Goshen, IN — With a strong defensive effort, a respectable shooting clip and a dominant performance on the glass, the Goshen College women’s basketball team had every right to be in a position to win against Mid-Central Conference rival Huntington University Wednesday night.

Turnovers were more than enough to swipe that liberty away.

Goshen (5-23, 1-13) committed 30 turnovers in a 48-64 loss to the visiting Foresters at the Roman Gingerich Center Wednesday night, the team’s third highest error mark on the season and its highest in MCC competition this year. Nineteen of those mistakes came in the first half, as the Leafs watched an early lead dissipate thanks to a lack of taking care of the ball.

“Turnovers continue to be a huge problem for us,” said Steve Wiktorowski, Goshen head coach. “We held one of the better offensive teams in the conference to a manageable score, but we could never get into any kind of offensive flow because of mistakes with the ball. That led to us putting too much pressure on our shooting and defense with our ball handling miscues, and we couldn’t sustain anything offensively.”

Wiktorowski’s team responded well after Huntington opened the contest with a three-point basket, taking a 13-9 lead after nine minutes had elapsed. It was shortly thereafter that the sloppiness ensued, however, as Goshen committed 14 of its 19 first-half turnovers in the period’s final 9:43, allowing the Foresters to turn a 13-9 Goshen advantage into a 28-18 Huntington lead at the intermission. The Foresters’ 19 to five run to close the half was aided at one point by 10 consecutive Goshen turnovers — a series of errors that consumed nearly five minutes of clock. A layup by freshman Troyanna Scott finally ended the calamity at the 4:51 mark, but by then Huntington was beginning to churn offensively: The Foresters closed the period making four of its last six shots from the field, helping to build its largest lead of the first half at the break.

After using the halftime hiatus to calm down, Wiktorowski’s team battled hard in the latter 20 minutes. An opening three-ball from sophomore Kelsy McKee cut the Foresters’ lead to just seven points, a gap Goshen would pull to on four different occasions. Sadly for Leafs’ fans, Huntington had an answer almost every time, keeping Goshen down by at least that margin for the remainder of the contest. The Leafs’ best chance of closing the gap came at the 13:43 mark, when a jumper by freshman Kendra Fights made it a 37-30 Huntington lead. Goshen was able to force a pair of turnovers and a missed shot on the Foresters’ next three offensive trips, but was unable to take advantage on its own end of the floor, committing a pair of turnovers in its own right before senior Jennifer Rupp missed a layup at the 12:12 point. Huntington finally responded with a made layup and three pointer on its next two possessions, taking a 42-30 lead with 11:56 to play. Despite a valiant effort, Goshen would get no closer than eight points the remainder of the way.

“I thought we rebounded well, especially in the first half, and competed hard, especially in the second half,” Wiktorowski said. “It just came down to taking care of the basketball. We even tried playing all perimeter players together most of the second half, but we could never sustain much on the offensive end.”

Goshen finished the night holding a 27 to 24 advantage in total rebounds, with a 10 to six lead on the offensive glass. The team also shot respectably from the field — a total 20 of 50, 40 percent — and kept a potent Huntington team in reasonable check (the Foresters finished 23 of 48 from the field on the night, 47.9 percent). The obvious difference was in turnovers, as the Leafs’ 30 errors were fewer than just two games on the year — Goshen committed 34 turns against Albion College on Nov. 26 and 33 against St. Petersburg College on Dec. 17. Goshen was able to force Huntington into 20 errors as well, but the Foresters’ aggressiveness paid off at the foul line, as the visitors made 14 of 15 charity tosses (93.3 percent) compared to Goshen’s three of six performance (50 percent).

McKee led Goshen in scoring with 14 points on a five of 14 shooting effort, including a four of eight clip from three-point land. Freshman Rachel Canen added 13 points on a five of nine shooting performance, while Fights chalked up nine points on four of five shooting. Scott provided six points and four rebounds (all of which came in the first half), while sophomore Carly Feldman grabbed a team-high seven rebounds but did not score. Feldman, suffering flu-like symptoms, was held scoreless for just the second time this season, a tough blow for Wiktorowski’s squad considering she had averaged 16.6 points per game in the Leafs’ last five contests.

“I thought Kelsy McKee shot the ball well from the arc and is beginning to display the kind of consistency as an all around player we have always expected from her,” Wiktorowski said. “Carly Feldman was battling the flu but played very hard despite that. Kendra Fights did some good things after having struggled somewhat lately. (Sophomore) Sarah Arnold worked hard defensively and ran the offense better tonight. Troyanna Scott gave us a big lift the first half with some tough baskets in the lane. These girls just continue to hang in there and battle every night, which as a coach makes me very proud and excited about their future.”

Goshen now finds itself needing to win its final two contests to have a chance at making the MCC Tournament, as only the top eight teams advance to the post-season from the nine-team league. The Leafs will conclude its home schedule on Saturday, when the team will host Taylor University on senior day. Game time is set for 1 p.m. For a complete look at the MCC Tournament scenarios and match up possibilities, click here.