MARION, Ind. -- No. 21 Huntington (Ind.) defeated No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan University women’s basketball on Wednesday night by a 64-59 score in Luckey Arena.

The loss ends an 11-game win streak for Indiana Wesleyan and is their first loss in 13 Crossroads League games. Indiana Wesleyan is now 21-4 overall and 12-1 in the Crossroads League. IWU still holds a two game lead in the league with five games left to play. Huntington improves to 17-6 and 8-5 in league action.

“Hopefully this will wake us up,” said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Steve Brooks. “I would hope that this would cause us to think about that we have to come out and compete every game.”

The Wildcats shot 38.3-percent (23 of 60) as a team. IWU struggled to get production from the post as they combined to shoot 5-of-24 for a total of 11 points.

“We missed shots,” added Brooks. “Between our posts we were a combined 5-of-24. And we just didn’t defend. We did not do what we practiced to do. We practiced better and played better yesterday than we did today.”

The bright spots for Indiana Wesleyan were the play of Carlee Cottrell (JR/West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Emma Stahl (SR/Elkhart, Ind.). Cottrell scored a career-high 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting and 6-of-7 from beyond the arc. Stahl contributed 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.

“Carlee did a really good job,” stated Brooks. “She had a focus both offensively and defensively. She was by far our best player on the floor tonight.”

The first half featured 5 ties and 11 lead changes. Neither team led by more than five points as Indiana Wesleyan took a 31-29 lead into halftime.

The Wildcats led by as many as seven points early in the second half. Cottrell scored a layup off a Forester turnover to give the Wildcats a 44-37 cushion with 13:23 to play. But over the next seven minutes it was all Foresters as they went on a 13-0 run to lead 50-44 with 6:42 remaining.

Indiana Wesleyan responded with an 8-2 spurt to tie the score at 52 on a Cottrell basket with 4:35 left on the clock. But Huntington quickly scored the next five points to lead 57-52. Indiana Wesleyan would trim the deficit to 58-56 on a Stahl bucket with 1:17 remaining.

The Wildcats came up empty on their next two possessions and the Foresters connected on 6-of-8 free throw attempts to ice the game and win 64-59.

“We had mental break downs,” said Brooks. “Defensively we just broke down. They did a good job of doing what we didn’t want them to do, which was drive the baseline. We were helping but not recovering. We did not play well. And you can’t take anything away from Huntington as they did a nice job of competing.”

Huntington, the top free throw shooting team in NAIA Division II, hit 14-of-18 (77.8-percent) from the free throw line while Indiana Wesleyan was 5-of-6 (83.3-percent). IWU went to the line just once in the second half.

The game was a Black Out Game as Indiana Wesleyan brought attention to the issue of human trafficking. The team has worked this week to bring attention to human trafficking and to bring people to the game to 'Take a Stand.' Between chapel, time in the student center, and a love offering taken at halftime of the game, a grand total of $4,700 was raised which will be used by Destiny Rescue to save three girls from human trafficking.

Indiana Wesleyan returns to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday in a home game vs. Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio).