The John Carroll women's basketball team had won three consecutive home games against Capital dating back to 2013. That successful run would come to a halt on Saturday afternoon.

The Blue Streaks (11-10. 6-8 OAC) fell short of victory against the visiting Capital Crusaders (17-4, 10-4 OAC) by a score of 59-48 inside the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center. Sarah Cairnie led JCU with 17 points.

JCU started slow on the offensive end by shooting a combined 0-10 from the field before Bri Pittenger netted a mid-range jumper to cut the Capital lead to 8-2. Despite shooting 19 percent from the field, Blue Streaks trailed by only eight points after a quarter of play.

Unlike the first quarter, the Blue Streaks were able to keep pace in the second with both teams chipping in nine points to keep it an eight-point game. The Blue and Gold were down by as many as 12 points in the quarter until Cairnie knocked in a pair of layups as part of a late 4-0 rally. At the intermission, JCU was behind 23-15.

John Carroll turned the tables coming out of the locker room with a 12-0 run. That run was capped off by a top-of-the-key jumper from freshman Madi Steiner, giving the Blue Streaks a 27-23 lead, their largest of the game. Capital responded with a 7-2 run of its own led by senior guard Jenna Erwin's two baskets. Numerous lead changes in the see-saw affair put the score at 33-32 in favor of Capital after three quarters.

Capital made the necessary adjustments in the final period thanks to the frontcourt tandem of Erwin and Kristen Thompson. The two seniors combined for 29 points and 13 rebounds on the day.

After trailing by nine, JCU cut the lead to five to force Capital head coach Dixie Jeffers to call a timeout with 3:39 left in the contest.

Late free-throws sealed the win for Capital.

"We put an extreme focus on rebounding, and we ended up with 15 offensive rebounds which led to second chance opportunities," assistant coach Chanel Murchison said,  "I thought we showed resiliency in the third quarter to take the lead, we just have to take it to the next gear when we get there."

JCU will travel to Berea, OH to take on the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.