MARION, Ind. -- Career-game efforts from Katrina Blackmon (SR/Marion, Ind.) and Chelsea Winner (SO/Maria Stein, Ohio) paced No. 6-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University women’s basketball in a 67-54 victory over visiting Grace (Ind.) inside Luckey Arena.

“This was a home league game and we needed to win it,” said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Steve Brooks. “It’s wasn’t pretty but we got the ‘W’ and that was what the end goal was. We can be happy with that.”

Blackmon had a career-high and game-high 21 points. She was 6-of-7 from the floor and 9-of-13 from the free throw line. Blackmon also pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds and tied for team honors with three assists. Winner also finished with a new career-high of 18 points. She hit on 7-of-10 shots and blocked two Lancer shot attempts.

“They competed very hard,” Brooks said of Blackmon and Winner. “Our whole team did tonight and they did a better job of focusing on the game in the second half.”

Indiana Wesleyan (20-3, 11-0 CL) opened the game with the first five points en route to a 24-12 lead with 7:16 left in the first half. But Grace stormed back to close out the half with a 14-4 run. The Indiana Wesleyan lead was just 28-26 at the break.

Grace (12-11, 5-6 CL) pulled even with Indiana Wesleyan on the first possession of the second half. But Indiana Wesleyan reeled off the next five points to lead 33-28.

The Lancers trimmed the deficit to one point at 35-34 with 17:00 on the clock. The Wildcats then went on a 15-4 run to extend the advantage to 50-38 with 12:28 remaining. The Lancers narrowed the gap to 56-49 before the Wildcats went on a 9-2 run to gain a 14 point lead at 65-51. A Blackmon free throw with 1:20 to play gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the night at 74-56.

“Our kids responded at halftime,” stated Brooks. “I thought we did a better job of attacking the basket and putting them in situations where fouls could be called. We wanted to be more patient offensively then see the game and attack. And I thought we did a better job of that.”

Emma Stahl (SR/Elkhart, Ind.) joined Blackmon and Winner in double digits with 10 points. Jessica Brown (JR/Greenfield, Ind.) and Kelsey Key (SO/Anderson, Ind.) came off the bench and each added seven points.

Indiana Wesleyan shot 57.4-percent in the game on 27-of-47 shooting. IWU was exceptionally good in the second half where they hit on 15-of-24 attempts (62.5-percent). There were 16 assists to just 13 turnovers and 8 Wildcats had at least one assist.

Meanwhile, Grace was held to 34.4-percent (22 of 64) shooting and 15.4-percent (2 of 13) shooting from beyond the arc. They were led by Allison Kauffman with 18 points and 11 rebounds plus Kelsie Peterson with 15 points.

The win is the 20th this season for the Wildcats. IWU has now won 20 or more games in 14 straight seasons dating back to 2001-02.

Indiana Wesleyan will travel to Fort Wayne, Indiana on Saturday for a top-10 showdown with No. 7-ranked Saint Francis. Tip-off will be at 1 p.m.