Goshen, IN — It has become an eerily recurring scenario for Goshen head coach Steve Wiktorowski, an oddity that he has not grown to like one bit: After taking an early lead and playing well, his team has fallen victim to unexplainable lapses, giving the opposition a chance to open up unrecoverable leads. Such was the case again Wednesday night in the Roman Gingerich Center, as a 16-7 Goshen lead with 11:14 remaining in the first half could not be sustained. Visiting Mid-Central Conference foe Spring Arbor University closed the period with a 27 to five run, taking a 34-21 lead at the intermission and never looking back. The Cougars went on to win by a 73-57 count.

“Shooting percentages really told the story tonight,” Wiktorowski said following the loss. “We got 10 more shots but they shot 61 percent to our 32 percent from the floor. Their big post players forced us to shoot from out a lot and so we took a lot of threes, but only made 30 percent. With their size and penetration they were able to get more high percentage shots closer to the basket.”

True, Spring Arbor did connect on 28 of 46 shots on the night (60.9 percent) while Goshen made 18 of 56 (32.1 percent), but it was the first half slump that again sealed the Leafs’ fate. Even with the Cougars connecting on a ridiculous 15 of 21 shots from the floor in the second half (71.4 percent), Wiktorowski’s team was only outscored by just three points in the latter period. In Goshen’s last four losses, the team has been outscored by 70 points in first halves alone. In the second halves of those defeats, the opposition has only outdone Goshen by a total of nine points.

“We got off to a great start tonight, and then as has often seemed the case, we went through a terrible dry spell the last 10 minutes of the first half,” Wiktorowski said. “The last few games that has happened, and so we end up playing fairly even for 30 minutes but then really pay for those 10-minute scoring droughts.”

Wednesday against Spring Arbor, it appeared the trend might change for Goshen (10-15, 2-8). Leafs’ senior Erin McDugle opened the game by burying a three-pointer, and Wiktorowski’s team quickly built an 8-0 lead with three and a half minutes gone in the first period. Goshen built its largest lead (16-7) at the 11:14 mark, but then things went bad in a hurry.

Three straight Goshen turnovers followed by six straight missed shots helped Spring Arbor to a 23-16 cushion, when a made layup by sophomore Danielle Haney finally ended the drought for the Leafs. Senior Kortney Hanson’s made three-pointer with 1:38 on the game clock was the only points Goshen would score after Haney’s bucket, however, as the team went on to shoot just nine of 27 in the first period (33.3 percent).

Wiktorowski’s team was able to get to the free throw line at a much better rate in the second half — a 12 for 17 effort (70.6 percent) after a zero for two performance in the first period — and stayed close to Spring Arbor as a byproduct. While the Cougars did build a 24-point lead with 12:16 to play (56-32), Goshen eventually narrowed the gap to 13 points at the 7:03 mark (60-47). Unfortunately for the Leafs, that’s as close as the team would get. Spring Arbor would go on to miss just one shot from the field in the final seven minutes of play, eventually closing out with the 16-point win.

Senior Candice Williams led Wiktorowski’s team in scoring, notching 21 points to go with five boards on eight of 17 shooting from the floor. Freshman Kelsy McKee tallied 11 points on a three for six effort from the three-point arc, while Hanson finished with eight points. McDugle, who suffered a sprained knee late in the first half, finished with seven points on a one for five shooting effort. She returned to action in the second half. Her status is day to day, according to Goshen College athletic trainers.

“Candice Williams played one of her best all-around games of the season,” Wiktorowski said. “She was aggressive on offense, only had two turnovers and worked really hard at defense and rebounding. We really need her to continue that level of play. Erin McDugle’s injury during the first half really hurt us during that tough stretch. Kelsy McKee hit some big threes in the second half and (junior) Ashley Woodlee gave us some good minutes off the bench. We are going through a tough stretch, but this team continues to amaze me by their tremendous effort and attitude.”

Things will get no easier for the team, as 25th-ranked Marian College will visit the Roman Gingerich Center on Saturday. Game time is set for 1 p.m.