Taylor Pulls Away from Goshen to Clinch CL Tournament Berth

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UPLAND, Ind. – Senior Ava Henson scored a career-high 27 points and had season-highs with six assists and four steals as the Taylor women's basketball team (11-15, 6-10 CL) pulled away from Goshen 76-64 on Saturday afternoon. The win clinched TU's spot in the Crossroads League Tournament and guarantees a seventh seed or better by season's end.

While both teams struggled with turnovers and shot making early on, Henson was in rhythm from the jump, scoring 11 points without committing a turnover during the opening period. The Maple Leafs, however, led 23-19 15 minutes into the game before Henson and her teammates took off on the offensive end and crashed the glass.

By halftime, the Trojans had found its transition game as they closed the second quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 33-25 lead. Henson had 18 points at the break, while Taylor Westgate and Kacey Ott both became more involved to notch six and four points, respectively. TU's rebounding continued to be dominant to the tune of a 30-18 advantage.

Westgate recorded her ninth double-double of the season and 32nd of her career with a strong third quarter, and Hope Custer came alive as well to bring her totals to 10 points and eight boards. Goshen hung around, though, as TU's lead was trimmed to seven at 48-41 through three quarters.

The Maple Leafs (9-17, 4-12 CL) continued to hit some shots in the early portion of the fourth period, but Taylor got separation with red-hot offensive play from its stars of the day. In the final quarter alone, Custer tallied nine points, and Westgate and Henson scored seven apiece, with Henson also dishing out four dimes. Timely three-pointers midway through the closing period from Henson and Custer ultimately served as the game's daggers.

Custer and Westgate each contributed 19 points and three assists to complement Henson's career day. Westgate closed with 12 rebounds to give her 980 career boards, and Custer was just one rebound shy of a double-double.

Head coach Cassie Wiseman was very complimentary of Henson and the team after the game.

"(Ava Henson) turned it on on defense and really started pulling away in transition and attacking the rim with confidence, and basically just took over. She took over the game and willed it for us … It was a total team effort, though," said Wiseman.

The Trojans shot 23-for-45 (51.1 percent) from the field over the final three quarters. Taylor also had impressive totals of 19 assists, nine steals and 44 rebounds on the day.

TU plays its final regular season road game on Wednesday at Huntington (13-13, 7-9 CL) with major CL Tournament seeding implications on the line. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m.