FORT WAYNE, Ind. — TaNiece Chapman came within a rebound of another double-double Wednesday night as the Goshen College women's basketball team completed a fourth-quarter comeback but couldn't hang on in a 56-49 Crossroads League loss to the University of Saint Francis at the Hutzell Athletic Center.
The Maple Leafs (5-13, 3-6) gave up an 11-0 run to fall behind 22-8 on a Scaggs bucket in the closing seconds of the first quarter, but outscored USF 33-18 over the next 22-plus minutes to take the lead. Janara Flowers sank a pair of free throws with 7:33 left in the fourth quarter to put Goshen up 41-40, but the Cougars scored 11 of the last 13 points to finish off the win.
Chapman led the Maple Leafs with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting for the game while Flowers connected for 13 points and Graysen Cockerham scored 8. Chapman, Cockerham and Keyaira Murff each added a pair of steals.
Cassidy Crawford led all scorers with 19 points for Saint Francis (10-7, 4-4): she bolstered a 6-of-12 shooting night with 7 free throws in 8 attempts. Reganne Pate scored 10 of her 16 points in the first half and finished with 5 3-pointers for the game. Elise Scaggs added 12 points and led USF with 7 rebounds.
The Maple Leafs dug their hole in the first quarter by shooting 3-for-11 from the floor while Saint Francis hit at 9-for-18 overall and 3-for-5 from distance. In the second quarter, a 9-0 Goshen run drew the visitors back within 3 points on a Mariah Roe 3-pointer at 2:37: USF went cold, shooting 3-of-10 from the floor, and Goshen added four foul shots to come within 28-23 at halftime.
The defenses got the better of the offenses in the third quarter, which saw Flowers score the Maple Leafs' last 7 points to bring the team within one possession three separate times. Goshen didn't score for more than 5 minutes but held the Cougars to two field goals in that span and trailed by 8 with 10 minutes left.
The Leafs scored on each of their first four possessions in the fourth quarter, with four players contributing to a 9-0 run that gave the team its first lead of the game. Flowers scored to tie the game again at 6:25 before another cold spell, but Murff tied the game at 47 with two free throws at 2:15.
Pate had one more 3-pointer up her sleeve, which came at 1:54 to give the Cougars a lead they would not relinquish. Goshen turned the ball over on its next possession, allowing Crawford to score and run the lead to 52-47; while Chapman scored to trim the lead to 3 in the final minute, USF was 4-for-6 at the foul line to ice the game.
Goshen forced 22 turnovers while committing 13, which helped cancel out Saint Francis' 33-29 rebounding advantage. Crawford added 6 assists and 3 steals to lead all players.
USF shot 41 percent to Goshen's 33 percent and outdid the Maple Leafs 33 percent to 19 percent at the 3-point line. Each team was 10-of-13 on free throws.
Wednesday's game was a makeup for the teams' postponed conference game in November. Goshen and Saint Francis will proceed to meet again on Saturday in a regularly-scheduled conference meeting at Ruth Gunden Gymnasium.
