John Carroll may have had its "uh-oh" moment when Otterbein rattled off a 9-0 run to close out the first half for a 30-21 lead.

But "uh-oh" turned into "let's go" over the course of the second half, as the Blue Streaks wiped out their nine-point deficit and posted a hard-fought 67-66 victory in an Ohio Athletic Conference women's basketball contest staged Saturday at the Rike Center in Westerville.

Box Score

The Blue Streaks were 4-0 this season when shooting 40 percent or better from the field, which was why there was plenty of concern on the JCU bench when the visitors missed 26 of their first 34 shots. 

Otterebin did its part as well, racing out to a 7-0 lead to start the game. Although JCU fought back to tie the score at 21-21 on a Sadie Zander three-pointer at the 2:47 mark, the Cardinals scored the last nine points of the half.

"We talked at halftime about not playing very well," said Missy Spahar (Willowick, OH, Mentor Lake Catholic). "We talked in the locker room and decided we really needed to come out and play strong ... we needed to stop throwing the ball around and improve our shot selection."

John Carroll would respond in the second half, and took its first lead when Emily Day (Independence, OH, Parma Heights Holy Name) drained a three-point field goal with 10:33 remaining in regulaton.

It appeared as though the Blue Streaks were pulling away when Spahar dropped in two points to increase the JCU lead to 55-47 with just under six minutes showing on the clock.

But Otterbein would make matters interesting. Two three-pointers by Shea McCoy -- the second coming with 1:26 left -- sparked a 14-6 Cardinals run that cut John Carroll's lead down to a single point at 62-61.

After Lee Jennings (Stow, OH, Stow-Monroe Falls) and McCoy traded free throws, Jennings would knock down a lay-up to put the Streaks up 66-63 with 46 ticks left.

Kristi Kotterman's bid to tie the game was off the mark, and Jennings was fouled. Although she split the pair, it was enough to give the Streaks a four-point lead with 13 seconds to go. Otterbein hit a three-pointer as the clock wound down to make the final margin a single tally.

JCU shot 18-25 (.720) from the field for the second half while holding Otterbein to 14-44 (.318).

"Sadie, Allie (Lustig) and Emily played excellent defense today," said JCU head coach Kristie Maravalli. "We held one of their better scorers, (Kristi) Kotterman, to 1-13 shooting. This is a hard place to play, and coming out of finals and being a little injury-riddled, this is a great win for us."

John Carroll (6-3, 2-2 OAC) was led by 20 points from Jennings, 18 from Spahar and 12 from Zander. The Blue Streaks are now 5-2 away from home this season.

Otterbein (2-7, 0-4 OAC) was led by a game-high 27 points from McCoy and a career-high 23 from Katie Stallard.