FORT WAYNE, Ind. – On Wednesday evening the University of Saint Francis Lady Cougars (7-3; 3-0 Crossroads) played host to the Goshen College Maple Leafs (5-3; 1-2 Crossroads) in Hutzell Athletic Center and came away with a 66-58 victory.

After over a week off, the Lady Cougars were anxious to get back at it against another conference opponent.

Opening the game, the offenses though were scarce as an opening three-pointer by the Maple Leafs was the only scoring done through the first three and a half minutes of the game.

But then, the Lady Cougars found some momentum and rode it. Consecutive made threes by freshman guard Julia Mantyla put Saint Francis ahead by eight and they continued to build upon that lead, ahead 16-11 going into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, the Lady Cougars picked up where they left off making one key stop on defense after another while building upon their lead offensively. Saint Francis grew the lead to as big as 16 points as they outscored Goshen 20-9 in the frame taking a 36-20 lead going into halftime.

Throughout the first half the Lady Cougars sank 10 three-pointers going 10-for-17 from beyond the arc for a shooting percentage of 58.

Heading into the second half, the Lady Cougars kept applying the pressure though the Maple Leafs came out strong and cut into the deficit.

Despite Goshen threatening a comeback, the Lady Cougars remained determined and maintained their distance from the Maple Leafs as the game entered the fourth quarter with Saint Francis still ahead by double-digits.

In the final frame, the closest the Maple Leafs got was within eight points, but Saint Francis was able to answer each time to keep themselves ahead by 12 points as the game entered the final minute.

Goshen was never able to catch back up as the Lady Cougars prevailed for their third straight win to improve to 3-0 in Crossroads League play.

Throughout the game, the Lady Cougars shot 46 percent from the floor, 52 percent from beyond the three-point line, and 50 percent from the free throw line. Junior guard Reganne Pate was the lead scorer for Saint Francis with 21 points while senior forward Cassidy Crawford had a team-leading 10 rebounds.

The Lady Cougars resume play on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Winona Lake, Indiana to take on the (RV) Grace College Lancers (6-1; 2-0 Crossroads) beginning at 1:00 pm.

Cougar fans, stay updated with all events and recaps with USF Athletics by visiting Saintfranciscougars.com or by downloading the Saint Francis Cougars app.