Box Score
MARION, Ind. -- Senior Day was celebrated with an outright Mid-Central College Conference regular season championship for No. 8-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University women's basketball following an 87-76 overtime victory over Taylor (Ind.) University in Luckey Arena.
The Wildcats had already clinched the No. 1-seed in the upcoming MCC Tournament, but a victory secured the outright championship as University of Saint Francis (Ind.) won today to finish one game behind the Wildcats.
Indiana Wesleyan (25-5, 14-2 MCC) scored the first eight points in the extra session to dominate Taylor 18-7 in overtime. IWU sophomore guard Rachel Steinbarger scored six of the first 10 points in overtime to lead the Wildcats. Steinbarger finished the game with 12 points and three assists.
Taylor (17-10, 9-7 MCC) forced overtime when senior center Bethany Ballard hit one of two free throws with 11 seconds left to tie the game 69-69. Indiana Wesleyan launched the final shot in regulation but the shot from well beyond the 3-point line was off target.
Indiana Wesleyan nearly led the entire second half and never trailed throughout the half. IWU looked to put Taylor away as sophomore center Krystal Stoneking hit two free throws with 4:06 left to up the Indiana Wesleyan to eight points at 63-55. Stoneking ended the afternoon with 12 points and six rebounds.
But Taylor finished regulation with 14 of the final 20 points to force the overtime period.
Indiana Wesleyan junior forward Elaine Hessel was brilliant in the regular season finale. Hessel scored a game-high 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting and 7-of-8 from the foul line. Hessel played all 45 minutes of the game.
Junior guard Kayla Thompson played the best all around game for Indiana Wesleyan all season, just missing a triple-double. Thompson scored 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting from deep. She also collected nine rebounds and dished out nine assists.
The Wildcats shot 56.0-percent (28 of 50) from the field for the game. IWU was red-hot in the opening half on 63.6-percent (14 of 22) shooting and 60.0-percent (9 of 15) from 3-point range as the Wildcats built a 37-30 lead at halftime.
After zero free throw attempts in the first half, Indiana Wesleyan went on to hit 20-of-24 (83.3-percent) free throws in the second half.
The MCC regular season championship is the first for Indiana Wesleyan since the famous 2006-07 season and the seventh in program history.
Indiana Wesleyan has home court advantage throughout the MCC Tournament. The first round will begin on Tuesday, February 23 as IWU will host No. 8-seed Spring Arbor (Mich.) University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Luckey Arena.
