Mishawaka, IN — Saturday afternoon in the Wiekamp Center on the campus of Bethel College, the Goshen College women’s basketball team played 32 minutes of solid, competitive basketball.

It was the other eight minutes that made things tough.

Goshen (5-22, 1-12) could not overcome an eight-minute scoreless stretch in the second half to sweep the host Pilots on the season, falling to Bethel by a 64-82 score. The Pilots used an 18 to nothing run early in the second half to turn a 44-40 advantage into a 62-40 lead, effectively knocking out Goshen’s hopes with the stretch.

“I didn’t think the score was very indicative of how competitively we played today,” said Steve Wiktorowski, Goshen head coach. “They hit a three at the buzzer to take a six-point lead at the half, and we played them pretty even for most of the second half except for that eight-minute stretch where they went on their run. But we regrouped after that and finished strong at the end. So, after struggling offensively against (Indiana) Wesleyan on Wednesday (click here for recap), I thought our offense was more productive and balanced, especially for a road game against our biggest rival who was ready for us after we had beaten them earlier this year.”

Bethel surely had Goshen’s Jan. 4, 69-57 win (click here for recap) on its collective mind from the outset, as the Pilots opened the game with full-court pressure that forced turnovers on five of Goshen’s first six possessions. The Pilots shot out to an 8-2 lead as a result, but Wiktorowski’s team did not panic. Bolstered by the hot shooting of junior Danielle Haney, Goshen captured a 14-13 lead with 14:13 remaining in the half. Haney finished the period shooting three of four from the field — including two of three from long range — in scoring eight points.

Bethel claimed as much as a seven-point lead on two different occasions in the first half, but Goshen would not wilt. Timely three pointers from sophomore Kelsy McKee trimmed the Pilots’ lead back to four on both instances, keeping the game close. A layup from McKee with 2:37 to play in the first half and a jumper by Haney with :57 remaining cut Bethel’s lead to just three points, but a trey with just five seconds left pushed the Pilots’ lead to 37-31 at the intermission.

“We had anticipated that they would try to press us hard this time, which they did, but we handled it fairly well and they took it off early,” Wiktorowski said. “However, we still struggle with too many turnovers in the half court. We had a pretty good shooting performance, but like Wesleyan, they were able to attempt too many more shots than we did.”

Bethel enjoyed a 19 to four advantage in points off of turnovers in the first period, thanks in large part to Goshen’s 16 first-half mistakes (the Leafs would finish with a total 26 turnovers on the afternoon).

In the second half, Bethel was able to take the game away solely to the Leafs’ scoring difficulties from the 16:32 mark until the 8:37 clip, where the team did not score a point. Goshen opened the second period with a pair of three pointers to cut Bethel’s lead to just four points — 44-40 with 16:32 remaining — but the offense would run dry at that point. Wiktorowski’s team missed its next six shots from the field and turned the ball over four times in the game’s next eight minutes, giving the Pilots more than enough opportunity to put together a run. When the drought finally concluded — McKee buried a three-ball at the 8:37 point — Bethel had completed on an 18 to nothing run and captured a 62-40 lead.

McKee’s three finally got things going again for Goshen, but the difference was simply too great to overcome. A 10 to four Leafs’ run from the 4:27 mark to the 1:23 point cut Bethel’s 72-54 lead to just 76-64, but it would be as close as the Leafs would get. The Pilots made their last four free throws of the afternoon to push the final to 82-64.

Bethel attempted 16 more shots from the floor than Goshen, knocking in 31 of 65 (47.7 percent) compared to the Leafs’ 24 of 49 effort (49 percent). Goshen’s second-half drought was well-reflected in the stats, as Bethel shot 57.1 percent from the floor in the second period (16 of 28) while the Leafs cooled to 42.3 percent (11 of 26). Bethel used Goshen’s misses in the latter period to spark the fast break, as the Pilots outscored Goshen by a 17 to zero count in transition over the last 20 minutes of play.

Sophomore Carly Feldman was again a leader on the floor for Wiktorowski, scoring 17 points to go with a game-high 14 rebounds. She also had three assists. Freshman Rachel Canen also scored 17 on a six for 12 shooting performance, while McKee finished with 14 points. Haney finished with eight total points, while sophomore Sarah Arnold did not score but dished out six assists. Bethel was able to convert 12 of 23 tries from three-point land in the win (52.2 percent) while Goshen knocked in 11 of 24 from deep (45.8 percent).

“Feldman was very strong inside, and if anything, was too unselfish as she passed up some shots,” Wiktorowski said. “Our offensive production from the perimeter was much better today with strong shooting performances from McKee, Canen, (sophomore) Jess Buller and Danielle Haney. Sarah Arnold, Haney and McKee made (Bethel guards Abby) Noll and (Natalie) Young work hard for their points, but they had a lot of other people step up as they put five people in double figures. When they have that kind of balance and bench production, they are difficult to defend. So that was why, except for that one stretch, I was fairly pleased with our overall play today.”

After playing three of its last four Mid-Central Conference games on the road, Goshen returns to the Roman Gingerich Center for a brief homestand, as the team will next host Huntington University on Wednesday night. Game time is set for 7 p.m.