MARION, Ind. -- Indiana Wesleyan University battled the first of many Mid-Central College Conference opponents that will be ranked in the NAIA Top-25 Poll on Saturday afternoon in a clash with No. 16-ranked Bethel (Ind.) College in Luckey Arena.

No. 6-ranked Indiana Wesleyan won both the offensive and defensive battles en route to an 80-64 victory to finish the pre-Christmas portion of the MCC schedule at 3-0.

Elaine Hessel was stellar, especially in the second half on her way to a game-high 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting. The senior forward scored 18 of her points in the second half where she was nearly perfect from the field at 8-of-9 shooting.

Early in the contest junior guard Stephanie Burtch and senior guard Kayla Thompson drilled 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to open up a 14-7 Wildcat advantage. But the Pilots stormed back with 15 of the next 20 points to gain a 22-19 advantage with 8:31 left before halftime. The three point lead for Bethel was their largest of the day.

With the scored knotted 29-29 with 2:44 before halftime, Indiana Wesleyan would make their move.

Junior guard Rachel Steinbarger and sophomore guard Taylor Goshert scored on consecutive possessions to stretch the lead to 33-29 with 1:42 in the half. It was the first advantage greater than three points for either team in nearly 11 minutes.

Hessel and Goshert completed the first half scoring as each hit two free throws to send Indiana Wesleyan into intermission with an 8-0 run for a 37-29 lead.

The completion of the first half was just the beginning for the Wildcats as IWU took total control during the final 20 minutes of play.

With a 43-38 lead, Indiana Wesleyan ran off 14 of the next 15 points to open up a commanding 57-39 advantage just past the midway point of the half. Bethel could not close the gap any closer than 14 points (58-44) the rest of the game.

Hessel scored with just under five minutes to play to begin a string of five straight Indiana Wesleyan possessions that all finished with a field goal by Hessel. She scored 10 points in a span of 1:41. During that streak, IWU moved their lead to more than 20 points for the first time in the game.

Indiana Wesleyan led by as many as 23 points (78-55) before Bethel scored nine of the final 11 points for the IWU 16 point victory.

The Wildcats finished at 57.7-percent (30 of 52) shooting, with a majority of the points coming down low from Hessel, sophomore forward Paige Smith and junior center Krystal Stoneking. Smith was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field for 11 points and Stoneking also had 11 points plus four boards.

IWU passed out a season-high 19 assists on Saturday and was led by Thompson with seven. She also scored seven and collected a game-best eight caroms. Indiana Wesleyan finished with a 37-28 advantage on the boards.

Defensively, Indiana Wesleyan kept Bethel to just 36.5-percent (19 of 52) shooting, including 33.3-percent (10 of 30) during the second half.

Bethel was led in scoring by senior guard Many Yoder with 20 points and five assists. BC's leading scorer, Heather Seyfred, was limited to 11 points.

Please not a schedule change for the next Indiana Wesleyan game. The home contest versus Holy Cross (Ind.) College that was originally scheduled for Tuesday, December 7 has been moved back a day to Wednesday, December 8 in Luckey Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.