NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Defending conference champion Wheaton was picked to win the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) women’s basketball title according to a preseason coaches’ poll announced Wednesday.
 
The Thunder (24-4, 12-2) won the poll with 49 points and seven first place votes as Wheaton won its first CCIW regular season and tournament titles since 2007 last year.
 
Carthage (15-11, 8-6) was second in the preseason poll with 39 points, while North Central (22-6, 10-4) was third with 38 points and one first place vote after the Cardinals qualified for the NCAA postseason for the first time since 1984.
 
Millikin (14-11, 5-9) placed fourth with 29 points, followed by Illinois Wesleyan (10-15, 4-10) with 23 points, Elmhurst (16-10, 9-5) with 22 points, North Park (13-12, 5-9) with 16 points and Augustana (9-16, 3-11) with eight points.
 
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 CCIW women’s basketball season begins November 13.
 
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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 2014-15 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,500 academic all-conference recipients, 19 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 46 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients and 102 all-Americans.