(Box Score)
MISHAWAKA, Ind. – The Goshen College women's basketball team's season is officially over after a 79-52 Mid-Central Conference opening round loss to top-seeded Bethel College Tuesday night in Mishawaka.
The Maple Leafs finish the season at 11-19 in Head Coach Steve Wiktorowski's sixth season. Freshman Cassie Greives was a sign of things to come for Goshen, averaging just under 13 points a game on way to being named All-MCC Honorable Mention and MCC All-Newcomer Team. The Maple Leafs will lose just one senior in Katie Sowers, who racked up 375 points and 291 rebounds in her two-year career at Goshen.
Hoping that the third time is the charm (Bethel won the two previous meeings this season), the Lady Maple Leafs fell victim to the NAIA #5 ranked Pilots, who simply had too many weapons on offense. Eleven Bethel players scored and six Pilots hit from beyond the arch as they shot 50% as a team from 3-point territory.
"We had our hands full because if there is a better and deeper offensive team in the country than Bethel I would hate to play them," said Wiktorowski of the Pilots. "Their point guard is ranked #1 in assists in the country and their shooting guard is ranked third in scoring. They also have a bunch of other 3-point shooters and are an outstanding offensive rebounding team."
Goshen stuck close early as Ashley Hummer hit from long range and Kendra Fights knocked down a 10-foot jumper that left the Maple Leafs down only two points five minutes into play.
The Pilots then showed why they deserve their place among the country's elite offensive clubs by going on a 21-4 run. They hit four threes in the stretch, including a trio from Bekah Basinger. The stretch gave them a 45-24 cushion at the half.
"It is very difficult to key on any one person without someone else hurting you or getting second shot attempts," added Wiktorowski. "First half shooting was the key to the game as they hit six 3-pointers and shot 50% to our 27% overall."
The young Maple Leafs fought hard in the second half, but the halftime deficit was too much to rebound from. "I thought we battled very hard and especially played them fairly even overall the second half," added Wiktorowski. "We improved a lot on our rebounding performance from our last game with them, kept their fast break points manageable, and shot our free throws well after it cost us a huge game and better tournament seeding on Saturday."
Goshen did not have a player in double-digits in scoring, but had nine players in the scoring column led by junior Krystal Duensing. Katie Sowers, Kendra Fights, and Cassie Greives had seven points each. Natalie Young led all scorers with 19 points off 8-of-13 shooting for Bethel.
"I was very pleased with the overall improvement of our team this year considering we had only one senior and two juniors on the roster. We almost doubled our wins from last year, lost eight other games by 11 or less, and were much more competitive against most of the teams in our conference, having a chance to finish as high as 5th going into the final game of the conference."
"Few teams play a more challenging overall schedule than we do and it paid off with vast improvement this year. We are also excited about the potential of our future and really look forward to preparing for next season."
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