Goshen, IN — It was a rough start for the Goshen College women’s basketball team Tuesday night against Indiana Tech, as the Leafs fell behind by a 15-0 score in the game’s first six minutes.

Unfortunately for the youthful team, that was just part of the problem.

Freshman Krystal Duensing suffered a moderate knee injury in practice Monday, depriving the team of its leading scorer and starting point guard for at least the next few weeks. Goshen College head athletic trainer Linda Kaminskis said that Duensing had suffered a subluxation of the kneecap, though x-rays taken Tuesday morning were negative.

“Krystal does not have any fractured bone, but now we’ll wait for the soft tissue to repair itself,” Kaminskis said. “Normally, a recovery time of three weeks is expected for this kind of injury. We’ll take the appropriate measures to ensure she is getting the best rehab possible.”

Duensing’s absence was palpably evident in the early goings Tuesday night against the Lady Warriors, as Goshen missed its first eight shots from the field and committed seven turnovers in the game’s first six minutes. A three-pointer by freshman Kendra Fights ended the calamity at the 13:35 mark in the first half, but by then Goshen was starring a 15-3 deficit dead in the eye. A three-pointer by Indiana Tech in its next possession made the game 18-3, and at the 8:55 mark the score was 28-8, Tech. When the first-half dust finally cleared, Tech had claimed a 40-17 lead, knocking in half of its shots (15 of 30 from the floor, six of 12 from three) while Goshen could only make five of 25 shots (20 percent) committing 15 turnovers as well. For head coach Steve Wiktorowski, it was a half that couldn’t end quickly enough.

“I felt that playing without first-year Krystal Duensing really affected us in the first half,” he said. “We seemed very insecure without our leading scorer and starting point guard in the lineup against their tremendous quickness and defensive pressure. We struggled to score and they shot from out extremely well to put us in a deep hole at halftime.”

Goshen (1-3, 0-0) was able to regroup considerably following the intermission, however, shoring up items on both ends of the floor. Wiktorowski’s team improved to knock in 10 of 27 second-half attempts from the field (37 percent) while holding Tech to a 13 for 33 effort (39.4 percent), nearly keeping pace with the Lady Warriors throughout the second stanza. The Leafs were only outscored by a 37-34 margin in the game’s second 20 minutes, but the damage had been irreversibly done: Tech gathered as much as a 38-point lead in the second half, with a 16 to four Goshen run in the game’s final six and a half minutes closing the gap considerably. Tech won the game by a 77-51 score.

“I felt that we settled down and came back much more competitive after (the first half),” Wiktorowski said. “We played them almost even in the second half and we outrebounded an opponent (40 to 35 in total boards) for the first time this year. Hopefully we can continue with the confidence we gained because we just don’t know exactly when Krystal will be able to return.”

Fights led the squad in Duensing’s absence, scoring 17 points on six of 12 shooting from the field. Classmate Rachel Canen knocked in 11, while junior Danielle Haney and sophomore Kelsy McKee each scored six. Sophomore Carly Feldman, just two weeks removed from duties on the Goshen College women’s volleyball team, secured nine rebounds in 18 minutes of work. Freshman Troyanna Scott wasn’t far behind, grabbing eight caroms in 12 minutes of action.

Duensing, who averaged 15.3 points per game on 40 percent shooting from behind the arc in the Leafs’ first three contests, is listed as “out indefinitely” by the Goshen College athletic training staff. Updates to her prognosis will be made at this website as they become known.

“I thought that Fights played her best game of the year and showed a lot of composure, as did Danielle Haney the second half,” Wiktorowski said. “Canen and (sophomomore) Jess Buller did a good job of handling the ball for the first time in Krystal's absence. Feldman played very well in the second half, which is something we need. Scott also battled through a very sore leg to crash the boards and defend well. Our zone defense also made it much more difficult for people to score or penetrate inside on us, something that has really hurt us the prior games.”

Goshen will next travel to Grand Rapids, Mich. for its first weekend tournament of the season, participating in the Aquinas College Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Leafs will face the host school at 8 p.m. Friday night. Pending the results of that game, the team will play in either the consolation or championship game Saturday afternoon. Full details of the tournament schedule can be viewed by clicking here.