MARION, IND. - No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan women's basketball picked up a win over Mount Vernon Nazarene on Saturday, defeating the Cougars 81-67. Grad Student Maddie Lawrence led the Wildcats with a season high 22 points and Taylor Folkema recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. IWU needs just one more win in the remaining two games or losses by Saint Francis and Marian to claim the Crossroads League regular season championship.
 

THE ESSENTIALS

• Location: Marion, Ind. | Luckey Arena
• Records: IWU: 25-1, 15-1 | MVNU: 14-12, 6-10
• NAIA Top-25 Rankings: IWU - #2 | MVNU - NR

WHAT HAPPENED

• The Cougars looked to make a statement early by taking an 11 point lead in the first 5 minutes of the opening quarter. The Wildcats responded and took a 3 point lead into the second quarter on an Izzy Reed three pointer with 7 seconds left.
• IWU took their biggest lead of the game with an Ellie Kelleher layup to put the red and gray up 11 at halftime.
• Indiana Wesleyan continued to to extend their lead in the second half, growing the lead to as much as 20 after Brea Garber knocked down her second triple of the game.
• MVNU cut into the Wildcat lead in the fourth quarter, bringing the lead down to 10 but were unable to bring the deficit to single digits  and IWU hit 6 straight free throws to ice the game.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 26: IWU got 26 points from their bench, led by 10 from Jade Nutley.
• 16: The Wildcats got 26 second chance points from 14 offensive rebounds.
• 44/40: Both teams found success in the paint with IWU finding a slight advantage with 44 paint points to MVNU's 40.

KEY WILDCATS

• Maddie Lawrence: 22 points, 6-15 FG, 4 rebounds
• Taylor Folkema: 13 points, 6-11 FG, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks
• Izzy Reed: 12 points, 4-8 FG, 7 rebounds

LOOKING AHEAD

• IWU heads to Goshen on Wednesday at 5:30 PM
• Links for video and live stats will be available at IWUWildcats.com

NEXT HOME GAME

• The Wildcats wrap up the regular season on February 22nd at home against #12 Marian at 1:00 PM
• Links for video and live stats will be available at IWUWildcats.com
• Tickets can be purchased at IWUWildcats.com

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