MARION, Ind. -- The flu has been spread through the No. 1-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University women's basketball team this week. The flu may have slowed down Indiana Wesleyan a little but not nearly enough as IWU defeated Grace (Ind.) College 67-51 Wednesday night in Luckey Arena.

Senior forward Paige Smith has been one of the lucky Wildcats as she has stayed healthy. She responded by leading all scorers with 24 points on 11-of-12 shooting. On her only miss she grabbed the offensive rebound for the quick put-back basket. The 24 point outburst is the second highest total in her career.

"Paige really competed hard and we needed her to do that," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Steve Brooks. "We took advantage of some of their defenses. We were able to go right inside and score and that was big."

Indiana Wesleyan (22-1, 10-1 CL) took advantage in the paint during the first half as Smith scored 14 points and IWU held a 22-8 advantage in points in the paint. For the night Indiana Wesleyan scored 40 points in the paint.

There were six ties in the first eight minutes of the contest, the last being 16-16. Junior guard Taylor Goshert drilled a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Wildcats up 19-16 and IWU did not relinquish the lead the rest of the night. The Wildcats built eight point leads twice in the half and took a 36-29 advantage into halftime.

Besides the 14 points by Smith in the opening 20 minutes, sophomore guard Emma Stahl posted gaudy numbers with eight assists. Brooks limited her playing time in the second half as Stahl was one of the hardest hit Wildcats with the flu. Stahl still managed seven points, nine assists, and three steals.

"Emma really battled," continued Brooks. "She competed really, really hard under the circumstances. I probably played her too much. I was really trying to get her out of there and they cut the lead back to nine so I had to put her back in. Hopefully she'll be able to rebound and be back on Saturday."

Grace (15-8, 6-5 CL) opened the second half with a field goal but Indiana Wesleyan struck with a 7-0 run to lead by 12 at 43-31. Indiana Wesleyan continued to increase their lead for the next eight minutes as it reached the pinnacle of 18 points when freshman guard Jessica Brown scored for a 55-37 lead and 8:44 remaining.

The Lancers would inch back and cut the deficit in half at 57-48 and just under five minutes left on the scoreboard. But the Wildcats would put the game away with seven unanswered points, with five of those coming from the free throw line, to lead 64-48 with 2:28 left.

"Coming into the game we talked about getting 40 minutes out of our team and we did that," Brooks said about his team dealing with the flu. "I'm proud of the effort as some of these kids are really not feeling good and I thought they battled through it pretty well."

Two Wildcats joined Smith in double figures. Goshert scored 13 points while senior guard Claire Ray chipped in 10 points and four assists.

Indiana Wesleyan shot 53.1-percent (26 of 49) from the field and dished out 19 assists to only 13 turnovers. On the other side Grace shot 44.4-percent (20 of 45) from the floor and had six assists to 19 turnovers.

Indiana Wesleyan will remain in Marion for their next game on Saturday at 1 p.m. as IWU hosts Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) University.