MARION, Ind. -- Luckey Arena was treated to a hotly contested women’s basketball game on Saturday afternoon that featured the past two national champions in Indiana Wesleyan University and Saint Francis (Ind.).

No. 5-ranked Indiana Wesleyan, the 2013 NAIA Division II national champion, pulled out the home victory by a 53-50 margin to improve to 9-1 this season and 3-0 in the Crossroads League. No. 8-ranked Saint Francis, the 2014 national champion, falls to 10-3 and 2-1 in league play.

“I was proud of our perseverance,” said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Steve Brooks. “This was not an easy game to play in today.”

The Wildcats made it seem easy in the first half today as the defense dominated play. IWU led by as many as 12 points in the opening half and a Teneil Krebs (SR/Bucyrus, Ohio) basket at the buzzer gave the Wildcats a 29-20 advantage at halftime.

Saint Francis was limited to just 28.0-percent (7 of 25) shooting in the opening half and were forced into 14 turnovers.

When the second half got underway it was all Saint Francis early. USF played a stifling defense while racing out to a 17-3 run to begin the half. Erika Isham (SR/Tekonsha, Mich.) scored the first points for Indiana Wesleyan in the half with 11:28 to play. The 17-3 run gave Saint Francis a 37-33 lead.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well at all,” said Brooks about the second half start. “We got some good looks but we just didn’t make them. At the start of the second half we missed three or four makeable layups. As far as execution goes, I think we did some right things but we just didn’t finish plays.”

“We were either fouling or letting them score which enabled them to make up the nine point deficit and eventually go ahead,” continued Brooks. “It made for a very interesting finish.”

The Cougars earned their largest lead of the day at 42-36 with 7:24 on the clock. But a 7-1 Wildcat spurt over the next two minutes brought the game to a 43-43 tie.

With the game knotted up at 49, Indiana Wesleyan had Katrina Blackmon (SR/Marion, Ind.) and Erika Isham foul out on offensive foul calls in back-to-back possessions with less than two minutes to go.

USF’s Akyah Taylor, who is seventh in the country in scoring with 21.6 points per game, hit one of two free throws to give Saint Francis a 50-49 lead with 1:10 left. But Teneil Krebs answered with a field on a second chance opportunity to put Indiana Wesleyan back in front 51-50.

“Teneil played to win the game today,” stated Brooks. “I think in the second half when we started missing layups the pressure started to mount a little bit and we had some kids playing not to lose instead of playing to win. You can’t beat a quality opponent like that. Today Teneil was in the huddle and you could see it. She was playing basketball to win and I was thankful she made the plays that she did.”

Saint Francis committed a turnover which would lead to two free throws for Jessica Brown (JR/Greenfield, Ind.) with 17 second on the clock. Brown hit both for a 53-50 advantage. USF brought the ball down the court looking to tie the game with a 3-pointer but an errant pass gave the ball back to IWU with 8.1 seconds left.

Brown got the ball on the inbounds play and was fouled again with 6.7 seconds left. She missed the free throw on the one-and-one chance as Saint Francis grabbed the rebound and rushed down the floor. A pass to the top of the key was intercepted by Brown and she ran out the clock to secure the victory.

Krebs led Indiana Wesleyan with 11 points while Blackmon contributed nine points. Chelsea Winner (SO/Maria Stein, Ohio), Carlee Cottrell (JR/West Bloomfield, Mich.), and Brown each added six points.

Defensively, Saint Francis was limited to 33.3-percent (17 of 51) shooting for the day and they committed 23 turnovers.

“I thought our defensive effort was really good all day,” said Brooks. “Akayah Taylor is a special talent at our level and so is Brooke Ridley. We wanted to try to limit them because we aren’t going to eliminate them. And we didn’t.”

Taylor finished with 25 points on 8-of-23 shooting while Ridley added 12 points.

Indiana Wesleyan will next play at the Union College Classic in Barbourville, Kentucky. IWU plays IU Southeast at 6 p.m. on Friday and then plays Alice Lloyd (Ky.) next Saturday at 2 p.m.