Upland, IN — At the conclusion of the first half of play Saturday against 19th-ranked Taylor University, the Goshen College women’s basketball team had scored one point fewer than it did in its entire game against Huntington College just three days earlier.

Needless to say, the team had vastly improved its offensive execution.

Even with an improved effort in shooting the ball, however, the Leafs could not pull out a win against a talented Trojan team, falling by a 58-80 score at Don J. Odle Gymnasium.

“We actually played much better offensively from both our last game on Wednesday as well as our last game with Taylor,” said Steve Wiktorowski, Goshen head coach. “Our outside shooting showed improvement, and we did a lot of positive things on the offensive end of the court. However, we had a lot of trouble keeping them from scoring inside, so it was tough to keep them from stretching their lead.”

Goshen (11-19, 3-12) began the game on the right note — with freshman Jess Buller draining a three-pointer — to give her team a 3-0 advantage from the start. The Leafs kept things close through the game’s first four minutes, but a 17 to nothing Taylor run over the next six minutes turned a 9-8 Goshen lead into a 25-9 Trojan advantage. A quick spurt led by seniors Erin McDugle and Candice Williams cut Taylor’s lead to 25-16 just two minutes later, but the host team would again respond. The Trojans closed the first half with a 12 to four run, turning an eight-point lead into a 40-24 advantage at the intermission.

Goshen did its best to make a move at Taylor in the second period, but the Trojans were simply too much. Taylor grabbed its largest lead of the game — a 63-40 lead — after 10 minutes had elapsed in the half, but Goshen would not give up. A 12 to nothing Leaf run over the game’s next three and a half minutes cut the lead to 11 points, but it was as close as Goshen would get. Taylor knocked in both free throws when fouled and field goals when the shot clock dissipated to seal the win.

McDugle led Goshen’s offensive charge, scoring 20 points on an eight for 12 performance from the floor which included a three for four effort from the three-point line. Freshman Kelsy McKee tallied 13 points, going three for five from deep. Classmate Carly Feldman scored four points to go with a team-high six rebounds, while senior Candice Williams chipped in seven points and a team-high six assists.

For the game, Goshen connected on 20 of 50 shots from the field (40 percent) and buried eight of 24 from three-point range (33.3 percent). Wiktorowski’s team forced 16 turnovers, but could not overcome Taylor’s 53.7 percent shooting clip on the night (29 for 54 from the field), led by Melanie Brumbaugh’s 31 points on a 13 of 15 performance.

“Brumbaugh hurt us inside today,” Wiktorowski said. “It seemed like when we had a smaller group in the game that could produce some offense, Taylor would give it right back to us in the lane. But, we competed very, very hard, especially in the second half. Besides McDugle’s and McKee’s offensive effort, I thought Jess Buller helped to get us off to a good start. I thought Carly had her best sustained play in a while. I also thought that (juniors) Ashley Woodlee and Jenn Rupp did a good job of getting the ball to open spots against their zone. Really, everyone did something positive to contribute in some way, which was important coming off a very poor showing at Huntington.”

Goshen will now enjoy a week off from Mid-Central Conference play, as the team has the bye for Wednesday night competition. The Leafs will close out MCC regular-season play — and the home portion of their schedule — next Saturday when Grace College will visit the Roman Gingerich Center. Goshen will honor its seniors before the game. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m.