HUNTINGTON, Ind. — Graysen Cockerham scored 16 points and Keyaira Murff had 12, each missing a double-double by a single rebound, but the Goshen College women's basketball team came up short by a 67-62 margin Thursday night in a Crossroads League matchup at Huntington University.
TaNiece Chapman led all players with 11 rebounds to go with her 7 points while Kiarah Copeland canned a trio of 3-pointers and Claire Rauck had two treys. Cockerham and Mariah Roe each finished with 3 assists to lead the team.
Huntington (3-1, 1-0) got a game-high 22 points from Alaina Rongos as well as 12 from Sam Vaughnn and 10 from Maddy Robrock. Dazia Drake picked up a game-high 5 assists.
The Maple Leafs (1-6, 1-3) finished with 45 rebounds while giving up 35, but could not overcome shooting 27 percent in the first half and 37 percent for the game. They connected at a 36 percent clip from 3-point range and a 55 percent mark at the foul line in addition to turning the ball over 17 times.
While Goshen drastically improved its shooting in the second half, Huntington went the other way, hitting on 52 percent of its shots before recess and 37 percent thereafter for a total of 43 percent. The Foresters gave the ball up 11 times but balanced that with 14 assists, 5 blocks and 9 steals.
The highest-scoring quarter was the first, when Huntington went up 3-0 and 7-3 before Goshen wrestled back control at 13-11. The hosts used an 8-0 run over a little more than two minutes to push the lead out to 19-13 before GC dropped in five points in the last 10 seconds.
Huntington took a 13-point halftime lead by outscoring Goshen 20-8 in the second stanza. A Roe 3-pointer closed the Maple Leafs within two at 27-25 with 7:31 left, but the Foresters scored the next 12 points over an 8-minute span and led 39-26 at the break.
A 9-2 Maple Leaf run with two Cockerham buckets got the visitors back within 5 points with 2:15 left in the third quarter, but Goshen's offense went silent at that point and they trailed 52-44 after 30 minutes. Huntington built its lead back up to 14 points and kept it there for much of the fourth before GC made the last three shots of the game.
Following a scrimmage with Grand Valley State University at 1 p.m. Saturday, the Maple Leafs will return to the floor on Wednesday, Dec. 16, when they visit Judson University in a non-conference matchup. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m. EST at Judson's Lindner Fitness Center.
