Box Score

Prior to facing Baldwin-Wallace, John Carroll's previous five home games had all been decided by single digit margins.

But in a classic case of running into the wrong team at the wrong time, even the supposed right place did little to slow down a red-hot Yellow Jacket squad.

Powered by a 17-30 shooting performance from the field in the first half, the visiting Baldwin-Wallace club led wire-to-wire in handing John Carroll a 78-58 setback Wednesday evening.

The 20-point final deficit was John Carroll's largest of the 2011-2012 campaign at the DeCarlo Varsity Center covering ten games.

Right from the start, the Yellow Jackets -- who came into the night riding a season-long five game winning streak -- showed their dominance by jumping out to a 6-0 lead over the Blue and Gold. It was not until the 15:17 mark that John Carroll scored its first point off of a free throw from sophomore Missy Spahar. Two minutes later, Heidi Mervar swished home a three-pointer for the first points from the field.

Mervar tried to rally her team, producing seven points off the bench in the first half. Even her effort was not enough however, as a stellar shooting performance by the Yellow Jackets sent John Carroll into the locker room trailing 45-24. The Blue Steaks shot 35 percent from the field compared to the 57 percent shooting from their opponents.

The second half was much the same story, although John Carroll came out of the break on a 10-2 run. But 13 points would be as close as the Streaks would get.

The Baldwin-Wallace offense was led by Jessica Lairson, who finished the game with a career-high 26 points.

In the meantime, JCU struggled to make shots all night, finishing just 22 of 60 from the floor. It was Spahar who ended the night as the teams leading scorer dropping 12 points, and Mervar was right behind her with 10 of her own off the bench.

"To beat the zone, it's good to have some perimeter shooters," said Mervar after the game which marked her highest scoring output of the season. "So we did a lot of drills at practice that helped, and then also just working on driving an pushing the ball in transition helped me tonight too.”

The loss also pushed John Carroll into a three-way tie for seventh place in the OAC, with only the top eight making the postseason tournament field. Two of the last three teams the Blue Streaks face are also fighting for a top eight finish -- Muskingum and Marietta.

“Destiny is in our own hands,” said John Carroll head coach Kristie Maravalli in regard to her team's playoff outlook. "The coaches know it, the players know it, and that is the mindset we need to take down with us Saturday to Wilmington."