(Box Score) Goshen, IN — Less than 24 hours removed from a disappointing, 42-79 loss at Cornerstone University, the Goshen College women’s basketball team responded in brilliant fashion Wednesday afternoon, defeating Judson College by a 53-42 score at the Roman Gingerich Center.

Wednesday’s tilt with the Lady Eagles was the team’s last before the Christmas holiday, while the win pushed Goshen (5-11, 0-3) to a 5-4 record on its home court.

“I thought we bounced back well today after not playing well last night on the road at Cornerstone,” said Steve Wiktorowski, Goshen head coach. “We talked before the game today about how we had to bounce back at home, and make our defense hard to play against again. We had a goal to finish the pre-Christmas portion of our schedule with a winning home record and so we wanted to really focus on our defense early to accomplish that.”

After allowing Judson just 19 first-half points and a 33.3 percent shooting effort from the floor, Wiktorowski’s team had accomplished its goal. An early 7-6 Judson lead was flipped to a 17-9 Goshen advantage after a barrage of three-point baskets: The Leafs’ first nine points came off of shots from beyond the arc, while sophomore Krystal Duensing led the charge with a four for five effort from deep in the game’s first 20 minutes.

Goshen’s nets were still warm when the halftime buzzer finally sounded, as the Leafs knocked in seven of 11 first-half three pointers (63.6 percent) en route to a 37-19 lead at the half, an advantage that would be Goshen’s largest of the night.

“Our first half defense was outstanding, and our second half defense was solid,” Wiktorowski said, “but I was also happy to see we didn't let last night's shooting performance affect our confidence today on our floor. We shot the ball very well from the arc. Krystal Duensing is really starting to get comfortable offensively, and shot the ball well tonight after struggling with outside consistency earlier in the season.”

Goshen maintained an 18-point lead until the 14:08 mark of the second period, when Judson attempted to make a push for a comeback. A 12 to two Lady Eagles run over the game’s next seven minutes cut the lead to just 44-36, but a pair of back-to-back layups from freshmen Kimmie and Ashley Hummer extended the lead back to 12 points. Judson would trim the lead to eight points on two occasions over the final five minutes and dwindled the lead to seven points (49-42) with 1:37 remaining, but made free throws down the stretch iced the game for Goshen.

Duensing led the Leafs’ scoring pace with a game-high 19 points on five of 10 shooting, including a five for eight performance from deep. Ashley Hummer added 10 points on a four for seven shooting effort, while senior Danielle Haney scored six points on a perfect three for three clip. Sophomores Troyanna Scott and Kendra Fights each grabbed five boards. Goshen held Judson to just a 34 percent shooting clip on the night (17 for 50) which included the Lady Eagles’ leading scorer, guard Sara Brendemuehl, going just two for 13 from the field en route to eight points.

“Both halves we did a pretty good job of limiting them to just one shot, which we felt was key because of their height advantage, something we struggled with at Cornerstone,” Wiktorowski said. “We switched our defenses up and tried to key on Brendemuehl, limiting her to eight points, which is difficult because she moves so well and is a threat all over the floor. We put good pressure on the ball and caused them a lot of trouble in entering the ball into the post, something else we also struggled with last night.

“Not only was I happy with the turn around in our defensive effort from last night, but we had some people step up and really contribute offensively,” Wiktorowski continued. “Ashley Hummer hit a couple big threes the first half to get our offense going and really helped us with ballhandling. (Junior) Katie Sowers, (freshman) Chloe VanDenBrink and Kendra Fights all were very solid on the boards and defensively today. Danielle Haney scored six points, all coming when we needed a bucket. Turnovers are still a problem (Goshen recorded 28 miscues) that will be a big focus for us after Christmas so that we can reduce the number of times the opposing team has more shot attempts than we do. But we have made a lot of progress the last couple weeks, especially offensively for a young team, and hopefully we will see that result in a more consistent team after the break.”

Goshen will now remain idle until after the Christmas holiday, when the team will return to the road on Saturday, Dec. 30. The Leafs will then travel to 22nd-ranked Cardinal Stritch University. Game time is set for 1 p.m.