MARION, Ind. -- No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan University women’s basketball led by as many as 48 points this afternoon as they would defeat visiting Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 85-53 in Luckey Arena.

The Wildcats defense was dominant most of the game and gave the Cougars fits. The Cougars were limited to just four made field goals through the first 33 minutes of the game. MVNU scored six field goals in the last 6:43 of the afternoon.

“I was proud of our first seven or eight kids that got in there,” said Wildcat head coach Steve Brooks. “They came in and really battled and gave us that kind of an effort.”

Indiana Wesleyan (15-3, 5-1 CL) never trailed throughout the game and Mount Vernon Nazarene was able to force a tie on two occasions. Ten seconds after Mount Vernon Nazarene tied the score at 2-2, Taylor Goshert connected on an old-fashion 3-point play.

The second tie came at 5-5. From that point on, Indiana Wesleyan went on an 8-0 run and never looked back. MVNU (1-14, 0-6 CL) did not score a point for nearly seven minutes during the stretch. IWU closed the opening half on a 15-4 run to take a 43-18 lead into the locker room.

Indiana Wesleyan scored 17 of the first 19 points to begin the second half to lead 61-20. The runs to end the first half and open the second half totaled a 32-6 Indiana Wesleyan advantage. The lead would remain over 40 points until less than two minutes was left. On three different occasions IWU held a 48 point advantage.

“Our kids came out ready to play,” stated Brooks. “This was a hard game to play in. They knew Mount Vernon Nazarene is a young team and they have struggled. But I thought our kids came out ready to compete and did a good job.”

Taylor Goshert led the way for the Wildcats today with a game-high 24 points. She did most of her damage in the first half with 21 points as she played just five minutes in the second half. Goshert finished 7-of-10 from the floor with 3 baskets from range. She was a perfect 7-of-7 from the foul line and added 4 rebounds and 2 steals.

The only other Wildcat in double figures was Sarah Heagy off the bench with a career-high 10 points. She was 4-of-4 shooting with 2 free throws made.

All 16 Wildcats played with 13 of them seeing 10 or more minutes. Everyone saw more than six minutes of action and 13 players scored.

Indiana Wesleyan shot 59.2-percent (29 of 49) from the field and 84.0-percent (21 of 25) from the charity stripe. Mount Vernon Nazarene was held to 37.9-percent (11 of 29) overall as they shot 20.0-percent (3 of 15) in the opening half. MVNU did go to the line 37 times and connected on 30 shots for an 81.1-percent afternoon.

Indiana Wesleyan will travel to Upland on Wednesday in a Grant County battle at Taylor (Ind.) in Odle Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.