The bench bunch, featuring the likes of Lana Kiko (with ball), Katherine Mahoney (foreground) and Laura Gruber (background), contributed 13 points and 15 rebounds to the cause against Otterbein
On a day when nothing came easy, John Carroll relied on a little grit and a lot of determination to fight back from an early deficit for a 73-70 victory over Otterbein College Saturday afternoon at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.
In this Ohio Athletic Conference match-up between fourth and sixth place teams separated by a single game, John Carroll would have to overcome a 14-point first half deficit to post its ninth victory in the last ten games.
Otterbein had already taken one game from the Blue Streaks -- an 87-79 victory to open the league schedule back on December 1 in Westerville. Judging by their start, the Cardinals were clearly thinking sweep
The Cardinals dominated most of the first half of the game as they came out hot from three-point range in the first half. Otterbein junior Laura Roth would open the game with a trio of three point field goals over the first four minutes, staking the visitors an 11-2 lead. Otterbein would lead by as many as 14 points on two occassions during the first 20 minutes.
While Otterbein seemed to be on top of their game, John Carroll was struggling at both ends of the floor. The Blue Streaks were shooting under 32 percent from the floor and only made one-of-nine shots from beyond the arc. Carroll was also getting out-rebounded, 31-22.
“We weren't stopping them in transition defense and on top of that we weren't shooting the ball very well” said JCU head coach Kristie Maravalli.
Despite all the struggles, the Blue Streaks rallied late, cutting the lead down to six points before Otterbein was able to take a 37-29 lead into the locker room.<
The second half started off similar to the first with Roth being the first to score. She made a free-throw at the start of the second period for the 1,000th point in her career.
The next surge would be provided by the bench bunch
"Our bench players deserve a lot of credit for this win." said Maravalli. "It was the players coming off the bench that brought the energy back to the team".
Starting with a big three-point shot by sophomore Katherine Mahoney started a 9-3 run that culminated with a Price three-pointer that brought JCU to within 49-48 with 11:43 on the clock.
Otterbein appeared to have righted the ship by thanks to five consecutive points by Roth that made the score 54-48, but John Carroll would respond with the game's most important run. Using a string of five consecutive field goals made, John Carroll rattled off 13 unasnwered points to take a 61-54 advantage with 8:05 remaining in regulation. Hamilton scored six of the 13 points in that run.
The game was far from over, despite the fact that John Carroll would never relinquish its lead. With under two minutes remaining, Roth and Sara Fee would score five points on back-to-back possessions to trim a six point JCU lead down to 71-70 with 1:15 showing on the clock.
In the last 45 seconds, Jennings hit one-of-two free throws still leaving a chance for Otterbein to score. But Sureck blocked a shot taken by Katy Miller to help take the pressure off the Streaks.
Price was then fouled with 11 seconds left, but only made one-of-two from the line. The Cardinals attempted one final attempt to tie the game, but the three-point shot by Karli Volkmer failed.
“It was a huge win,” said Maravalli. “We wanted to split with Otterbein in the OAC and now it's all about controlling our own destiny. We want to be in the top four in the conference so we can host a tournament game."
Sureck paced John Carroll (v11-6, 6-4 OAC) with a double-double of 17 points and ten rebounds. She also contributed three blocks and two assists. Hamilton finished with 16 points and Price had 15.
For Otterbein (8-9, 4-6 OAC), Roth finished with a game-high 30 points, achieved thanks to 11-21 shooting from the field, 5-12 from beyond the arc, and 3-5 from the free throw line.Fee tallied 15 points and eight rebounds as the Cardinals lost for the fourth time in their last five games.
“We had individuals who didn't play very well today, but we responded well as a team," said Maravalli. "There was no one player who carried us. We needed every point, rebound, steal, and block that we got ... for us to gut out this win was significant to our program."
John Carroll has 11 wins through its first 17 games for the first time since 1994-95.
