Teams

2011-2012 Illinois Wesleyan University Women’s Team

Year Inducted: 2018

Category: Teams

Schools / Organizations: Illinois Wesleyan University

Biography: The Illinois Wesleyan University women’s basketball team won the 2012 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball National Championship, defeating George Fox by a 57-48 score at DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Mich.  The Titans, who finished 4th nationally in 2011 under head coach Mia Smith, won the school’s first women’s basketball title and finished with a 28-5 record, winning 25 of their last 26 games and claiming their 5th straight College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament title.  Smith was chosen as the Division III “National Coach of the Year”  by both the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and Women’s DIII News.  Senior Olivia Lett led the Titans with 22 points and gathered seven rebounds in the title game.  She was chosen the tournament’s “Most Outstanding Player” and was named to the first team of the D3hoops.com All-America squads.  Other key players in the title game were sophomores Colleen MMahon and Lexi Baltes, senior guard Brittany Hasselbring (who had a team-high 8 rebounds) and junior guard Melissa Gardner, who set an IWU single-season record with 94 3-point baskets.