RIO GRANDE, Ohio – After a slow first two quarters, Goshen's offense picked it up in the latter half of their game against West Virginia Tech in the Rio Grande Classic on Saturday afternoon. The Leafs prevailed against the Golden Bears by winning 69-54.
Both teams had difficulty getting their offense going in the first quarter. They combined for just seven made baskets, and the score was 12-8 Goshen after one. West Virginia Tech doubled their production in the second quarter, and Goshen held a narrow 25-24 lead going into the break.
In the second half of the game, Goshen scored 44 points, a 19-point improvement from the first half.
Sa'drea Rougeau continued to have an impressive performance in the Rio Grande Classic. Today she scored 23 points, shot 50% from the field, and went 3-7 from three. She added four rebounds, two assists, and five steals. Rougeau was also instrumental in slowing down Whittney Justice for the Golden Bears. Justice was held to just 13 points and shot 30%. Also scoring in double digits for Goshen were Ta'Niece Chapman,
Syanne Mohamed, and
Janara Flowers.
Cockerham showed up in multiple places on the stat sheet. The senior scored five points, had nine rebounds, four assists, four steals, a couple of blocks, and just one turnover. In addition to Rougeau and Cockerham, head coach
Stephanie Miller was also impressed by Chapman, Mohamed, and
Kyla Foster. "Ta'Niece did her job today and has been so consistent," she said. "Kyla and Syanne each really made huge contributions as well. They really impacted the game mostly on defense."
The Maple Leafs held the Golden Bears to just 21% from three and forced 22 turnovers. While West Virginia Tech came into the match with an 0-2 record, both of those losses were to top 10 ranked teams in the NAIA. Before losing by 15 to Goshen, they lost by 15 to #9 Concordia in their first game of the Rio Grande Classic, and by 22 to #2 Thomas More.
Miller said she got exactly what she wanted from the weekend in southern Ohio. "Rio Grande really tested us, and we and we had to learn a lot about ourselves quickly and make adjustments," she acknowledged. "I was very happy to see the way the ladies bounced back today and directly applied some of the lessons learned from last night's game."
The women advance their record to 3-1 this season. Goshen's next game is this Tuesday at home against Northwestern Ohio. The matchup will get underway at 7:00 pm.
