Box Score Scoreboards do not lie, but they do not always tell the whole truth.

And truth be told, John Carroll had its chances in what became a 60-52 loss to perennial nemesis Capital University Saturday afternoon at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

John Carroll came out of the gate playing tough defense and showing they had something to prove against a Capital team that beat them by 32 points back in December. 

Trouble was, the Blue Streak offense was finding it difficult to get anything past the Crusaders defenders. JCU managed just 15 points in the first 13 minutes of play.

With just 5:43 left in the half, JCU head coach Kristie Maravalli called a timeout hoping to regroup her team that trailed 23-15 -- a move that proved beneficial to the Blue Streaks.  Out of the stoppage, John Carroll scored nine of the next 14 points to cut the visitors' lead to four with 1:21 until the half.  

With a chance to apply pressure to the Crusaders, John Carroll was unable to prevent a 5-0 run to close the half as Capital took a 33-24 advantage as the teams headed into intermission. 

Missy Spahar led John Carroll in scoring at the halfway mark with eight points, and free throw shooting was a proving to be a vital part of the point production for the team as a whole as the Streaks made 9-10 from the stripe in the opening 20 minutes.

The second half was marked by John Carroll runs that were met with counter moves by the Crusaders.

After trailing by as many as 11 points, the Blue & Gold whittled the Capital lead to 40-38 with 14:25 to play on a Spahar lay-up, only to have Cookie Geroski respond with a 3-pointer 15 seconds later. JCU then missed its next six shots.

Another burst pulled John Carroll to within three points at 48-45 thanks to a long-range trey by sophomore Allie Lustig at the 7:27 mark.

Once again, however, the Streaks went cold and the Crusaders slowly pulled away. A 7-0 run, partnered with a JCU stretch of four minutes in which it missed six shots in a row and turned the ball over three times, gave the Crusaders a lead they would not relinquish.

It was a solid defensive effort for JCU, which limited Capital to a 6-23 (.261) shooting effort from the floor in the second half. But it was the offensive shortcomings that frustrated the John Carroll side.

“We just need to finish these games," said an exasperated Maravalli after the game, “When you hold an opponent to 60 points, you should be able to finish it.” 

Spahar finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds for John Carroll (6-10, 3-7 OAC), which had its modest two-game home winning streak snapped. The double-double was Spahar's fourth of the season. Emily Ritchie was the team's second leading scorer with 11 points. 

Capital (12-5, 7-3 OAC), which won for the seventh time in its last eight games, was paced by Shalena Hawkins (16 points) and Hilary Kuhns (14), who accounted for half of Capital's point production.