UPLAND, Ind. — Gabby Williams' 10th double-double of the season powered 21st-ranked Goshen College to an 81-65 win over Taylor University in Crossroads League women's basketball Wednesday night at Taylor.

Williams scored 16 points and pulled down 12 boards. Liz Tecca scored 20 points while Sophia Sears and Jo'Mani Thomas added 16 apiece. All four players shot better than 50 percent from the floor.

Goshen (15-6, 7-2 CL) scored the game's first 15 points and kept that edge, leading 29-15 at the quarter and 48-31 at the intermission. Sears scored 11 points and Tecca eight in the opening stanza alone.

"This was an incredibly important road win, the most important one of the year so far," said Goshen head coach Stephanie Miller. "I am impressed with how locked-in the team was right from the tip. We spoke in the locker room about how none of us had ever won at Taylor and they came out looking like a team on a mission."

The host Trojans (12-9, 3-6 CL) trailed by as many as 19 before closing the gap to as little as six points in the fourth quarter, but Goshen closed on a 16-6 run to seal its first win at Odle Arena since 2004.

The Maple Leafs made 13 of their first 19 shots and finished the game with a 53.1 percent shooting mark from the floor, also draining seven of 13 three-point tries. They had 19 assists on 34 field goals, paced by seven Sears dishes, and finished with seven turnovers, the second-fewest of the season.

"We played hard defense, shared the ball well and took care of it, our shot selection was very good for most of the night which led to the high shooting percentage," Miller said. "I was very pleased with our focus and energy. Give Taylor a ton of credit: they took a punch from us in the first few minutes of the game and fought back to close the gap in the third quarter. We knew they would keep fighting. They are too good a team not to."

Goshen also held a slim 34-33 advantage on the glass: Thomas, Lynnia Noel and Keshia Ward added five caroms apiece.

"Gabby Williams has really been playing some great basketball and has been putting tons of pressure on our opponents' post defenders of late," Miller added. "Liz shot the ball very well tonight and gave us a real spark, and Sophie and Jo'Mani both had strong complete games. And our bench energy and enthusiasm helped us weather the storm and get us back on track defensively."

Kendall Bradbury scored a game-high 30 points for the Trojans. She was 11-for-19 from the floor, but Goshen's defense held the other Taylor starters to 8-for-26 shooting and the bench players to a 4-for-12 mark. All told, the hosts made 40.4 percent of their shots.

The Maple Leafs finish the first half of conference play with a 7-2 record, their best mark ever at the midpoint of the Crossroads League (formerly Mid-Central College Conference) schedule. Goshen will play each of the other nine league teams again in the second half, beginning with a game against St. Francis on Saturday in Fort Wayne. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. in the Hutzell Athletic Center.