(Box
Score) Goshen, IN — With just over three minutes remaining in the first half of Wednesday night’s Mid-Central Conference battle with visiting Marian College, it was apparent to all in the Roman Gingerich Center that points would not come easy for either squad on this particular evening. A made basket from the Knights’ Michelle Meneguzzi ended a five and a half minute scoreless stretch — for both teams — making the score 12-11, Marian with 3:21 to play in the first period.
At halftime, Goshen possessed a 15-14 advantage.
Unfortunately for the Leafs, scoring would become even more tedious in the second 20 minutes of action.
Goshen (5-17, 0-8) suffered a bruising, 32-43 defeat to Marian in the Roman Gingerich Center, shooting a season-low 17 percent from the field and making just 14 of 26 free throw attempts (53.8 percent), by far the most palpable statistic for the outcome. After holding Marian to just a 14 of 57 performance from the field (24.6 percent), the Leafs could not cash in on needed free opportunities, being outscored by a 29-17 count in the second half while making just 10 of 18 second-half free throws.
“This was an intense defensive battle by two teams that went about it in very different, but effective ways,” said Steve Wiktorowski, Goshen head coach. “They extended their defense to play us very tight and physical. We played a lot of sagging zone, trying to make it difficult for them to score in the paint and force them to take a lot of jump shots. Both teams shot very low percentages from the field, and in large part it came down to free throws. It is difficult when you rely on free throws to be a big part of your offense, but only score 14 points from 26 attempts. They especially hit their free throws late to put the game away, and we just never could put a string of free throws together to put pressure on them at the end. Eventually their size and strength wore us down and frustrated us.”
With missed shots and turnovers providing much of the climate for both squads, the low-scoring contest remained close until the final minutes. Marian grabbed its largest lead of the first half just two minutes in (a 3-0 advantage), but Goshen responded by scoring the next four points. From that point to the intermission, the teams would exchange one-point leads eight times, concluding with a made bucket from sophomore Troyanna Scott to give the Leafs a 15-14 lead at the half.
After the teams missed a combined four shots to open the second half, it was sophomore Krystal Duensing who rang in a three pointer, giving Wiktorowski’s team its largest lead of the night (18-14) with 17:47 remaining. Marian would then put together a 12 to two run over the game’s next nine minutes, however, claiming a 26-20 lead with 8:49 to play.
It was an advantage the Knights would not relinquish.
Even with the Leafs forcing seven turnovers and holding Marian to just four of 14 shooting from the field in the final 8:49, the visitors were able to extend their lead. Marian made 13 of 14 second-half free throws — including a nine of 10 effort in the game’s final seven minutes — to slowly salt the game away. In the same time span, Goshen was only able to connect on one of 10 shots from the floor and eight of 16 free throw attempts. The team also committed seven turnovers in the game’s final seven minutes.
Freshman Chloe VanDenBrink was the only Goshen player to score in double figures — and one of only two players overall to notch that standard — scoring 13 points on three of eight shooting from the field. Scott finished with a game-high 12 boards, while Duensing added eight points and one assist. VanDenBrink grabbed seven rebounds in 31 minutes of work.
Goshen made just three baskets in the second half (three of 23, 13 percent) and was just one of 10 from three-point range (10 percent) and 10 of 18 from the line (55.6 percent). Marian wasn’t much more effective from the field, scoring on just eight of 26 shots (30.8 percent) and going 0-19 from three-point range for the game.
“I was happy with how we battled hard overall for 40 minutes,” Wiktorowski said. “We were up one at halftime after having played very poor first halves the last five games. We were also able to hang close most of the game despite the fact that (sophomore) Kendra Fights, our only real inside threat, sat out most of the game in foul trouble. We caused 23 turnovers, got a great rebounding performance from Scott, and Duensing did a good job with only two turnovers against their pressure defense. We put ourselves in a position to win in the second half, which we have struggled to do lately, and that is especially good considering we did it despite really struggling to score.”
Goshen must turnaround to face a much more potent team next, as the Leafs will travel to top-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
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Freshman Chloe VanDenBrink