For as close a game and as valiant an effort as was given, the shame was John Carroll never got a real chance to provide some last second drama against visiting Wilmington Saturday at the DeCarlo Varsity Center. 

The Quakers' Briana Peters slipped through the JCU defense and dropped in a lay-up with four seconds left to break a 71-71 tie, but JCU never got a shot off in falling by a 73-71 score. The game ended with the ball on the floor and several players diving after it from both teams. 

Box Score 

The home team never led at any point in the second half, but had managed to fight back from as many as eight point down to tie the contest at 71-71 when Katie Knox (North Olmsted, OH, Rocky River Magnificat) drained a baseline jumper with 14 ticks left in regulation. 

In the opening half, John Carroll played like the team shooting in a foreign gym at the outset, missing 18 of its first 22 shots from the field. Amazingly, the Streaks held a 13-8 advantage at the 14:30 mark before the Quakers began to catch fire. 

Over a stretch of six minutes, Wilmington turned that five-point deficit into a 29-21 lead thanks to eight different players contributing to the run. 

Solid free throw shooting (15-19) in the opening 15 minutes kept the Blue Streaks within reach before Emily Day (Independence, OH, Parma Heights Holy Name) and Sadie Zander rescued the offense. Day had two three balls to stop the Wilmington charge, and then Zander buried a three pointer to give JCU a 35-34 lead with 3:50 to play in the half. 

The visitors used a quick 6-2 burst in the final few minutes to take a 40-37 lead into the locker room. 

Wilmington maintained its lead throughout the second half until Knox knotted the game in the final minute of play for the only tie of the second period. 

The Quakers snapped a two-game skid and picked up just their second win in the OAC. Wilmington (5-8, 2-4 OAC) received 18 points from Olivia Waters and 11 from Peters, who also pulled down a game-high 15 boards. Wilmington won the rebound battle decisively, 54-36. 

John Carroll (7-6, 2-4 OAC) was paced by a game-high 21 points from Lee Jennings (Stow, OH, Stow-Monroe Falls). Emilee Ritchie (Stow, OH, Stow - Monroe Falls ) added 14 and Day scored a career-high 12 points. JCU was 9-22 (.409) from three-point range this afternoon.