Box Score GOSHEN, Ind. — Chelsea Winner scored the game-winning basket with 2.2 seconds remaining in regulation as 19th-ranked Indiana Wesleyan nipped 15th-ranked Goshen 61-59 Friday night in a Crossroads League women's basketball tournament semifinal at Gunden Gymnasium.
After Goshen used a 6-0 run to tie the score at 34 two minutes before halftime, neither team led by more than five points in the final 22 minutes. The Maple Leafs (24-8, 15-3) led 37-36 at the intermission and 43-40 three minutes into the third before IWU (25-7, 12-6) finished the stanza on a 7-2 run.
Gabby Williams sank a field goal nine seconds into the fourth quarter to pull Goshen back to a 47-47 tie. The Maple Leafs would lead for more than seven minutes in the fourth and did not trail in the final six minutes until Winner's winner.
A Sophia Sears score with 2:16 left put the hosts up three, and the teams traded misses for the next two sets of possessions. Kelsey Key knocked down a triple for IWU with :29.6 to play, tying the score at 59, and after a turnover the Wildcats got the back with 22 seconds to work with.
After the go-ahead score, Goshen coach Stephanie Miller called timeout to advance the ball to the forecourt. Sears got off a layup from the left side of the free-throw line, but it hit the rim twice and fell off to the outside.
Tyra Carver scored a game-high 16 points for Goshen, making her one of four Maple Leafs to hit double figures. Sears added 13, Lynnia Noel added 12 and Liz Tecca 10. Key scored 14 and Winner 13 for IWU, with the latter coming in less than 13 minutes due to early foul trouble.
Goshen won the glass 34-30 and turned the ball over just 10 times while forcing 15 giveaways. The Maple Leafs posted 12 assists on their 19 makes but trailed 43 percent to 34 percent in shooting from the floor. Sears had a team-high four assists while Carver and Jo'Mani Thomas both got credit for blocks.
Erika Isham finished with a game-high eight rebounds for Indiana Wesleyan, which is now guaranteed an automatic berth in the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship: if the Wildcats win the conference tournament on Monday, they would earn the bid that way, while if they lose at Marian the second bid would pass to the tournament runner-up since Marian won the regular-season title.
While the loss marks the end of Goshen's conference tournament, it may well not mark the end of the season. Once the automatic bids are determined, the top 10 remaining teams in the coaches poll on March 2 also qualify for nationals. Entering Friday night, Goshen was no. 15 in the poll: six of the 14 teams ahead of the Leafs had already sealed berths and seven more still had a chance to get in automatically.
The national tournament field will be announced by the NAIA at 6 p.m. EST on March 2. Nationals are set for March 9-15 in Sioux City, Iowa.
More, including comments from Miller, to come when available.
