MISHAWAKA, Ind. — Mariah Roe scored a season-high 21 points in the final regular-season game of her career Saturday afternoon, but Bethel University raced to an early lead and held on for an 88-82 win over Goshen College in U.S. Highway 20 Cup rivalry trophy action and Crossroads League women's basketball at BU's Wiekamp Athletic Center.
Kiarah Copeland scored a career-high 15 points for Goshen, Claire Rauck hit double figures for the second consecutive game and Graysen Cockerham posted a double-double, but the host Pilots scored at least 20 points in every quarter and defended their home floor to tie the rivalry trophy series.
Roe also tied for the game high with 5 assists and added 6 rebounds to go with a team-leading 2 steals. Rauck sank 5 3-pointers for the second straight game and Cockerham finished with a game-high 10 rebounds to complement her 12 points.
Jessica Erwin scored a career-high 32 points for Bethel (5-19, 1-15) on her senior day, going 15-for-17 from the foul line as the Pilots recognized a pair of seniors before the final game of their career. The other senior, Kelsey Brickner, added 16 points and was 4-of-4 from the stripe.
Erwin led BU with 9 rebounds and 3 steals while Kallie McElroy had a team-high 5 assists. Each defense forced numerous turnovers, with the Maple Leafs getting 21 points off Bethel's 20 turnovers and the Pilots getting 16 points off Goshen's 21.
The hosts went on a 9-0 run to push the lead to double digits in the first quarter and led 22-11 after 10 minutes. While neither team shot above 25 percent in the quarter, Bethel converted each of Goshen's six fouls into free throws and went 12-for-12 at the line in addition to a pair of 3-pointers. The former stat started a trend that continued throughout the game as Bethel went 29-for-33 at the line.
Goshen (7-20, 3-13) turned up the offense in the second quarter, hitting on 9 of its 15 shots but also allowing the Pilots to shoot 50 percent in a 26-21 quarter. Bethel led 43-37 at halftime after Goshen cut the lead to four points early in the second.
Bethel netted a two-point edge in the third quarter as neither team was able to stop the other enough to go on a run. The Maple Leafs got a Sadre'a Rougeau field goal with 43 seconds left to close within 61-56; while Goshen got a miss on the other end, they answered with their own miss instead of closing the game to one possession and Brickner hit a 3 at the other end to make it 64-56 Bethel after three periods.
Goshen added 26 points in the fourth quarter but allowed 24 in the same span as the teams made that the highest-scoring quarter of the day. The Maple Leafs opened with two straight scores surrounding a Pilot turnover, but Bethel answered with the next six points to go back up 10 at 70-60.
A Rauck triple and a Sophia Eli bucket at 5:52 made the score 72-67; again, Goshen had two chances to cut the lead to one possession and was unable to convert. Rauck and Chapman added a 5-0 run to get within two a couple of minutes later, but Nyla Asad quickly retaliated with a 3 to put the Pilots up 79-74.
Goshen turned the ball over on the ensuing possession and Bethel went 9-for-its-last-10 at the foul line to keep the Maple Leafs from approaching.
The loss did not materially affect the conference standings, as Goshen was locked into seventh and Bethel into ninth entering the day. It did factor into the U.S. 20 Cup standings, though, as BU pulled into a tie at 3¾ points at the end of the game and led 6¼-3¾ at the end of the day after four head-to-head wins across four sports.
As the seventh seed in the Crossroads League, Goshen earns its first postseason berth in four years and will travel to Indiana Wesleyan University next Tuesday for the first round of the conference tournament. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in Luckey Arena.
