Winona Lake, IN — Behind a sound defensive effort and solid play throughout the lineup, the Goshen College women’s basketball team defeated Grace College 63-46 in Winona Lake, Ind. Wednesday night, finishing the first half of the Mid-Central Conference schedule in strong fashion. Goshen limited the Lancers to just 15 for 59 shooting (25.4 percent) on the night, while burying one of every two shots it took from the field (21 of 42, 50 percent) in the squad’s second MCC win of the year.

“Hopefully this will give us some confidence in our offensive abilities, and we can begin to play more consistent basketball,” said Steve Wiktorowski, Goshen head coach. “We can be competitive in the second half of conference if we can do that.”

Goshen (10-13, 2-6) used a smothering man to man defense in the first half of play Wednesday night to limit Grace to just seven first-half field goals en route to opening a comfortable 34-18 cushion at the intermission. The Leafs held Lancers’ leading scorer Amber Riffel without a point in the first 20 minutes of play, and connected on 13 of their last 17 shots in the period to garner a 16-point halftime advantage.

“I thought that our first half play was the key to our win tonight,” Wiktorowski said. “We played strong defense, moved the ball well on offense and got some easy points in transition. Our offense was more inconsistent in the second half, but our defense remained difficult to play against.”

Grace could only cut Goshen’s lead to 12 points on two different occasions in the second period, as Wiktorowski employed a zone defense that kept the Lancers nearly as off-target as the Leafs’ man to man scheme. Grace knocked in just eight of 31 attempts in the latter 20 minutes (25.8 percent) and made just three of 18 from three-point land on the night (16.7 percent).

Meanwhile, Goshen continued to be efficient enough on the offensive end. While the Leafs did only convert on eight of 18 shots in the second half (44.4 percent), Wiktorowski’s team buried three of seven second-half three-point attempts (42.9 percent) and got to the free throw line 17 times in the second stanza. The Leafs outrebounded Grace by a 39 to 31 difference, while Goshen’s subs outscored the Lancers’ bench by an 11 to two count.

“We did a nice job in the second half of limiting them in large part to just one outside shot when they weren’t shooting well,” Wiktorowski said. “I was also happy with how our bench players maintained a high level of play when they were in the game.”

Freshman Kelsy McKee led the Leafs in scoring on the night, notching 15 points on a five for nine shooting effort that included a three for five clip from behind the arc. She also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Senior Candice Williams scored 13 points, while classmate Erin McDugle chipped in nine. Freshman Sarah Arnold played perhaps her most complete game to date, scoring eight points and dishing out seven assists to just one turnover in 33 minutes of play. Senior Kortney Hanson scored seven points, while the Leaf bench scored 11 by committee: Not one sub scored more than four points in the win.

“I was very happy with how our two starting freshmen guards stepped up their level of play in the conference tonight,” Wiktorowski said. “McKee shot the ball with confidence and Arnold ran the offense and broke the press with confidence. McKee, McDugle and Williams all rebounded well, and Williams was the key to our effective zone defense in the second half.”

The 17-point victory marked the second consecutive win for Goshen, the fourth such streak of the season for the Leafs. Wiktorowski’s team will now look to win three straight games for the first time of the year on Monday, when the team will travel to 26th-ranked University of St. Francis. Game time is set for 7 p.m. (Note: This is a postponement from the originally scheduled date of Saturday, Jan. 22. This change is a result of the severe winter storm that hit northern Indiana late Friday night and early Saturday morning.)