GOSHEN, Ind. — Following a sluggish opening stanza, Gabby Williams made eight of nine field goal attempts and the Goshen College women's basketball team claimed a 71-52 victory over Bethel on Saturday afternoon in Gunden Gymnasium.

The Maple Leafs (13-5, 5-1 Crossroads League) outscored the Pilots (7-11, 2-4 CL) 60-42 over the final three stanzas, including a 25-7 advantage in the second quarter.

The visitors led for much of the first seven minutes before a Sophia Sears jumper tied the game at 8-8: she converted the old-fashioned three-point play to give Goshen its first lead of the game with 2:39 left in the first half and the Maple Leafs never trailed again.

Liz Tecca drained a pair of three-point field goals late in the second quarter, the last of which put Goshen up 30-14 and capped a 24-6 run that spanned more than 13 minutes. Tecca tried eight threes on the day, leaving her with 642 career attempts: 2004 graduate Lindsay Fisher had held the school record with 639.

The hosts took their largest lead of the game at 44-23 three minutes after halftime. Bethel whittled that advantage back to 13, 45-32, three and a half minutes later, and got within 10 points (60-50) at the midpoint of the fourth quarter, but would not make a field goal the rest of the way.

"This was an important game for many reasons today and we handled ourselves with a lot of poise and maturity," said Goshen head coach Stephanie Miller. "The Bethel game is a really big rivalry game for us, and as if that's not enough, we also had to back up the big win against (eighth-ranked) Indiana Wesleyan and not have a letdown."

Goshen shot 10-for-16 from the floor in that stanza, holding Bethel to 1-for-9: for the game, the Maple Leafs made 25 of their 53 field-goal tries (47.2 percent) and 17 of 22 foul shots (77.3 percent), holding Bethel to 25 percent and 67.9 percent in the same two categories.

Williams and Sophia Sears tied for a team-high 16 points: Tyra Carver, who was recognized after the game for scoring her 1,000th career point in December, had 12.

Williams also led all players with 11 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. Lynnia Noel grabbed eight caroms. Sears led all players with five assists while Williams and Ward each added blocks.

"Gabby played big for us in the paint and on the glass and they had no answer for her," Miller said. "Sophie was the glue that held things together and always had an answer for a Bethel run. Kelsey Fraley had a strong defensive performance off the bench and gave us a spark when we needed one."

Aimee Swihart scored a game-high 19 for Bethel, going 6-for-13 from the floor. Ashley Lutz added nine points and Lauren Hostetler scored seven in 17 second-half minutes.

The Maple Leafs finished the game with a 42-30 advantage in rebounds. Both teams collected their own misses well (12 offensive rebounds for Goshen, 10 for Bethel) but struggled to hang on to the ball (40 combined turnovers).

"We did an excellent job in the effort stats: the glass, the defensive intensity and the 50-50 balls," Miller said. "That's what we talked about controlling and our focus was really good. We forced Bethel to take some tough shots and put them back on their heels. Give them credit for closing the gap and putting pressure on us, but I was happy with how we kept our heads and responded."

With league-leading Marian winning against Spring Arbor, Goshen remains in second place in the conference, a game out of first. Indiana Wesleyan and St. Francis, both teams the Maple Leafs have defeated this season, sit a game behind Goshen in a tie for third.

Goshen has three days off before it travels to meet Grace, the conference's lone winless team, on Wednesday evening. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center in Winona Lake, Ind.