One of the harsh lessons to learn in basketball is how quickly a tide can turn and how rapidly a lead can evaporate.
Such was the case Wenesday night in Alliance for the John Carroll women's hoops squad, who held a 15-point lead over a top-flight Ohio Athletic Conference opponent midway through the second half but ultimately fell to host Mount Union, 83-80.
Box Score
At the 10:43 mark of the second half, Lee Jennings would complete a three-point play that gave the Blue Streaks a 63-48 advantage.
JCU still led by 12 at 70-58 following a three-pointer by Taylor Christener at the 7:33 mark, but Mount Union would suddenly flip the game completely around. A trio of three-point field goals by Kori Weift over a three minute span ignited an 11-0 Purple Raiders run that put the home team on top, 71-70, with 4:33 left in regulation.
The two teams would exchange the lead six times over the next three minutes before Mount Union seized it for good on a pair of Tess Pohovey free throws at the 1:03 mark that put the Purple Raiders up 79-78.
In what turned out to be the biggest play of the game, Jennings would pick up her fifth foul on a charge call with 41 seconds left. Her shot was true but the points were waved off.
With her game-high 30 points on the bench, JCU tried to stay in the game in a free throw battle. Trailing 80-78, JCU misfired on a potential game-tying shot, and fouled Amanda Rose. The free throws were split, however, keeping matters in the one possession zone.
Emily Day was fouled with 11 seconds left, and the JCU sophomore made both tosses to again bring the margin to a singe point at 81-80.
Rose LaMattina would draw a foul and made both free throws with ten seconds remaining, setting up John Carroll with one last chance to tie the score. But Sadie Zander's three went off the front iron as the buzzer sounded.
John Carroll was in control at the start of the night, scoring the first eight points of the game, and surging out to a 17-6 lead at the 12;32 mark of the opening half. Although the Streaks never relinquished the lead, Mount Union did whittle it down to 44-41 by intermission.
The lead was still in single digits at 53-48 when JCU embarked on a 10-0 run that was capped by Jennings' three-point play that put the Blue Streaks' advantage at its high water mark of 15.
Mount Union (17-3, 10-3 OAC) was paced by Weidt, who scored 17 points. Pohovey added 13 while Rose contributed ten points and a game-high 12 boards. The Purple Raiders rescued their game with 5-10 (.500) shooting from three-point land as opposed to a 3-13 (.231) effort in the first half.
John Carroll (9-10, 6-7 OAC), which lost its third game in a row, had four players in double figures. Besides Jennings, Whitney Hamilton had 13 and Zander and Caitlin Sureck each added 11. JCU shot 19-31 (.613) in the first half but made just 12-30 (.400) in the second, including 2-10 (.200) over the final seven minutes.
Jennings' 30 points pushed her career total to 1,003 for her career. She is the 11th JCU player to reach that mark in program history. Rachael Price was the last to do so, passing the 1000-point milestone last season.