As she often does, senior Lee Jennings (Stow, OH, Stow-Monroe Falls) tried to carry her team to victory tonight, scoring a game-high 33 points and dishing out seven assists. But her burden proved too heavy.

Not enough defensive support.
 
The Blue Streaks lost, 78-64 , to league co-leader Baldwin Wallace at home in a lackluster defensive performance. The defeat drops JCU to 7-5 overall and 2-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Yellow Jackets improved to 10-2 overall and 5-0 in the OAC. 

Box Score

A lack of consistent effort on defense by the Blue Streaks and strong offensive rebounding by Baldwin Wallace challenged JCU early and sunk them in the second half. It didn't help that JCU made just 12 of 27 baskets from the field after the break, too. 

“We couldn't defend anybody today,'' JCU coach Kristie Maravalli said. 

Amanda Schroeder was a particular problem for the hosts. She led the Yellow Jackets with 20 points to help her team to its eighth victory in the last nine games. 

Jennings said weak defense was the crux of JCU's problem. 

“We had some defensive lapses and defensive miscues and we never really recovered,'' the senior guard from Stow said. 

JCU grabbed just one offensive rebound in the game, compared to 14 for the opposition. Overall, the Yellow Jackets out-rebounded the Blue Streaks 45-25. 

It looked like JCU would hang with the conference co-leaders early on, thanks in large part to Jennings' 18 first-half points. 

Those points were half of the Blue Streaks' total before the break and they trailed by just two at halftime, 36- 34. 

But the game got away from them in the second half. And no matter how much Jennings slashed and jumped and drove to the basket, it wasn't enough. 

“It's hard playing from behind,'' Jennings said. 

BW went on a 10-3 run at the start of the second half and held a double-digit lead the remainder of the game. 

BW finished with four players scoring in double-digits. JCU had two players: Jennings and former high school teammate Emilee Ritchie (Stow, OH, Stow - Monroe Falls )(14 points). 

Jennings has scored 10 or more points in 10 of JCU's 11 games this season. 

She said her team has got to band together and start playing better if they want to win. 

“You gotta bounce back, fight back,'' she said. 

Maravalli said she's already looking forward to the next game. 

“It's one day. It's one game,'' she said. “And that's the most beautiful thing about this sport.”