BRADENTON, Fla. - Women's basketball finished with a 2-0 record for their Florida trip with a 64-47 victory over New College of Florida on Friday afternoon. A strong third quarter lifted the Maple Leafs to their third win in the last four games.

Neither team had more than a six-point lead in the first two quarters, as New College of Florida led for 9:22 and Goshen led for 9:06. The Maple Leafs outscored the Mighty Banyans by three in the first quarter but the home team won the scoring margin by four in the second quarter. Zion Neat had nine points, three assists and three steals at the half. Paula Ferrer Nolla had eight points on 4-6 shooting. Goshen shot just 1-8 from three while NCF was 6-10.

The Leafs turned a new page to start the third quarter, getting off to an 11-0 run and outscoring the Mighty Banyans 24-7 over the ten minutes. New College of Florida had seven turnovers in the quarter, and Goshen scored 14 points off those turnovers. GC held NCF to just 19 points over the final two quarters of the game.

Goshen made just 17.6% of their attempts from three, a season low. They were outrebounded by three, their largest margin of the season, and shot a season-low 47.8% from the free-throw line. The difference was in the turnovers, as the Leafs tied a season-low with nine, but the Mighty Banyans had 22.

Zion Neat was the leading scorer with 23 points, her fifth-straight 20+ point game of the season. Paula Ferrer Nolla was a rebound away from a double-double with 16 points and nine boards. She made seven of her ten shot attempts and had three blocks. Ava Lickliter filled the statsheet with ten points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. This was her seventh game of the season with ten or more points.

This was the first-ever meeting between the two schools, and it is the first year that New College of Florida is an NAIA member. The Mighty Banyans nickname refers to the banyan tree, which is indigenous to the tropical climate of central Florida. The temperature in Bradenton, Florida was 46 degrees higher than the temperature in Goshen, Indiana during the game - 78 degrees to 32 degrees.

The players will return to Indiana and have time to celebrate the holidays before taking on Ohio Christian in Circleville, Ohio, on Monday, December 30, at 1:00 pm.