GOSHEN, Ind. - Sa'drea Rougeau scored a season-high 21 points, and Sophia Eli recorded seven steals as the Maple Leafs nearly overcame a 16-point deficit to beat the Bethel Pilots on Saturday afternoon in Ruth Gunden Gymnasium. A three-pointer by Lillian Null with just six seconds remaining put Goshen within one, but Bethel won 65-63.

It was a tight contest for much of the first two quarters. Bethel led 20-18 when they started a 10-0 run to push the lead to double digits, and they led 33-19 at the half.

The Pilots led by as many as 16 in the third quarter, but baskets from Sa'drea Rougeau, Zoe Zellers, and Sophia Eli took the lead back down to ten. Eli scored the final three points of the quarter, and the Maple Leafs were only down by five.

With just under three minutes to go in the game, Addi Jones scored to bring the Bethel lead up to 11. The Maple Leafs still weren't finished, however. Zoe Zellers scored nine seconds later, followed by buckets from Kiana Oelling and Rougeau. Montasia McAllister got in on the scoring action to make it a four-point game with 32 seconds to go. Oelling hit a jump shot next to make it a one-possession game at 61-59. After a timeout, Bethel couldn't control the inbound, and the ball went back to the Leafs.

Goshen couldn't score on the next possession, and they sent Jones to the free-throw line after a foul. Jones knocked down both free throws to make it a 63-59 score. GC used a timeout, and Null passed the ball into Rougeau. As she was triple-teamed, she gave it back out to Null, who hit the three - just her third of the season in five attempts. However, Bethel hit two more free throws to make it a three-point game. Eli was tripped up in the backcourt, and she hit her first of two free throws. Before missing the second one, the Leafs were called for a lane violation which secured a Bethel win.

Rougeau had 21 points with seven rebounds, three assists, a steal, and just one turnover. After starting the season with three straight double-digit scoring games, this was just her second game with 10+ points since the start of December. Her seven rebounds were the most she had had in a game since November 12. Sophia Eli scored 11 points but, more notably, had a career-high seven steals. The entire Pilots team had five steals in the game. Null had five points, including the critical three-pointer. She has played at least five minutes in the last nine games and has made 50.0% of her shots this season.

Goshen forced 28 Bethel turnovers, but the difference was in the three-point shooting. Goshen was 4-20 (20.0%), while Bethel was 10-18 (55.6%). Katie Kinker led the visitors with 23 points, shooting 6-7 from behind the arc. She also led the team with nine rebounds.

The Maple Leafs play at Taylor on Wednesday, January 25, at 7:00 pm. They are back home next Saturday, January 28, at 1:00 pm against Marian.