The Western Illinois Leathernecks women's basketball team represents

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. Once West ...

of Macomb,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

women's

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

competition. The school's team currently competes in the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

. The Leathernecks became a member of the Ohio Valley Conference on July 1, 2023.

History

In their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1995, they lost to North Carolina 89–48. They made appearances in the WNIT in 2003 and 2006 along with an appearance in the WBI in 2016. Western Illinois were 2016–17 Summit League Champions. March 28 is WIU Leatherneck Women's Basketball Day in Macomb, Illinois. The team was recognized for their 2016–2017 record where they finished 26–7 in the Summit League and advancing to the NCAA tournament.

2017 Summit League Tournament

Western Illinois was the Number 1 seed in the tournament. They won the Summit League Tournament on March 7, 2017, with a 77–69 overtime win defeating IUPUI. The win sends the Leatherneck's to the NCAA Tournament, their first appearance since 1995. The win was WIU's 11th consecutive of the season, tying the team record set in 1995. Both Morgan Blumer and Emily Clemens were named to the All-Tournament League, with Clemens being named tournament MVP.

NCAA tournament results

Season–by–season results

Source:

Notable former players

Tuğba Palazoğlu Emine Tuğba Palazoğlu (born 4 December 1980) is a Turkish former professional basketball player. Honors ;Galatasaray Women's Basketball Team, Galatasaray *Turkish Presidents Cup **Winners (1): 2008 *EuroCup Women **Winners (1): 2008–2009 ;F ...

, Overseas * Zane Teilane, Women’s National Basketball Association

References

External links

* Long stubs with short prose {{collegebasketball-team-stub