UPLAND, Ind. - With 11 games remaining in the regular season, the Goshen women's basketball team has already matched their win total from a season ago. The Maple Leafs improved to 9-7 after a 62-60 road win at Taylor on Saturday afternoon.
With Wednesday's win over Spring Arbor as well as the Taylor win, it is the first time that Goshen has gone 2-0 in conference games in a calendar week since the week of January 8-14, 2017 when GC beat Taylor and Huntington.
Saturday's win wasn't easy, as Goshen had to overcome a 16-point deficit. The Leafs had a rocky first quarter where they made just 3 of 17 shot attempts and were trailing 17-6.
Syanne Mohamed and
Zoe Zellers went 3-5 shooting, but the rest of the team was 0-12. Taylor had as much as a 16-point lead in the second quarter, but it was taken down to 13 after
Emme Boots' buzzer beater three-pointer. It was just the second three made for Goshen in the game, but it was a difference maker and proved to be the spark that the team needed.
In the third quarter, Goshen was within two points and finished the quarter down four.
Zion Neat came alive after shooting 1-8 in the first two quarters. In the third, she had 12 points on 4-6 shooting, making two threes and going 2-2 at the line. Goshen's first lead of the game came with 7:27 to go in the fourth when Neat made a layup on a fastbreak to give the Leafs a 50-48 edge. Taylor's lead was back at five with under two minutes to go, but
Ava Lickliter made two layups within 24 seconds of each other to cut the deficit to one.
Emme Boots sunk another crucial three-pointer with 32 seconds to go to give the lead back to Goshen on a pass from Lickliter. The Trojans had a missed shot and two turnovers for the remainder of the game, and
Syanne Mohamed's steal in the closing seconds sealed the deal.
Mohamed had 18 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two steals, while making nine of her 12 shots. This week, she had nine blocks, 15 rebounds and shot 15-20 from the floor. She tied a season-high in minutes played and her 18 points were her second-highest total this season.
Ava Lickliter played 40 minutes for the third straight game and had ten points.
Zion Neat scored 16 points. She tied a season-high with 37 minutes played, but only had two turnovers.
Emme Boots had six points. She was 2-2 on threes and they came just when the Leafs needed them.
Goshen (9-7, 3-4 CL) will try to extend their win streak to three games when they are at Indiana Wesleyan on Wednesday, January 15, at 5:00 pm.
