MARION, Ind. -- No. 22-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University upended No. 12-ranked Taylor (Ind.) University 71-65 on Wednesday night in a crucial Mid-Central College Conference women's basketball contest at Luckey Arena.

The Wildcats are now tied with Taylor and Bethel (Ind.) College for second place in the conference with 5-3 records. Huntington (Ind.) University sits atop the league with a 6-2 mark.

Indiana Wesleyan (16-6, 5-3 MCC) dominated the entire first half behind excellent shooting and a stingy defensive effort.

The Wildcats raced out of the gates to collect a 14-4 advantage in the contest's first five minutes. But Taylor would respond and close the gap to six points at 16-10. IWU gained their first double digit lead at 22-12 as sophomore forward Elaine Hessel knocked down her third straight basket for the Wildcats at 11:24. Hessel finished with team-highs of 17 points and seven boards.

With 8:17 remaining before half, Taylor's Nikki Kassebaum drilled a 3-point bucket to cut the IWU lead to 30-21. The tenacious Indiana Wesleyan defense held strong the rest of the half and limited Taylor to just one more point. Taylor was held to 40.9-percent shooting in the opening period and forced into 11 turnovers.

Indiana Wesleyan closed the half with nine of the last 10 points to take a commanding 39-22 advantage into intermission.

Taylor (14-7, 5-3 MCC) began the second half with the first six points to trim the deficit to 39-28. But Taylor was unable to cut the difference to single digits until a Nellie Eskew field goal in the paint at 8:22 cut the Indiana Wesleyan lead to 53-44.

Over the next six minutes the Wildcat advantage remained between eight to 12 points until Taylor's Bethany Ballard scored down low for a 66-60 score with 2:23 to play. Ballard added an old fashion 3-point play on the next Trojan possession to close the gap to 66-63 with 2:00 on the clock.

But Indiana Wesleyan freshman guard Rachel Steinbarger iced the victory for the Wildcats with four straight free throws for a 70-63 lead as 1:18 remained. Steinbarger completed the night with eight points and four rebounds.

Ballard hit a pair of free throws for the Trojans at 1:04 for a 70-65 score but would get no closer as Steinbarger hit one-of-two free throws with 21 seconds to go for the final score.

Sophomore guard Kayla Thompson chimed in with 15 points and four assists for Indiana Wesleyan while senior guard Andrea Fichter connected for 11 points and was 3-of-3 from deep. Sophomore forward LeAnn Douglas chipped in with nine points and six boards and freshman center Krystal Stoneking added six points with seven rebounds.

Indiana Wesleyan shot 45.5-percent (25 of 55) from the floor, including 56.7-percent (17 of 30) in the opening half. IWU was exceptional at the charity stripe as well as the Wildcats connected on 15-of-18 (83.3-percent) attempts.

Taylor was led by Ballard with 24 points and eight rebounds.

Indiana Wesleyan begins the second half of MCC play in their next contest which will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday, January 24 as the Wildcats travel to play Goshen (Ind.) College.