Goshen, IN — Saturday’s Mid-Central Conference women’s basketball match-up with the Huntington College Foresters was slated to begin at 1 p.m. in the Roman Gingerich Center.

Unfortunately, the Goshen College women’s basketball team was late in arriving.

True, the Leafs were physically on the court for the contest’s tip off, but Goshen’s collective game was elsewhere: Huntington opened the game with an 18 to four run before building a 33-16 lead at halftime, as the contest was essentially decided in leading to a 59-42 Forester win.

“We struggled offensively to start the game and lost this in the first half when we only managed to score 16 points on five of 24 shooting (20.8 percent),” said Steve Wiktorowski, Goshen head coach. “We played them even in scoring in the second half and held them under 60 points for the game. We had some of our best effort in rebounding and play from our bench people of the entire year, we just struggled to establish any scoring either inside or outside, and didn’t get as many points from the free throw line as we usually do.”

The 16-point first-half total was the lowest scoring output in any half for any Goshen team under third-year coach Wiktorowski, while the visiting Foresters took full advantage of the Leafs’ offensive woes. Huntington connected on 15 of 29 first-half attempts from the field (51.7) in cruising to the 17-point halftime advantage.

The Foresters opened the second half of play with a similar burst, going on a nine to two run to push its lead to 44-21, the largest advantage of the game. Goshen (8-12, 1-5) would whittle that lead back to the original halftime deficit at the game’s conclusion but would get no closer. It was the fourth consecutive MCC defeat for the Leafs, but Wiktorowski said he believes his team is still getting better.

“We have been making progress in a lot of important areas lately except for putting numbers on the scoreboard,” he said. “Hopefully that will come around as the rest of our game continues to improve.”

Goshen was led by senior Erin McDugle’s 14 points on four of 12 shooting from the field to go with a game-high seven boards. Classmate Candice Williams finished with seven points and four rebounds, while junior Jenn Rupp scored six points to go with three rebounds. Sophomore Danielle Haney finished with five points and five rebounds before fouling out. Goshen outrebounded Huntington by a 35 to 24 count — including a 12 to eight advantage on the offensive glass — but could only convert on one of 16 three-point tries (6.3 percent) in the loss.

“I thought (senior) Kortney Hanson and (freshman) Kelsy McKee did a very respectable job holding their two scoring guards to 17 points,” Wiktorowski said. “Erin McDugle worked very hard on both ends trying to keep us in it. Danielle Haney probably had her best overall game of the year. Jennifer Rupp, (junior) Ashley Woodlee, and (freshman) Sarah Arnold all gave us a big lift, especially with their full court defense in the first half.”

The tasks will get no easier for the Leafs in their next conference game, as 12th-ranked Taylor University will visit the Roman Gingerich Center on Wednesday night. Game time is set for 7 p.m.