(Box
Score) Marion, IN — With the 2006-2007 version of the Mid-Central Conference extremely top-heavy — the league’s top three teams finished as the first-, third- and fourth-ranked teams in the nation — Goshen head coach Steve Wiktorowski knew that just qualifying for the MCC Tournament would pit his team against the odds.
A 30-0 line of probability proved to be too much.
Top-ranked and MCC Champion Indiana Wesleyan University ran its home winning streak to 15 consecutive games with a 74-36 win over Goshen Tuesday night in Luckey Gymnasium, concluding the Leafs’ season in the process and giving the Wildcats their 30th straight win overall. Goshen (6-25, 1-15) shot just 33.3 percent from the field in the defeat — including a 26.1 percent clip in the second period — falling behind early and never threatening after the opening minutes.
Indiana Wesleyan did not make things easy on Wiktorowski’s squad, making 49 percent of its tries on the evening and burying 12 of 25 three-point attempts, an absurdly-hot 48 percent clip from deep.
“I was really happy with the preparation and approach our players took to this final game against probably the best team in the country, but unfortunately we were just not able to play to the level we had hoped,” Wiktorowski said. “Most of the credit for that goes to Wesleyan because they were totally focused and got great balance and contributions from everyone on their team, especially offensively in hitting 12 of 25 three point attempts. We tried probably five different half-court defenses to try and control them, but none of them were very effective for any long stretch of minutes. Their defense was very solid the first half, and so the combined pressure of their physical defense and it being the first tournament action for many of our players caused us to get off to a very poor start offensively.”
Wesleyan opened the contest with — of course — a made three pointer, but sophomore Krystal Duensing countered with a three of her own to tie the score at 3-3 just one minute into play. A layup and a foul from IWU on its next trip made it a 6-3 advantage, but freshman Kimmie Hummer buried another long ball for the Leafs, again knotting the game at six apiece.
It was then that Indiana Wesleyan began to take over.
A 14 to nothing Wildcat run over the game’s next five and a half minutes opened up a 20-6 disparity, as Goshen missed its next seven shots from the floor and turned the ball over three times. A layup from junior Katie Sowers stopped the dry spell at the 11:33 mark, and a post basket from sophomore Troyanna Scott made it a 20-10 Indiana Wesleyan lead with 10:51 on the clock.
Another Wesleyan run — this one a 13 to nothing spurt — would quell any Goshen push. The Leafs turned the ball over on six of their next eight possessions — combined with a pair of misses — helping the Wildcats to a 33-10 lead with 6:18 remaining in the first half.
Wiktorowski’s team would cut the lead to 20 points on two occasions, but eventually went into the locker room trailing by a 41-20 count.
“Playing catch-up on their home floor is very difficult, and the way they shot the first half was too much to overcome,” Wiktorowski said. “Even though I felt we executed much better the second half and they cooled off some, the maturity of their team really showed in the turnover and rebounding differences on the stat sheet.”
The Wildcats did return to a state of normalcy in the second half — the team shot 59.3 percent from the field in the first period and just 37.5 percent in the second — but Goshen could not find any rhythm of its own. An eventual 33 to 17 rebounding advantage for Indiana Wesleyan kept things from getting close, as the hosts claimed a 64-28 lead midway through the second half. The Wildcats eventually pushed its lead to 40 points before a jumper from freshman Ines Buskermolen provided the final difference.
“I still felt this tournament game was a great experience for our players that can really help us in the future,” Wiktorowski said. “Katie Sowers led us in scoring for the second straight game and is showing signs of being a more offensive minded player for next year. (Freshman) Ashley Hummer shot the ball very well, and while Krystal Duensing and (freshman) Chloe VanDenBrink did not, I thought they still gave a very positive effort on the floor. We were all especially happy for Ines Buskermolen, a walk-on player from the Netherlands who is only here for one year, as she got to play some extended minutes and scored her only basket as a collegiate player in her final game.”
Sowers led the scoring pace for Goshen, notching 11 points on a perfect five for five shooting effort from the floor. Ashley Hummer added eight points on a three for three effort, while VanDenBrink scored four points and grabbed a team-best four rebounds.
“I was very proud of the physical and emotional growth and development of this team this season, something which does not currently show by our record, but I believe will begin to show starting next season,” Wiktorowski said. “Our top four scorers are first year players with less than a 1.5 difference between their scoring averages, our next two leading scorers are sophomores, and Katie Sowers, our only junior, showed a lot of improvement at the end of the season. Lindsay Gangloff, another freshman, transferred at semester (click here for related article) and got a lot of valuable practice time to help her learn our system before starting to play next year. We lost five games by three points or less and went overtime against the number three ranked team in the country on their floor. So, we believe we have a good nucleus of talent and now experience for the future, and are really looking forward to adding another player or two and watching this group take another big step forward towards success next season.”
Check back to this website for the most up-to-date program news, including recruiting information and off-season happenings. To contact Steve Wiktorowski, call him at (574) 535-7492 or click here to send him an email.
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Junior Katie Sowers