Box Score The John Carroll women's basketball team headed south to Westerville, Ohio, in hopes of recording its first Ohio Athletic Conference win of the season, but it was the Otterbein Cardinals that soared to a 72-64 victory.

Box Score

The culprit was a sluggish start to the second half for the Blue Streaks, who dropped their fifth straight game.

Paced by sophomore Hilary Liwosz, the Blue Streaks held leads of 12-11 and 21-20 in the first half, before Emilee Ritchie's three-pointer gave John Carroll its biggest lead of the day at 26-20 with 4:50 to go before intermission.

Liwosz, who finished with a career-high 20 points on the day, was 4-of-7 shooting in the first half for ten tallies.

Although Otterbein pulled away in the second, a key burst toward the end of the first half may have done just as much damage. Keyed by a 10-0 run, the Cards took the lead (34-31) and the momentum heading into the break.

Ritchie brought the Blue & Gold within one (34-33) on a lay-up early in the second stanza, before the Cardinals struck again with a 15-2 run to take a commanding 49-35 advantage with 14:17 remaining.  John Carroll never regained the lead.

Freshman Beth Switzler joined Liwosz in double figures for the Streaks with 11 points on 5-of-6 from the floor.

Kristi Kotterman and Tabatha Piper both had 17 points for Otterbein, who won the rebounding battle, 47-37.

John Carroll shot 41% overall from the field, and just 2-for-10 from behind the three-point arc.  With the loss, the Blue Streaks slip to 3-6, 0-4 in the OAC, while the Cardinals improve to 8-1, 3-1 in league play.