BANNOCKBURN, Ill. — Kiarah Copeland went 5-of-6 from the floor on her way to a game-high 14 points Saturday afternoon, but the Goshen College women's basketball team dropped its first game of 2021 to Trinity International University 53-48 at Van Dixhorn Arena.
TaNiece Chapman added 14 points and 7 rebounds for the Maple Leafs (3-9), who also got 7 points from Sadre'a Rougeau. Graysen Cockerham led all players with 11 rebounds and 7 assists.
The Trojans (2-2) got 14 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double from Alina Jahnke, though Goshen held her to 7-for-15 shooting from the floor.
Goshen committed a season-low 8 turnovers but was outshot by 10 percentage points from the floor, percent to 31 percent. One day after a wintry mix of precipitation moved through the Midwest, the teams combined for an icy 6-of-30 (20 percent) shooting day from long range.
Trinity International scored six of the first eight points before Goshen answered with a 9-4 run to take the lead late in the first quarter. The Trojans tied the score at 13 with the last basket of that period and pulled level each time that Goshen scored in the opening minutes of the second.
After combining for eight points in 58 seconds early in the second, the two teams put in five points total over the last 7:22. The Trojans held Goshen without a field goal for more than eight minutes, leading 22-18 at halftime, but sputtered so badly on offense that the Leafs never trailed by more than six. Goshen tied the game at 27 halfway through the third.
A pair of TaNiece Chapman layups earned Goshen a bit of momentum by the end of the quarter, but a 12-0 Trinity run in the interim gave the hosts a 41-32 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
The Maple Leafs held TIU off the scoreboard for more than three minutes in the fourth quarter and held the hosts to two field goals in the first seven minutes. Goshen eventually got hot, with Copeland sinking 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to pull within 3 points, but the latter stroke didn't come until 2:58 remaining.
The teams traded empty possessions, then scores, then scores again as Mariah Roe pulled the Maple Leafs back to 51-48 with 39 seconds remaining. With Goshen needing a stop and a score to extend the game, Jahnke delivered the dagger by running the shot clock into single digits and scoring with 13 seconds left.
The Maple Leafs made up for lost time on the offensive glass, outrebounding their hosts 13-7 there, and led the way in second-chance points, bench points, and points in the paint, but were outscored 11-4 at the foul line.
Goshen returns to its Crossroads League slate on Wednesday against Marian University. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in Ruth Gunden Gymnasium.
