WINONA LAKE, Ind. - In a defensive slugfest, Grace's women's basketball team pulled off the major upset of top-ranked Indiana Wesleyan and handed the Wildcats their first conference loss of the season with a 41-39 victory on Wednesday.

The Lady Lancers (14-9; 6-5 MCC) could only hit one-quarter of their shot attempts in the game, but they put on a defensive clinic in holding the Wildcats (21-2; 10-1 MCC) to 20 or fewer points in each half.

"Our defensive effort has been very good the past few games, but we just weren't finding our rhythm offensively," said head coach Scott Blum. "We emphasized before the game that we have to keep our defensive intensity. We hit some big clutch shots at the end, but defensively, that was the best effort we've given all year."

Both teams found points hard to come by in the first half as Indiana Wesleyan got on the board first with a bucket three minutes into the game.

Through the first 12 minutes of play, the Lady Lancers were stuck with only four points to their credit. But the Wildcats found things almost as hard to come by on their end of the floor.

The teams entered the half with Indiana Wesleyan ahead 19-11 due in large part to a 10-0 advantage from the free throw line. Indiana Wesleyan was whistled for zero fouls in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Grace's offense finally began to pick up after halftime. The Lady Lancers hit 3-pointers in crucial junctions in the final period, and Juaneice Jackson drilled back-to-back triples to bring Grace back to within one point with 7:32 to play.

Hayley Cashier gave Grace its first lead of the game with an old-fashioned 3-point play to make the score 31-30 with six minutes remaining.

Another 3-pointer by Hannah Lengel put the Lady Lancers clear by four points, but the Wildcats proved their ranking by converting on two straight offensive possessions to retake the lead 37-36 with 3:49 left.

On the next play, Cashier drew a foul while cutting through the lane and made both ends of the one-and-one free throws to give Grace the lead for good.

Grace held Indiana Wesleyan nearly scoreless over the final three minutes and added three more points from the charity stripe from Lengel and Kiera Gray.

After a few Wildcat misses from beyond the arc, Paige Smith made a layup with 0.3 seconds remaining to cut Grace's lead to two, but it was too late to stave off the upset.

Lengel led all scorers with 11 points with three 3-point baskets, and Jackson added eight of her 10 points in the second half.

Jayla Starks made several hustle plays and finished with eight rebounds and two blocks.

Overall, Grace outrebounded Indiana Wesleyan by four. The Lady Lancers made only 13-of-52 attempts from the floor but held Indiana Wesleyan to 33-percent shooting as well. The Wildcats also turned the ball over 18 times.

The win snaps a 10-game losing streak to the Wildcats, dating back to the 2005-06 season.

Grace will take on another ranked opponent on Saturday when they travel to No. 22 Huntington University for a 3 p.m. tipoff.