SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- No. 1-seed Northwestern (Iowa) College will continue its defense of the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball national championship as they advanced to the national semifinals with a 79-58 victory over No. 2-seed Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Wildcats were the first team in the tournament to actually slow down the high-octane Red Raider offense which averaged 99.5 points in the first two rounds of the tournament. NWC scored just 32 points in the first 20 minutes.

Indiana Wesleyan bows out of the national tournament with a final record of 29-6. IWU won the Mid-Central College Conference regular season and tournament championships and were making their ninth straight appearance in Sioux City.

"I'm disappointed in our performance," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Steve Brooks. "People didn't get to an opportunity to see the real Indiana Wesleyan."

The Wildcats struggled against the Red Raider defensive pressure most the night with their zone and traps. IWU committed a season-high 24 turnovers which led to 14 points the other way.

"He knew we would be able to score on them if they defended man-to-man," said Brooks. "We struggled with the 3-2 zone and their half court press."

After scoring the first bucket of the game, Indiana Wesleyan allowed Northwestern to score the next nine points. But over the next two minutes IWU senior forward LeAnn Douglas took over with eight straight points on four consecutive possessions to give Indiana Wesleyan a 10-9 lead.

The midway point of the first half would turn out to be the biggest stage of the game. Northwestern led 16-15 after Indiana Wesleyan sophomore forward Lyzz Smith scored in the paint with 10:16 on the clock. It would turn out to be the last points IWU would garner until senior forward Elaine Hessel scored a second chance basket with 1:24 before halftime.

By the time the Wildcats finally got 15 off the scoreboard, the Red Raiders tallied 14 unanswered for a 30-15 lead and took a 32-19 advantage into halftime.

"We had a chance to make a statement in the first half," added Brooks. "We didn't do that and they did."

Indiana Wesleyan quickly fell behind 35-19 to start the second half. But IWU would score six straight points to close to within 10 points at 35-25.

Northwestern answered with an 8-1 run to lead 43-26. Indiana Wesleyan scored on its next two possessions to claw back to 43-30 but once again Northwestern answered with seven straight points to lead 50-30.

"I thought we could make a run in the second half when we closed to 10 points," stated Brooks. "But we just couldn't get any closer and we couldn't stop then."

The Red Raider lead fluctuated between 15-22 points the rest of the way as Northwestern punched a ticket to the national semifinal game on Monday.

Northwestern shot 57.7-percent (30 of 52) and 46.2-percent (6 of 13) from 3-point range. Indiana Wesleyan would finish at 44.0-percent (22 of 50) from the floor.

Douglas scored a team-high 14 points in her final game. She was 6-of-8 from the floor and had four boards and four assists. Junior guard Stephanie Burtch added 12 points and was 3-of-4 3-point range.

Senior guard Kayla Thompson finished with five points, seven rebounds and five steals in her last game. Thompson finishes her Wildcat career as the only player to ever have 1,300 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists. She ends her career with 268 career 3-pointers, one shy of the program record set by Stephanie Gill.

Senior forward Elaine Hessel brings her storied Indiana Wesleyan career to a close third all-time in scoring with 1,836 points following a 10 point night. She closes out her career with 562 career rebounds and shot 60-percent from the field in her career.

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