Being down at halftime on the road to a higher seeded opponent had a familiar feeling for the Blue Streaks. 

Unlike Thursday at Ohio Northern, however, John Carroll was unable to finish the second half rally and fell by a 92-84 score in the championship game of the 2011 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Saturday in Alliance, Ohio.

Box Score

The loss ended a magical run in which the Blue Streaks, who had become the first #7 seed to reach a championship game in the history of the tournament. JCU had knocked off the #2 seed (Baldwin-Wallace) in the quarterfinals and the #3 seed (Ohio Northern) in the semifinals.

The top-seeded Purple Raiders ultimately had an answer for the upstart Blue Streaks.

JCU led on several occasions in the early going, but after the score was tied for a fifth time at 16-16 with 11:44 left in the opening half, Mount Union broke it open with a 9-0 run. Two three-point field goals by Kori Weidt, who would be named the OAC Tournament Most Valuable Player, but the Purple Raiders ahead, 25-19 with over nine minutes remaining.

That would be the same margin Mount Union led by at the break when the score would stand at 43-34.

The Blue Streaks would charge back at the regular season champs, and when Lee Jennings (Stow, OH, Stow-Monroe Falls) completed a three-point play with 11;44 on the clock, JCU had regained the lead at 58-57.

After two ties and two lead changes, John Carroll would surge to a four-point lead on a  pair of Hilary Liwosz (Imperial, PA, West Allegheny)  free throws at the 8:06 mark.

Mount's response this time was an 11-0 run at a critical juncture. Keyed by six points from lauren Forquer, The Purple raiders would take a 74-67 lead with 6:14 remaining.

JCU had one last salvo. An  9-2 run, capped by a Missy Spahar (Willowick, OH, Mentor Lake Catholic)jumper knotted the game at 76-76 with over four minutes remaining. On the next trip down, with a chance to take the lead, Jennings was called for a charge.

The Blue Streaks never again took a shot that could have given them the lead.

Mount Union pulled away down the stretch by scoring 16 of the final 24 points.

Mount Union (25-3) was led by 20 points from Weidt, 18 from Rosa Lamattina and 14 off the bench from Brittant Kilgore.

Jennings scored 39 in defeat for John Carroll (16-12), finishing her career with 1,829 points -- best in school history and fifth best in the history of the OAC. Spahar added 20 points and Emilee Ritchie (Stow, OH, Stow - Monroe Falls )tallied 19.

Jennings and Spahar were named to the all-tournament team.