GOSHEN, Ind. — A game-high 18 points from Sophia Sears and 12 from Tyra Carver led the Goshen College women's basketball team to a 59-50 victory over Holy Cross Friday night at Gunden Gymnasium.

Keshia Ward grabbed 10 boards and Jo'Mani Thomas six for Goshen, which led its season opener for the final 27 consecutive minutes and never trailed by a margin larger than 12-9.

Kari Barnes led Holy Cross (1-1) with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including a 4-of-8 clip from behind the arc. Tagin Schultheis finished with 14 points, while Keysha Streater added 10. Shelby Nelson of the Saints had 12 rebounds, more than any other player.

The teams combined for 92 rebounds, including 32 on the offensive glass. Goshen was hampered by a 1-of-11 mark from three-point range, but forced 24 Holy Cross turnovers and held the visitors to 28 percent shooting from the floor: the Maple Leafs themselves shot 38 percent. Liz Tecca led Goshen with three assists.

"That was certainly not what I would call a thing of beauty," said Goshen head coach Stephanie Miller. "In every 30-game journey, you have to learn to win through every situation and I was just happy to see us use some experience and poise to close out the game in the final minutes. Neither team ever had control of that game: give credit to Holy Cross, they gave us all we could handle."

While Goshen did not trail by more than three, it never led by double figures and had a scoring drought of nearly four minutes in the fourth quarter.

"I was not pleased with how we shot, not pleased with how we rebounded, and not pleased with how wild we allowed the game to get," Miller said. "What I was pleased with was the way we stayed positive, in spite of our offensive woes, and just kept plugging away until we could finally get some separation in the end. First games are always full of nerves and crazy energy and we certainly had our share of mishaps."

Goshen returns to the floor next week with a pair of home games sandwiched around an exhibition Wednesday at IPFW: the Maple Leafs host Aquinas at 6 p.m. Tuesday, travel to the Summit City for a 7 p.m. tip-off Wednesday, and face Trinity Christian at 4 p.m. Friday.