LaGRANGE — Senior Aimee Swiahrt tossed in 30 points as the Goshen Redskins opened the 2012-13 high school girls basketball season with an easy 76-19 win Tuesday night at Lakeland.

Swihart poured in 20 points in the opening half as the Redskins cruised to a 44-11 lead at intermission.

“As any head coach will do I will take the things from this game that we need to do better,” Goshen coach Lenny Krebs said. “Our defense needs to get better. We let Lakeland get the ball in the paint too much. We need to close some of those gaps.

“We did played aggressively and our intensity level was good. I’m pleased with where we are at after the first game.”

Goshen (1-0) hosts Bremen Saturday night.

Sheila Moore is in her first season as the Lakeland coach after spending last season at the JV level. She has 30 years of coaching experience Michigan.

“The kids are still learning a new system, but since I was around last year they had a little better idea of what to expect,” the coach said. “We are trying to build some team unity. We know it is going to take some time and that were are going to be taking little steps.

“Goshen is probably one of the better teams we are going to see this season. They really pass the ball well.”

The Redskins were in control front the start, opening a 10-0 lead by 4:09 of the first period. Goshen stretched the lead to 15-2 and went on to hold a 25-4 advantage at quarter’s end.

Swihart netted 10 points in the opening period.

“We have put in a new offense,” Krebs said. “We have some good post players and the offense allows us to get the ball to them underneath at the same time opening up the driving lanes for our guards.”

Swihart took advantage of the driving lanes as she made several layups and also drew a number of personal fouls. She was 13-of-17 from the free-throw line as the Redskins were 21-of-29 as a team.

“One of our goals this year is to make more free throws in a game than the opposing team takes,” Krebs said. “I love to see those easy points from the line.”

The Lakers were 6-of-14 from the charity stripe.

The new offense also gave the Redskins the chance for points on offensive putbacks.

“We had a lot of opportunities for second-chance points,” Krebs said.

Goshen had a commanding 36-16 edge in rebounds. Sophomore Kayci Troyer grabbed seven, Swihart and freshman Olivia Love both six.

The Redskins were 26-of-63 shooting.

“One of the things I told the girls we need to work on is taking the best possible shot,” Krebs said. “We want the best shot, not the next one.”

The Redskins have some size in the post and a number of good guards.

“We can go big or small,” Krebs said. “We have four solid post players that we could have on the floor at the same time.”

Junior Deja Felder chipped in with 17 points for the Redskins. Junior Christina Gipson and classmate Jessica DeStefano both contributed eight points.

The Redskins had 21 steals with Swihart having seven, Fleder five and Gipson four.

Sophomore Abi Thompson scored 11 points and classmate Ashtin Kaminer six to top Lakeland.

The Redskins are young with Swihart the only senior. Six of the 10 players that saw action were sophomores or freshmen.

“I was a little concerned about the youngsters after the scrimmage with Bethany Christian,” Krebs said. “But tonight they did the things we needed from them. You expect them to be a little nervous in their first varsity game, but they listened to what the catches were telling them and tried to make the adjustments. As a coach that is all you can ask of them.”



Goshen 76, Lakeland 19

GOSHEN — Christina Gipson 2-7 4-6 8, Yadira Cabrales 1-7 1-1 3, Aimee Swihart 8-16 13-17 30, Kayci Troyer 2-5 0-0 4, Deja Felder 7-15 1-3 17, Lelise Vanlandingham 1-4 0-0 2, Jessica DeStefano 4-6 0-0 8, Brianna Yoder 1-10 0-0 2, Desiray Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Olivia Love 0-1 2-2 2. Team: 26-63 21-29 76

LAKELAND — Ashtin Kaminer 0-6 0-0 0, Rebecca Levitz 1-6 0-0 2, Carlee Richardson 2-7 1-36, Abi Thompson 3-6 5-8 11, Amanda Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Meyers 0-6 0-2 0, Ashton Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Blake Mullet 0- 0-1 0, Chloe Sirk 0-0 0-1 0, Michaela Moore 0-2 0-0 0. Team: 6-33 6-14 19

Goshen    25    19    18    14    —    76

Lakeland    4    7    2    6    —    19

3-point goals: Goshen 3-9 (Felder 2-4, Swihart 1-2, Gipson 0-1, Cabrales 0-2); Lakeland 1-7 (Richardson 1-3, Levitz 0-1, Meyers 0-1, Kaminer 0-2).

Fouls (fouled out): Goshen 15, Lakeland 20 (Kaminer).

Rebounds: Goshen 36 (Troyer 7, Love 6, Swihart 6); Lakeland 16 (Moore 4, Thompson 4).

Assists: Goshen 5.

Steals: Goshen 21 (Swihart 7, Felder 5, Gipson 4).

Turnovers: Goshen 17, Lakeland 40.

JV score: Goshen won 26-12. (Goshen: Brianna Yoder 10, Desiray Brown 4, Olivia Love 4, Alexis Stevens 3, Macie Miller 2, Sonia Velazquez 2, Adrienne Henke 1. Lakeland: Emory Klopfenstein 3, Molly Landers 3).