By Andrew Snyder
Sports Information Intern

HUNTINGTON, Ind. – The Goshen College women's basketball team made a late game comeback to send the Crossroads League opener to overtime, but the Huntington University Foresters held on for an 86-83 win Tuesday night.

Allyson Trout jumped out to a quick start for Huntington (6-2, 1-0), scoring the first two Forester buckets to take the early 4-1 lead. Goshen (4-5, 0-1) bounced back thanks to buckets from Calla Bartlett and Williams, who tied for the team high of six points in the first quarter. Miranda Palmer would knock down her second 3-pointer of the quarter with only five seconds left as Huntington closed the stanza up 20-13.

Sophia Sears opened the second quarter's scoring with a Maple Leaf 3-pointer, but the Forester lead would oscillate around five for most of the stanza until ballooning up to 47-34 at the halftime break. Williams led the Maple Leafs with 14 points and four rebounds in the first 20 minutes, while Trout tallied 15 points for Huntington.

Huntington shot 18-of-35 (51.4 percent) in the first 20 minutes, including a 9-of-15 (60 percent) mark from 3-point territory. Goshen went 12-of-30 (40 percent) from the field and only 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) from long range. The Foresters held a slight 18-17 edge in rebounds.

With three-plus minutes left in the third period, the hosts took their largest lead of the game at 60-46. Sears scored the last five points of the stanza and eight points over the final three minutes, and after three periods the Forester lead was down to seven, 63-56.

Williams had the first bucket of the fourth quarter to pull Goshen within five at 63-58, and with 5:34 left a Sears 3-pointer tied the game at 67-67. At that point, Sears had scored 13 of Goshen's last 21 points in a span of about eight minutes. The game would stay within three points the rest of the way: another Williams bucket knotted the game at 72-72 with 56 seconds left. When each team turned the ball over in the final minute, that score sent the game to overtime.

The first overtime game of the season for the Maple Leafs remained close down to the wire. Bartlett scored on the first possession to put the visitors up before the teams traded leads for three minutes.

Goshen used a Williams bucket to take an 81-80 lead with 53 seconds remaining, only to see Sarah Fryman drain a 3-pointer for a two-point HU edge 20 seconds later. A turnover on the ensuing possession forced Goshen to foul: the free throws extended the Forester lead further, to 86-83 with seven seconds left. A tipped pass kept the Maple Leafs from getting a last second shot off and that score became the final.

Goshen finished 28-of-63 (44.4 percent) from the floor and won the rebound battle 44-38. Huntington shot 31-of-72 (43.1 percent) from the field, paced by Palmer with 20 points and seven assists, as well as Trout with 17 and Hailey Krewald with 15.

"It's always tough to stop their sharp shooters in their gym, and the first half was no different," said Goshen head coach Stephanie Miller. "We played a heck of a second half and really turned the tables on them, and really put some pressure on them down the stretch. We aren't coming away with these wins in close games just yet, but I believe in this team and what we are working towards"

Williams led all scorers with 23 points and was a rebound shy of a double-double with nine. Sears recorded 20 points and is now just eight points shy of 1,000 for her career. Bartlett had a season-high 18 points and also grabbed eight boards in the loss.

"It's tough to be on the losing end of games against Huntington," said head coach Stephanie Miller. "We've just beaten each other up game after game and there is never any quit. Hats off to Huntington for making just one or two more plays down the stretch than we did tonight."

 "Gabby Williams was really strong tonight and made a huge impact on both ends of the floor," concluded Miller. "Sophie made some big plays and really navigated the team back into the game in the second half. I was very impressed with how Calla Bartlett stepped up and gave us a big lift on both offense and the glass. It's very disappointed to leave with an overtime loss, because I believe that was a winning effort tonight."

The Maple Leafs have the holiday weekend off before returning to campus for their conference home opener on Wednesday, November 30 at 7 p.m. against ninth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan.