LAKE WALES, Fla.– The Goshen College women’s basketball team came away from the Warner Southern Christmas Classic this weekend with a win and a loss.
On Friday, the Leafs defeated St. Vincent College (Pa.) 68-60, but fell to host Warner Southern 62-60 in a physical and hard-fought heartbreaker on Saturday.
Against St. Vincent, first-year center Cassie Greives scored a team-high 17 points. Sophomore Ashley Hummer scored 12, senior Katie Sowers netted 9 and sophomore Lindsay Gangloff chipped in 8 in the effort. The Leafs shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, but connected on only 13-27 free throws. Goshen out-rebounded St. Vincent 41-24.
In Goshen’s second game, Sowers led the Leafs with 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Kimmie Hummer scored 16 points and grabbed 7 rebounds and Gangloff scored 12 points. Greives and junior Krystal Duensing brought down 10 and 6 rebounds, respectively. This time, the Leafs shot a solid 24-30 from the charity stripe, but connected on only 27 percent of their field goal attempts.
In both games, the Leafs were outstanding on the boards, including 20 offensive and 53 total rebounds against Warner Southern. However, Goshen struggled with turnovers in both games, which head coach Steve Wiktorowski named as the primary reason for their loss on Saturday.
“Our guards got some good experience in this tournament facing a lot of full and half-court zone defenses," said Wiktorowski.
Wiktorowski named Sowers as the Goshen’s most consistent player over the weekend.
“Sowers scored well both inside and out, and she boarded very hard. She had a good look at a mid-range jumper that just wouldn't fall at the end of the Warner game, but we would have never even been in that situation at the end if it hadn't been for her consistent play all day long.”
Wiktorowski also pointed out Gangloff’s continued improvement and first-year Leah Lehman’s play on Saturday in her first extended minutes off the bench. “Lehman brought a lot of intensity and energy to our play which I hope will continue after Christmas,” he said.
"This was a really good trip from the standpoint that we played two teams that we matched up with pretty evenly, we were able to spend a lot of time together off the floor together and develop team chemistry and we were able to enjoy some fun activities in great Florida weather,” said Wiktorowski.
While in Florida, the team took an airboat ride through swamps, where they saw several alligators in their natural environment. On the final day half the team visited the Universal Studios adventure park while the other half went to Sea World to watch dolphin and whale shows.
“The weather was great and it was very hard to get on the plane to head back to all the snow waiting for us in Indiana.”
The Leafs are now 6-7 on the season and will return to action with a 1:00 home game on Saturday against Trinity International.
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Senior Katie Sowers