Goshen, IN — Playing in its first post-Christmas holiday game Thursday night at the Roman Gingerich Center, the Goshen College women’s basketball team secured a 55-54 win over Siena Heights University, snapping a 14-game losing skid in dramatic fashion.

Goshen (2-14, 0-4) used a 48 to 27 rebounding advantage to help offset 29 committed turnovers in the win, as freshman Kendra Fights came up with the best effort of her career to date — 19 points and 10 rebounds — including the game-winning layup to seal the needed win.

“I was very happy with winning a game that we could have easily lost,” said Steve Wiktorowski, Goshen head coach. “We did a good job of forcing (Siena Heights) to shoot from outside and gained a big 48-27 rebounding advantage. It was the best job of rebounding we’ve done all year. That helped us to overcome some turnover problems.”

Wiktorowski’s team was able to collect nearly twice as many boards as the Saints thanks in large part to a skewed amount of possessions for each team, as the Leafs’ 29 turnovers helped Siena Heights to 16 more shots from the field than Goshen attempted. Unfortunately for the Saints, they were only able to connect on 20 of those 66 attempts (30.3 percent), and Goshen made sure that second-chance opportunities were limited: The Leafs held Siena Heights to just 10 offensive rebounds, an impressive stat considering Goshen collected 12 o-boards of its own off of a 21 for 50 shooting performance on the night (42 percent).

With Siena Heights getting far more chances at their basket, Goshen’s defense became key as the game wore on. The Leafs claimed a 27-22 halftime advantage in large part to their defensive prowess, as the Saints were only able to convert eight of their 31 first-half attempts from the field (25.8 percent) compared to Goshen’s 11 for 27 performance (40.7 percent).

Siena Heights came out of the locker room determined at the start of the second half, putting together a 20 to nine run in the period’s first eight minutes to grab a 42-36 lead, the Saints’ largest of the game. Goshen was able to tie the game at 42-42 at the 10:09 mark, setting up a final 10 minutes that would see Siena Heights capture four-point leads on three different occasions.

Wiktorowski’s squad would not go away.

After Siena Heights grabbed a 50-46 lead with 7:14 to play, it appeared the Saints had their best chance of taking control of the game. Goshen came up empty on its next six possessions, giving what appeared to be a golden opportunity to the visitors. Again, however, the Leafs’ defense rose to the challenge. Goshen forced Siena Heights to miss its next seven shots, including forcing a pair of turnovers, holding the Saints at bay long enough to withstand the dry spell of its own. By the time Siena Heights had added to its total, Goshen had connected on a jumper from sophomore Jess Buller and a layup by Fights to tie the game at 50-50.

Siena Heights reclaimed its lead on a layup at the 2:25 mark, and following a Goshen turnover, knocked in a jumper with 1:27 remaining to take a 54-50 lead. It was on the Leafs’ next possession that sophomore Kesly McKee came up huge, ringing her third three-pointer of the night to cut the lead to a single point. Following consecutive turnovers by each team, Goshen was able to clear the boards after a pair of Siena Heights attempts in the paint were off. With just 19 seconds remaining on the game clock, sophomore Sarah Arnold found Fights inside for the go-ahead bucket. The Saints’ final shots from the field did not fall — the team got two looks thanks to another late Goshen turnover — and the Leafs had survived for their first win since the first game of the season.

Adding to the impressive nature was the fact that Goshen was without recent leading scorer Rachel Canen (freshman), who sat out in street clothes due to a knee sprain. It is expected that she will return to the lineup in the next few days.

“We were down four points late, McKee hit a big three, we played good defense and got the ball back, then Fights made a tough shot inside for the win. It was a good win for us in a lot of ways, but especially because we were without Rachel Canen. A lot of people did positive things for us tonight, which you have to have anytime someone is out.”

Fights’ 19 and 10 were game-highs, but she had plenty of help in the win. McKee finished with 13 points on five of 12 shooting, while junior Danielle Haney provided eight points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes of work. Buller scored four points and grabbed eight rebounds, while sophomore Carly Feldman tallied seven and five in 22 minutes of action. Freshman Troyanna Scott also grabbed seven boards and scored four points, while Arnold dished out four assists to go with six rebounds.

“Carly Feldman got us off to a nice start offensively in the paint before getting into foul trouble,” Wiktorowski said. “Sarah Arnold did a nice job of directing the offense and McKee shot the ball well from outside. Fights is playing very aggressively and with confidence, but our bench was the big key. Haney played extremely well on both ends and got some huge offensive rebounds when we needed it. Troyanna Scott also made a big contribution when Feldman was in foul trouble in the second half. Now we have little time to recover before having to play again Friday afternoon. We’ll give it our best shot.”

Goshen will have less than 24 hours to rest before returning to the Roman Gingerich Center hardwood, as Tri-State University will visit Friday afternoon. Game time is set for 4 p.m.