GOSHEN, Ind. — TaNiece Chapman obliterated her career high with 15 rebounds Saturday afternoon, but the Goshen College women's basketball team fell short at the final buzzer in a 51-50 loss to Spring Arbor University at Gunden Gymnasium.

Chapman also scored 15 points to lead the Maple Leafs (7-15, 0-10 Crossroads League), shooting 7-of-11 from the floor in addition to pulling down almost a quarter of the game's rebounds. Mariah Roe added 13 points.

Rachel Nelson led all scorers with 18 points off the bench for the Cougars (7-15, 3-7), connecting on 6 of her 12 shots and 3 of 8 tries from long range. Gracie Cabana added 16 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer, and pulled down 6 rebounds while Teona Feldpausch led SAU with 8 caroms.

In addition to being Goshen's leading scorer, Chapman was the first scorer of the game, kick-starting a 22-point opening quarter for the Maple Leafs that included five 3-pointers and a 14-2 run. Roe scored eight consecutive points herself at one juncture: over a three-minute span, Roe, Haley Archibeque and Alyson Prigge went 5-for-5 with every shot coming from distance. The Leafs led by as many as 11 before an Ali Gerka triple made it 22-14 at the quarter.

Spring Arbor's turn for a run came early in the second quarter, when the Cougars added three triples of their own before a Cabana free throw tied the score at 24-all with 4:30 remaining. The defenses prevailed from there on out, holding each team to one more field goal before the intermission, and Spring Arbor led 29-27 at the break. Between the two teams, the shooting percentages fell off from 52 percent (14-for-27) in the first quarter to 27 percent (6-for-22) in the second.

Chapman scored 6 of the Maple Leafs' first 8 points coming out of the locker room, and the defense did the rest: Spring Arbor committed 6 turnovers in the third quarter and made a single field goal in the last 7 minutes. Goshen answered that with a 7-2 run and got 5 points from Roe in the quarter, which ended with the hosts up 40-37.

The Maple Leafs stretched their lead to 8 with the first two scores of the fourth quarter, getting a Chapman score and an Archibeque 3-pointer out of the first three possessions. Nelson and Cabana kept SAU within shouting distance before Caitlyn O'Neal's 3-pointer put Goshen up seven with 4:21 remaining.

After the teams traded empty possessions, Nelson used a personal 5-0 run to pull the Cougars back within two points at the 1:48 mark. Goshen used most of the shot clock to get an open look from Prigge: despite offensive rebounds from Chapman and O'Neal, the lead remained 50-48 into the final minute. Spring Arbor drained the shot clock into single digits before Cabana sank a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left.

Goshen brought the ball into the frontcourt and called timeout with 10.4 seconds on the clock: O'Neal's game-winning try from the right corner was off the mark, but Chapman added a pair of offensive rebounds and was fouled on her second put-back attempt with 1.6 seconds remaining. Neither free throw went down and a final put-back fell short at the horn.

Spring Arbor ended up shooting 40 percent (17-for-43) from the floor and the Maple Leaf defense held the Cougars to seven two-point field goals in 40 minutes. Goshen made 35 percent of its tries (20-for-58) and was 7-for-28 from long range. GC finished with a 34-30 rebounding advantage, including 13 offensive rebounds.

GC's defense forced 19 turnovers, getting a game-high 4 steals from O'Neal to go with 3 from Archibeque. The Maple Leafs came up with 9 steals for the third time in the last 7 games.

Quoting Goshen head coach Stephanie Miller:
"It's difficult to put into words how difficult this week has been, and at the same time how amazing this week has been. Twice we have battled wire-to-wire and not finished with the result we were hoping for, and in my biased opinion, the result we deserved.

"What's so difficult is facing this locker room of amazing and hard-working young women who have put their hearts and guts on the line the last two games only to see it fall just short in the final seconds. I believe we have played some of the best defense we have played all year in the last week.

"So what's the amazing part? We are being tested in ways we cannot possibly understand right now, and we are still growing, getting mentally stronger and coming together in a way that I haven't seen in quite some time. They are playing for each other, for this staff, and have shown tremendous pride and enthusiasm for the work they are doing.

"Falling just short, failing to reach your goal, and realizing that your all may not be enough on a given day is not something we want to have to go through. It is, however, a life lesson you better learn how to handle.

"I believe in the old saying that hardships do not build character, they reveal it. I hate what's happened to this team this week, but I am so very excited about what it's revealing about the mental state of the Goshen women's basketball team. We will hold our heads high and get back to work. Down the road we will understand why and how these challenges have helped build us into the women and team we strive to be."

Up Next: Goshen will look to start a late-season playoff push on Wednesday when it hosts the team immediately above it in the standings as Bethel College visits Gunden Gymnasium. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. before the men play at 8.