By Tony Miller
Sports Information Director

GOSHEN, Ind. — Mariah Roe's career-high 22 points paved the way for the Goshen College women's basketball team in a 71-60 loss to Indiana University Kokomo on Saturday afternoon in Gunden Gymnasium.

The first-year guard from Kettering, Ohio, knocked down four of her six 3-point attempts, adding a quartet of two-point field goals and two foul shots. Keyaira Murff led the Maple Leafs with nine rebounds and two blocks.

A year after defeating an IU Kokomo team that reached the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Championship, the Maple Leafs (1-6) got their first five points from Roe and used six different scorers to pull out to a 15-11 lead after seven minutes and 20 seconds.

The Cougars (4-2) pounced on their first opportunity, however, scoring the last 10 points of the first quarter and the first 10 of the second only to watch Goshen use a 12-2 run to close within 33-27 at halftime. The Maple Leafs forced seven turnovers in the second quarter.

IU Kokomo, which received votes in the preseason edition of the NAIA Division II coaches poll, used another run to open the third quarter and effectively end Goshen's chances at a second straight home win. Deja Felder chipped in seven of the team's 13 points while holding Goshen to one field goal in seven minutes and stretching the lead out as far as 20. The Cougars shot 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) in the third period while grabbing 11 rebounds, including four off the offensive glass.

The fourth quarter was the game's highest-scoring stanza as Goshen outscored IUK 22-18 behind nine more points from Roe and 8-for-18 (44.4 percent) shooting. The Maple Leafs, who whittled their deficit down to as little as 10 on a Haley Archibeque triple in the final minute, finished the game shooting 22-of-61 (36.1 percent) from the floor and 8-for-21 (38.1 percent) from long range.

Felder finished with a team-high 22 points for IU Kokomo, matching Roe for the game high, while Dejianna Butler added a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Cougars outshot Goshen, hitting at 44.6 percent from the floor and 40 percent from deep, but made their bigger impact on the glass with a 47-28 edge.

"We went into the game knowing that when IUK wins the glass, they almost always win the game," said Goshen head coach Stephanie Miller. "We proceeded to get beat by almost 20 on the glass. The staff and I will go back and look at the film to get things hammered out so that we put our kids in a better position to win. We needed to rebound better and finish some of our easy baskets to be able to pull off the upset against a strong veteran team."

Goshen turned the ball over a season-low 12 times on Saturday, nearly cancelling that figure out with 10 steals as the team forced 19 giveaways. The steal total was the team's second-highest mark of the season in that category and GC's best performance against an NAIA opponent since January 4. 

Carley O'Neal and Taylor Roasa added eight points apiece for GC while Sydney Stein and Alyson Prigge put in five each; Prigge's five rebounds were second on the team despite playing just 15 minutes off the bench.

"Alyson came off the bench and gave us a nice spark this afternoon," said Miller. "She and Murff did a strong job on the glass for us. Mariah hit some big baskets today for us and took good care of the basketball."

The loss marks Goshen's final non-conference tune-up game before Crossroads League play tips off Tuesday evening against Huntington; after that affair, the team will play two games at Siena Heights next weekend before three league games in eight days lead into the final-exam break in early December.

"Each day it seems like we take a step forward in one area but get exposed in another area where we need to get better," Miller said. "It's not easy to learn and grow when you're not winning, but this team is continuing to work hard and fight through some of these learning experiences. None of these players are getting complacent or losing focus: they're hungry to get better and find ways to win against higher-level opponents. I know I'll sound like a broken record by the end of the year, but I love this group. Their hearts and heads are in the right place and I know we are headed for good things in our future."

Goshen's immediate future doesn't get much easier as the Maple Leafs face a 6-1 Huntington team Tuesday night: the game is played a day earlier than the conventional conference schedule to facilitate Thanksgiving travel. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. in Gunden Gymnasium with the men's game to follow at 8.