Pictured: Fifth-year senior Jordan Hildebrand scored 14 points and pulled down five rebounds against Hope on Saturday.

HOLLAND, Mich. -- The Millikin women's basketball team made history in 2022, having advanced to the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship's sectional round for the first time in 17 years.

The Big Blue's season came to an end on Friday in a 91-77 loss to sectional host Hope College. Millikin ends its season 23-7, having earned a share of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin's (CCIW) regular season title and a berth in the NCAA postseason for the first time since a national title run in 2005.

Millikin, along with Co-CCIW champion Illinois Wesleyan, each advanced past the first round last Friday, marking the first time since 2012 that two CCIW teams competed in the second round.  

On Friday against Hope, Elyce Knudsen led Millikin with 25 points, while Bailey Coffman added 17 points and a team high six rebounds. Fifth-year senior Jordan Hildebrand ended her career with 14 points and five rebounds, and Natalie Snyder added 13 points for the Big Blue.

The CCIW has won two NCAA national titles in women's basketball including one by Millikin (2005) and one by Illinois Wesleyan (2012). North Central won a women's basketball national title in 1983 before the CCIW began sponsoring women's sports.
 
The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst University (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).