The John Carroll University women's basketball team spent the better part of Wednesday night chasing down the Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets, but could never overatke them in falling 75-61 in an Ohio Athletic Conference match-up held at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

Box Score

Idle since November 24, the Blue Streaks were slow starters against their crosstown rivals. Over the first six minutes of the contest, Baldwin-Wallace would roll out to a 15-4 lead.

JCU still trailed by ten points with just under 12 minutes to play when they began to chip away at the lead. When Lee Jennings drained a pair of free throws, JCu had trimmed its deficit to just two points at 27-25 with 5:32 to play in the opening period.

Baldwin-Wallace staved off the attack thanks to a closing 9-4 run to close out the first half. Amanda Schroder chipped in four points while Olivia French nailed a big three-pointer to give the visitors a 36-29 lead at the intermission.

The Yellow Jackets once again expanded their lead to double digits on a Jessica Carpenter lay-in at the 16:32 mark. It would take less than 90 seconds for the Blue Streaks to whittle the advantage down to two points again. A Whitney Hamilton three ball and five consecutive points by Jennings had JCU on the doorstep of the Yellow Jackets lead at 43-41.

Just as quickly as John Carroll ahd cut the lead, Baldwin-Wallace would make it grow. An 8-0 run sparked offensive and defensively by Catherine Spisak and capped by a Carpenter lay-up had Baldwin-Wallace back out front by ten at 51-41 with just under 14 minutes to play.

The Blue Streaks would have no more chase in them, however, as the closest John Carroll came to Baldwin-Wallace the rest of the way would be seven points.

Baldwin-Wallace (3-2, 2-0 OAC) was paced by 23 points from Schroeder, who also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Carpenter added 13 points and Ariel Brough chipped in ten as the Yellow Jackets used a 45-30 rebounding advantage to thrwart any hopes of a JCU upset.

John Carroll (1-4, 0-1 OAC) was led by Jennings, who finished the night with a game-high 26 points to go along with eight assists. Caitlin Surek had 16 points as the only other Blue Streak in double figures.

The loss was the Blue Streaks' fourth in a row overall this season, and fourth straight loss to Baldwin-Wallace.