The old adage in basketball, or sports in general for that matter, is that it is not how a team starts but how a team finishes that matters most.
Every so often, adages can spring a leak. For John Carroll, it has absolutely been about the start. In four of their last five games, the Blue Streaks have trailed by seven points or more after the opening ten minutes. The one time they led, the Blue Streaks won, beating Wilmington.
Tonight was another slow start, as Mount Union led wire-to-wire in beating John Carroll, 76-62, in Alliance.
JCU was outscored 26-17 in the opening period. Only Muskingum (27) has put up more points in the opening quarter this season against the Blue Streaks.Â
After spotting the host team that kind of advantage, John Carroll simply could not threaten Mount Union the rest of the night. The closest the margin would get in the second quarter was eight points as the Purple Raiders held a 42-29 lead at the break.
The Blue Streaks would trail by as many as 21 in the second half before pulling to within 14 points by game's end.
It was turnovers that hurt the most on this Wednesday evening. Case in point was the third quarter, when John Carroll was a sizzling 6-11 from the field (.545) but had six turnovers to offset the hot shooting.
Nicole Heffington had 19 points to lead JCU, making 5-7 from the field and 9-11 from the free throw line.
Chelbi Graham had ten points and a team-high eight rebounds, while
Kahrin Spear tallied 14 points and shared the team lead in assists with
Abby Adler, both players collecting five.
JCU was 21-50 (.420) for the game from the field. The Blue Streaks were 15-29 (.517) when shooting from inside the three-point line but struggled (6-21,. 286) from outside the arc.
Mount Union, which improved to 9-9 overall and 6-5 in league play, had four players in double figures, led by Jamie Sanborn with 17. The Purple raiders buried 12 three-pointers in the game.
The Blue Streaks are now 4-14 overall and 2-9 in league play. They will host Muskingum (6-12, 2-9 OAC) Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
