Indiana Wesleyan Women's Basketball

HUNTINGTON, Ind. -- A high octane performance on the offensive end led No. 6-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University women’s basketball to a 74-65 victory on the road at No. 18-ranked Huntington (Ind.) University on Wednesday night in a battle of ranked NAIA programs.
The Wildcats (21-4) shot 59.1-percent (26 of 44) from the floor including a 71.4-percent (15 of 21) outburst during the second half which featured 47 points for IWU. From beyond the arc, the Wildcats drilled 42.9-percent (6 of 14) of their shots.
Beyond the hot shooting performance of Indiana Wesleyan, the Wildcats garnered a balanced scoring attack from four players.
Sophomore center Krystal Stoneking finished two points shy of her career-high with 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Her career-high of 19 points came a season ago versus Huntington in the Mid-Central College Conference Tournament semifinals. Stoneking just missed a double-double with nine rebounds and she blocked two shots.
IWU junior forward Elaine Hessel contributed 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting in just 21 minutes of play. Junior guard Kayla Thompson added 15 points and four assists while sophomore guard Rachel Steinbarger finished the evening with a season-high 14 points and three steals.
Huntington (16-7) held a slim 28-27 lead at the halftime intermission.
But the Wildcats rarely missed in the second half which IWU outscored the Foresters 47-37. The Wildcats missed just six shots from the field in the half and misfired on only three shots inside the 3-point arc.
Indiana Wesleyan expands their lead in the MCC to a full game over idle University of Saint Francis (Ind.) with a 10-1 mark while USF is 9-2. Huntington falls off the pace of the leaders with a 7-4 record.
The Wildcats remain on the road for their next contest when Indiana Wesleyan travels to play at Spring Arbor (Mich.) University on Saturday, February 6 with a 1 p.m. tip-off.