MARION, Ind. -- The Indiana Wesleyan University women's basketball team captured a 51-42 victory over visiting Spring Arbor (Mich.) University on Saturday afternoon in Luckey Arena.

Wildcat sophomore forward LeAnn Douglas was the long player in the contest to score in double digits with 11 points. She made 5-of-7 from the floor and collected a game-high eight rebounds.

Neither team could muster much on the offensive side of the floor. Spring Arbor was held to 31.5-percent (17 of 54) shooting while Indiana Wesleyan ended the day at 41.9-percent (18 of 43).

No. 18 Indiana Wesleyan seemed poised to break the game wide open in the early minutes with a 9-2 run to gain an 11-4 lead with 13:03 on the clock. But Spring Arbor responded with a 14-4 run to claim an 18-14 advantage with 4:58 before half. During the run, Indiana Wesleyan was held scoreless for nearly eight minutes.

The Wildcats (18-8, 7-5 MCC) answered the Cougars run with 10 unanswered points over the final three minutes of the opening period to lead 24-18 at the break. Senior guard Andrea Fichter ignited the run for IWU with a pair of back-to-back 3-point buckets. Fichter ended the afternoon with nine points and six boards.

Sophomore guard Kayla Thompson connected from deep for the first points of the second half to hand the Wildcats their largest lead of the day at 27-18. Over the next five minutes the Cougars were able to claw back and cut the deficit to one point at 29-28. SAU eventually tied the score at 34-34 as 8:28 remained.

Spring Arbor (11-14, 4-9 MCC) was unable to capitalize as Indiana Wesleyan scored the next seven points for a 41-34 lead with 5:42 to go.

With just under five minutes left, the Cougars cut the lead to a single possession at 42-39. But the Wildcat defense stepped up and kept the Cougars to just three points in the final 4:42. IWU gradually increased their advantage the rest of the way before tying their game-high lead of nine points for the 51-42 victory.

Indiana Wesleyan was able to take advantage of 14 Spring Arbor turnovers, turning them into 16 points. Spring Arbor was not able to create points off IWU mistakes as the Cougars only scored 10 points off 17 Wildcat turnovers.

The Wildcats will now take to the road as IWU plays three of their final four games away from Marion. Indiana Wesleyan plays at 7 p.m. on February 11 at University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana.