1	Carthage	45	4
2	Illinois Wesleyan	44	3
3	Wheaton	38	1
4	Millikin	33
5	Elmhurst	24
6	North Park	20
7	North Central	11
8	Augustana	9