The Millikin women's basketball team won the 2021 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Women's Basketball Tournament Championship defeating Illinois Wesleyan 72-59 on March 9 at the Griswold Center in Decatur, Illinois. It was the first CCIW Tournament Championship for Millikin since 2005.

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The game was a back-and-forth contest for the first three quarter with nine lead changes and eight ties. The game was tied 15-15 after the first quarter and Illinois Wesleyan led 29-26 at halftime. The Big Blue trailed much of the third quarter, but rallied in the final two minutes and took the lead for good with 2:05 left in the third on a basket from Jordan Hildebrand. Elyce Knudsen would push the lead to three one minute later before Illinois Wesleyan's Riley Brovelli cut the lead to 44-43 with 44 seconds left in the quarter, Knudsen would hit another basket in the final seconds of the quarter and it was 46-43 Millikin at the end of three quarters.

Millikin pushed the lead to six points on four occasions in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Millikin lead 57-51 with 6:12 remaining in the game. The Titans would make one final run and a 3-pointer by Samantha Munroe would make it 57-56 Millikin with five minutes to play.

The Big Blue went on a 13-3 run to close out the game. Knudsen hit a layup to make it 59-56 followed by a 3-pointer by Miranda Fox to get the run started.

The best night of Elyce Knudsen's freshman year came in the CCIW title game, as she scored 31. Millikin athletics file photo by Kevin Krows

Millikin shot 41 percent (28-69) from the field and made only three of 12 from 3-point range. The Big Blue shot 9-18 (50 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter. Illinois Wesleyan shot 36 percent (24-66) from the field and went 6-for-20 from 3-point range.

The Big Blue's top scorer was Knudsen with a career high 31 points with three steals. Knudsen tied the CCIW Tournament record for most made field goals in a game with 13. Hildebrand finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Fox finished with seven points and a team high 10 rebounds.

Kendall Sosa led the Titans with 20 points followed by Munroe with 13 and Anna Lowis with 10. Brovelli had a game high 12 rebounds.

Millikin ends the season with a record of 11-3 while the Titans fall to 6-4.