GOSHEN – It wasn’t the homecoming Matt Carpenter wanted for his club, and it wasn’t the basketball ultimately drawn on the whiteboard. Turnovers plagued both Wawasee and Goshen, but particularly killed the Lady Warriors in a 33-29 girls basketball loss Friday night.

Wawasee committed five of its 20 turnovers in the fourth quarter, its final one on the last possession down two with time running out. Wawasee had led 29-28 after Casey Schroeder drilled a three from the corner and got the ball back after Goshen was called for an offensive foul. But a missed three-pointer turned around a chance for Goshen, which Josie Walters hit a three of her own to give Goshen a two-point lead with 32.8 seconds left.

Schroeder missed a shot on Wawasee’s end, and still had life when Brynn Shoup-Hill missed the front end of a one-and-one. But the turnover in the lane had Shoup-Hill gather up the loose ball and hit both of her free throws to ice the game.

“There are things we have to fix,” Carpenter said. “The number one thing is the turnovers. We had like somewhere between 14 and 15 in the first half. We are working on it at practice. Some of that is spacing, some of that is communication, some of that is just good teamwork and some of that is just good basketball. When we have bad stretches, it’s usually because of turnovers. Consecutive turnovers.”

Carpenter, who was an assistant for Goshen under Lenny Krebs for 10 years before taking the Wawasee job two years ago, noted it wasn’t just turnovers, but missed shots. The Lady Warriors were just 10-26 from the floor in the game (39 percent), Schroeder making up a large percentage of the good in her 5-7 night, finishing with 14 points. But misses in a close game were crucial, including two wide open looks in the fourth and several throughout became key.

“We didn’t knock the shots down in the second half, and give credit to Goshen with their defensive and physical game,” Carpenter said. “Good defense by both teams to start. I feel really happy that we held them to one field goal in a 10-minute span, but we need to capitalize on that on the offensive end.”

Goshen wasn’t lighting the world on fire, either, scoring just one point in the third quarter. Jill Kissinger, who scored four of her team-high nine points in the final minute of the second quarter, was also the spark plug with four rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists. Shoup-Hill, a 6-2 freshman, drew a ton of attention from Wawasee, but made just one basket and finished with five points.

“Was it coming back to where I coached for so many years, yes, but the focus was still on a conference opponent,” Carpenter said of his return to Goshen. “This one hurts more for the kids. They know where I came from, and they know that I’m battling for them now, and we wanted to get this game because it’s an NLC game, not just because I coached at Goshen. Sure, it was personal for me a little, but when push came to shove, it was about getting a conference road win. I just wish we had come out on the other side.”

The JV game was also low scoring, with Goshen winning the contest 23-18. Wawasee had seven players with two points, and Abby Steiner with four points. Vanessa Lopez scored seven points for Goshen.

Wawasee (5-5, 0-2 NLC) will visit Bethany Christian on Tuesday.