GOSHEN, Ind. - After being outscored by 16 points in the second quarter, the Goshen Maple Leafs women's basketball team nearly completed a comeback against Taylor, pulling within one in the final minute before losing 64-59. Montasia McAllister played just nine minutes but hit three three-pointers in the last two quarters to finish with a season-high nine points.

The Leafs were down three halfway through the first quarter before going on a 7-0 run to go up 13-9. By the end of the quarter, Goshen was up 18-15 against the 9-6 Trojans.

But when the second quarter hit, GC started to unravel.

The Trojans outscored Goshen 18-2 in the quarter, holding Goshen to shooting 9% from the field and 0-4 behind the arc. As they went into the locker rooms, Taylor had a 33-20 lead.

Goshen got back in the groove in the third, and critical blocks from Syanne Mohamed and Sa'drea Rougeau kept them in the game. Then, the Leafs started to creep back up in the final five minutes of the contest.

The Trojans still had an eleven-point lead with under five minutes to go. But five points from Sophia Eli and a bucket and two free throws from Zion Neat closed the gap. Then it was Zoe Zellers' time to shine as she hit a basket with under two minutes to go and was fouled. She made her free throw, and Goshen was within three. Zellers hit another basket after a Taylor turnover to put Goshen within one with 39 seconds left.

Taylor got to the free-throw line with 14 seconds to go after a couple of Goshen fouls, and Ava Henson made them both. Neat misses a three-pointer on the other end, and Henson hit two more free throws with five seconds to take the game to its final score - 64-59.

Neat led Goshen with 13 points and five assists, and she had three rebounds and was 5-9 from the field. McAllister hit two threes late in the third and had another early in the fourth, finishing 3-5 from long range. Sa'drea Rougeau, Syanne Mohamed, Zoe Zellers, and Sophia Eli all had at least seven points apiece.

Taylor was 16th in the NAIA in rebound margin at +9.9, but tonight they had just two more than GC. They had 19 defensive and 18 offensive rebounds.

Goshen (6-10, 1-5 CL) is on the road at #6 Marian on Saturday, January 7. Tipoff in Indianapolis is at 1:00 pm, followed by the men's teams.