PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. - Zion Neat scored 22 points, including a crucial layup late in the game, as Goshen won a tight 63-60 battle at Trinity Christian on Monday night.
Neat made her first three three-pointer attempts in the game and already had 11 points at the first quarter's end. Goshen built a 22-13 lead by then, but the Trolls came back in the second quarter to close the gap to three by halftime.
Ava Lickliter scored all of her ten points in the second and third quarters and finished the game with perfect shooting - 4-4 overall and 2-2 from downtown.
Kiana Oelling totaled 14 points with ten in the first half of the game.
Trinity Christian took a lead with 3:50 to go in the contest at 54-53. Sedona Anderson was fouled on a three-pointer and proceeded to make her second and third free throws to make the lead 56-53. They had a four-point lead with 1:42 to go when Neat provided the late burst that Goshen needed.
Neat hit a three with 86 seconds left to cut the deficit to one. After the Trolls made one free throw with 52 seconds to go, Neat later hit a layup and a free throw from after being fouled on the play to give Goshen a lead at 61-60. After two more free throws from Oelling, Goshen won the game 63-60 to move to 2-2 on the season with a second straight win.
Neat finished with 22 points and five three-pointers - similar to her 24 point performance with four three-pointers against Trinity Christian a year ago.
Syanne Mohamed was two points shy of a second straight double-double. She put up eight points and ten rebounds in addition to two steals, two blocks and two assists.
Trinity Christian shot efficiently from the free-throw line (82.4%) but they had four more turnovers than the Maple Leafs. Goshen led by as many as 12 whereas the largest lead for the home team was four. The win is Goshen's fourth straight over the Trolls, as they haven't lost to them since 2013.
The Leafs competes at the Huntington Classic held at Huntington University this weekend. They face IU-East on Friday at 7:00 pm and IU-Southeast on Saturday at 1:00 pm.
