MARION, Ind. -- No. 4-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University women’s basketball struggled all afternoon from the field as top-ranked Saint Francis (Ind.) won the NAIA Division II Game of the Week in Luckey Arena by a 73-57 outcome.

The Wildcats shot just 33.8-percent (22 of 65) from the field and 16.0-percent (4 of 25) from 3-point range. The lack of consistent shooting poured over into their free throws at the Wildcats managed to hit at a 52.9-percent (9 of 17) clip.

“There are things we could have done and should have done better,” said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Steve Brooks. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. When you look at all our players only Val Sohasky and Erika Isham shot the ball over 50-percent. When you shoot 33-percent that is a tough thing to overcome and when you shoot 52-percent from the free throw line you are not helping yourself.”

Indiana Wesleyan (19-5, 9-3 CL) managed to take 18 more field goal attempts then Saint Francis and forced 19 USF turnovers to just 11 for IWU. But Saint Francis forced their way to the free throw line 35 times and out-rebounded Indiana Wesleyan 43-33.

“That’s a big discrepancy to try and make up against the best team in the country,” Brooks said about the free throws. “We just didn’t do it. They probably had 10 of those free throws at the end of the game but it is hard to overcome that difference against a team like Saint Francis.”

Saint Francis (24-0, 12-0 CL) matched Indiana Wesleyan with four 3-point field goals made. The difference was 14 attempts for USF while IWU took 25.

“We shouldn’t be shooting that many 3’s,” continued Brooks. “But we were behind and probably a lot of those were shot at the end of the game trying to close the gap in a hurry. We didn’t shoot the ball well, period. You would think you would shoot better at home and we didn’t.”

Jessica Harrison scored with 12 minutes left in the first half to put Saint Francis in the lead at 11-10. Indiana Wesleyan would tie the score on two occasions shortly thereafter but never regained possession of the lead.

The Cougars went into halftime up eight points (31-23) and pushed that advantage to 18 points at 47-29 with 11:18 left to play. The Wildcats trimmed the lead to as few as 11 points on four different occasions in the final nine minutes but were unable to cut it to single digits.

“We never put any pressure on them,” stated Brooks. “We never made a run on them and got the game close where they may not be playing as relaxed as they would if there was some pressure. We never got it to that point. Shots weren’t falling and some of that was there defense.”

Katrina Blackmon paced Indiana Wesleyan with 15 points and 4 rebounds while Val Sohasky had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Carlee Cottrell came off the bench to score 11 points with three 3-pointers. Taylor Goshert finished with eight points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals while Emma Stahl contributed seven assists.

Saint Francis shot 40.4-percent (19 of 47) for the game and 88.6-percent (31 of 35) from the foul line. Skylarr Shurn led all players with 28 points and Brooke Ridley had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Shurn was 13-of-14 from the foul line while Ridley blocked 6 shots.

Indiana Wesleyan has another big game in front of them as they travel to No. 24-ranked Huntington (Ind.) on Wednesday in Huntington, Indiana. The two teams are tied for second place in the Crossroads League standings with 9-3 records.