GOSHEN, Ind. — TaNiece Chapman led all players with 21 points and 12 rebounds Monday night as the Goshen College women's basketball team went blow-for-blow with the ninth-ranked team in the NAIA, losing 76-64 to Marian University at Ruth Gunden Gymnasium.
Graysen Cockerham added 18 points and Sadre'a Rougeau scored 14 for the Maple Leafs (3-12, 1-5 Crossroads League), who shot 44 percent (10-of-23) in the first half before falling off to 32 percent (11-of-34) in the second.
Marian (11-4, 5-0), which was playing its first game in nine days after a pair of postponements, shot 63 percent (17-for-27) in the second half including a perfect 4-for-4 mark from long distance. Tamia Perryman finished with 15 points, Ella Collier had 12 and Macy Willoughby scored 11.
Goshen led 24-20 after a barn-burning opening quarter that saw Rougeau lead all scorers with 9 points as the Maple Leafs went 6-of-6 at the foul line and 4-of-7 on 3-pointers to account for three-fourths of their points. Willoughby scored 8 points for Marian, which led 5-0 and 13-9 before giving up nine straight points.
Marian answered the bell with a six-point run in the middle of the second quarter, when Perryman and Kinnidy Garrard did all the scoring for the Knights. They turned a 26-21 deficit into a 27-26 lead behind four points from Perryman, but Graysen Cockerham's score with 3:57 left put Goshen back up 31-27.
Goshen went into halftime up 36-33 as Murff and Chapman combined on the last four points.
Marian used another 6-0 run to pull ahead early in the second half, which saw a combined 19 points scored in the first 3:14 before a Goshen timeout to stanch the bleeding with 6:46 left. The Knights got 3-pointers from Collier and Willoughby in the ensuing 8-2 rim, taking a 53-47 lead by the 3:11 mark, but Chapman and Cockerham combined to dump in the last seven points of the quarter and give Goshen a 56-53 lead.
The Knights scored twice 14 seconds apart to start the fourth quarter, and after the teams traded baskets a couple of times, Chapman scored to trim the Marian lead to 62-61 with 6:16 remaining. Goshen had no way of knowing that that would be its last field goal of the night.
Marian made its next four field goals, including a 3-pointer, and added a free throw to go up 72-61 less than two and a half minutes later. In the same span, Goshen missed all three of its shots and committed two fouls, one offensive.
GC got back on the scoreboard with 1:23 left when two Chapman free throws put her over the 20-point mark for the first time in her career. Cockerham added the final point 25 seconds later.
Mariah Roe led all players with 5 assists for the Maple Leafs: Janara Flowers added 4, as did Perryman and Abby Downard for the Knights. Chapman recorded a game-high 3 steals and MU's Imani Guy recorded 2 blocks.
Goshen will go back on the road Wednesday night in search of its first conference sweep of the season when it visits Grace College at 7 p.m. in the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center in Winona Lake.
