GOSHEN — Tyra Carver scored 19 points and five Maple Leafs scored in double figures as the Goshen College women's basketball team locked up second place in the Crossroads League with a 92-79 win over Taylor University on Wednesday night at Gunden Gymnasium.

Gabby Williams added 16 and Sophia Sears 14, while Liz Tecca and Jo'Mani Thomas tossed in 13 apiece. Three of the team's four seniors scored in double figures on Senior Night, and the fourth (Keshia Ward) grabbed eight rebounds, which was good for second-most on the team.

"Gabby and Tyra sparked our offense and both shot the ball really well (80 percent apiece), and in general our shot selection was excellent," said Goshen head coach Stephanie Miller. "We did our job on the glass by grabbing 11 more boards than the Trojans. Keshia and Gabby did a strong job there, but they were helped by great guard rebounding."

Eighteenth-ranked Goshen (22-7, 14-3) nabbed 44 rebounds to Taylor's 33, paced by nine from Williams and eight from Lynnia Noel. Sears added seven assists and Thomas contributed five.

"Sophia had an incredible stat line: 14 points on 46 percent shooting with seven boards, three steals and seven assists to put her over 300 for her career," said Miller. "Jo'Mani also had a strong performance and not only hit double-digit scoring, but also did a fine job distributing against their zone. "

The Maple Leafs led 24-10 at the quarter and 46-30 at the half. Taylor (15-14, 6-11) used a 9-2 run to cut its deficit to 10 with three minutes left but never got closer.

Goshen's point total was its third-highest of the season and third game with 90 or more points. The 79 points scored by Taylor are the most allowed by the Maple Leafs in a win this season.

Kendall Bradbury scored a game-high 27 points for Taylor, but the Trojans could not overcome Goshen's 54 percent shooting from the floor. The Maple Leafs went 8-for-11 at the foul line as well. Taylor shot 42 percent (28-for-67).

"Taylor made things harder on us than we would have liked," Miller said. "Neither team could really stop the other in the second half. They are a tough squad and will only continue to get better in the years to come. This night, however, belonged to us, and in particular, we wanted to get the job done for our seniors."

Wednesday night marked the final regular-season home game for seniors Carver, Tecca, Thomas and Ward. The quartet includes three of the top nine scorers in the history of Goshen women's basketball and make almost 20 appearances among them on the various career top-10 lists in the program record book.

In a postgame reception, Miller noted that the class of 2016 was the first class that she recruited all the way through the process: they won three games as freshmen and four as sophomores before an 18-13 mark last year as juniors and a 22-7 record so far this season.

"Five years ago, the greatest motivation I have ever had as a coach was watching the dejected look on my players' faces in the locker room and knowing that the single most important goal I would have is to make that look go away," Miller said. "I wanted to make my players faces' change into confident, proud, and strong young women who believed in themselves. Seeing the looks on my players' faces tonight was a very special moment for all of us. I am genuinely so happy for them and how far they have come in the last couple of seasons. It was incredible to say the words 'we have clinched second place in the league' out loud in the locker room tonight."

"What a special group of young women this truly is and I feel blessed to have spent the last four years growing with them," the coach continued. "They put it all out there tonight, as they always do, and they deserved every bit of praise they got from their fans, teammates, coaches and families. I was so glad we could send them out on senior night with a memorable victory."

The victory ensured that third-place Indiana Wesleyan cannot catch the Maple Leafs in the final conference standings. Following first-place Marian's loss at Grace, Goshen trails the Knights by two games and cannot finish first.

GC is guaranteed a home game in the first round of the conference tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 23, and will host the seventh-place team (which could be Huntington, Bethel or Spring Arbor) in that game. The Maple Leafs will also host a semifinal on Friday, Feb. 26 if they advance that far, and would host the conference championship if they play anyone other than Marian.

First, though, the Maple Leafs must finish the regular season on Saturday with a trip to Marian. The third-ranked Knights started the conference season 16-0 and have beaten Goshen in 12 of the last 13 meetings at the Physical Education Center. Tip-off in Indianapolis is set for 1 p.m.