MARION, Ind. -- Newly minted as the No. 1-ranked team in NAIA Division II, Indiana Wesleyan University women's basketball made a statement as they lit up visiting Goshen (Ind.) College 98-37 on Tuesday night in Luckey Arena.

The 61 point margin of victory is the biggest for Indiana Wesleyan in nearly 10 years. Indiana Wesleyan defeated Illinois Tech 105-25 for an 80 point victory on November 1, 2003. That game marked the beginning of big things for Indiana Wesleyan as it was the first game in a Wildcat uniform for the senior class of Liz Howerth, Sarah McGill, Stephanie Culp, Katrina Spitler, and Katy Hinkle that won the 2007 NAIA DII national championship.

The 98 points is the most since the Wildcats scored 101 on December 10, 2011 at home versus Wilberforce (Ohio) University. Since the beginning of the 2003 season, it is the third most points scored for a Wildcat team.

Indiana Wesleyan shot 54.0-percent (34 of 63) on the evening as 13 Wildcats scored and seven players scored seven or more points. A total of 14 players competed on Tuesday and every one of them saw at least five minutes on the floor.

The game was never in doubt as Indiana Wesleyan scored the first 13 points. Goshen hit a free throw with 15:20 left in the first half for their first point and connected on their first field goal with 13:52 remaining.

Freshman guard Carlee Cottrell drilled a 3-pointer just after the midway point of the first half to give Indiana Wesleyan a 27-5 advantage. On three different occasions in the first half Indiana Wesleyan captured leads of 30 points. The first of those came on a basket by senior forward Paige Smith with 1:53 left before intermission. Senior guard Claire Ray hit a free throw to end the half as IWU took a 52-23 lead into halftime.

Indiana Wesleyan scored the first eight points of the second half to build a 60-23 lead. It took over four minutes for Goshen to score their first points of the second half. Over the final nine minutes of the game, Indiana Wesleyan outscored Goshen 17-3.

Five Wildcats scored in double figures, led by Ray with 16 points. She also added five assists and five steals in 26 minutes of action. Sophomore guard Emma Stahl was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field for 14 points and she finished with four assists and no turnovers. Smith added 13 points and sophomore forward Katrina Blackmon tallied 10.

Sophomore center Val Sohasky finished with a career-high 11 points as she was a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and 5-of-6 from the line. Sophomore guard Teneil Krebs added nine points while Cottrell had seven and freshman forward Sarah Heagy earned a career-best five points. The Indiana Wesleyan bench finished with 41 points compared to just 11 for Goshen.

The Wildcats continue to take care of the ball as they committed just seen turnovers. It was the third game this season IWU had seven or fewer turnovers in a game. On the other hand, the Maple Leafs turned the ball over 29 times while IWU had 16 steals.

Indiana Wesleyan takes to the road their next time out as they travel to Grant County rival No. 25 Taylor (Ind.) University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday night.