MARION, Ind. -- No. 8-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University women's basketball captured the seventh Mid-Central College Conference regular season championship in program history following a 65-45 win over Grace (Ind.) College on Wednesday night in Luckey Arena.

"I'm excited because it has been a couple years since we won the conference championship," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Steve Brooks. "We earned home court advantage in the tournament and that was one of our goals heading into the season."

The Wildcats claim their first MCC championship since the 2006-07 season and can earn the title outright on Saturday with either a win at home against Taylor (Ind.) University or a loss by University of Saint Francis (Ind.) at Bethel (Ind.) College.

Home court throughout the MCC Tournament will be a huge advantage for Indiana Wesleyan as the Wildcats are a perfect 12-0 at home this season. In the 12 home games to date, Indiana Wesleyan has won by an average of 17.5 points while shooting 40.5-percent from 3-point range.

"Home court has been a goal of ours since the beginning of the season," stated IWU junior forward Elaine Hessel. "We have worked real hard for it and now we need to take advantage of it."

Indiana Wesleyan (24-5, 13-2 MCC) took advantage of the home court tonight with a stifling defensive effort. IWU forced Grace into 38.3-percent (18 of 47) shooting while no Lancer reached double digits in scoring.

With the game tied 13-13 midway through the opening half, Indiana Wesleyan exploded for 10 unanswered points to take total control of the game.

The Wildcats led by as many as 13 points in the first half before a late field goal for the Lancers brought the score to 30-21 at halftime.

Indiana Wesleyan junior forward LeAnn Douglas knocked down a pair of free throws to open the second half for an 11 point lead (32-21). The advantage never fell to single digits the rest of the way.

The Lancers (9-20, 5-11 MCC) would pull to within 11 points (45-34) with 11:51 remaining on the clock. But the Wildcats put away all doubt over the next eight minutes with a 20-3 run and held a 65-37 lead. The Lancers finished the night with the final eight points of the contest for the final score of 65-45.

Indiana Wesleyan nearly clinched the outright championship tonight but Saint Francis pulled out a come from behind victory at Huntington to remain one game behind IWU with one game left. Indiana Wesleyan holds the tie breaker over Saint Francis because IWU swept the season series with USF.

"Winning the conference is a big deal," added Hessel. "It's a big step for us as a program and we are excited about it. This is a family."

"It's very rewarding because of our hard work and the adversity of the season," stated junior guard Kayla Thompson. "Off the court we serve each other and that leads to good play on the court."

Hessel led all players with 20 points on the night. Thompson scored 16 points and dished out five assists while sophomore center Krystal Stoneking just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

IWU freshman guard Taylor Goshert led all players with 10 rebounds as the Wildcats held a 36-to-28 advantage on the boards.

The contest was also a ?Pink Out' date as Indiana Wesleyan raised support for breast cancer. IWU players added pink to their uniforms and the referees used pink whistles. One hundred percent of all gate money, popcorn sales and donations will be given to Cancer Services of Grant County.

Indiana Wesleyan completes the regular season at home on Saturday, February 20 against rival Taylor. It will be Senior Day at Luckey Arena with tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m.

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