Box Score

In a game with 25 lead changes and 10 ties, it took more than four quarters to decide this Ohio Athletic Conference regular season finale at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.

The John Carroll University women's basketball team used a jumper by junior Kahrin Spear with one second remaining in regulation to send it to overtime. The Blue Streaks were able to outlast the visiting Capital University Crusaders, 72-71 overtime dual.

The Blue Streak victory concludes the 2017-18 regular season, one in which the Blue Streaks won their final three games to clinch a trip to the 2018 OAC Tournament.  

Freshman Nicole Heffington led all scorers with 24 points, scoring 16 of her 24 total points in the first half alone, one of which Heffington went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.

JCU finishes the regular season with a 8-17 regular season record, and 6-12 mark in OAC play, winning the final three OAC games of the regular season.

Freshman Abby Adler opened the scoring in back-and-forth first quarter, scoring four of the first seven points for the Blue Streaks.

Heffington swayed momentum in the Blue Streaks favor after knocking down back-to-back threes to give the Blue Streaks a 13-11 lead with 3:52 remaining in the first quarter.

Capital would storm back and score five points unanswered, but a free throw by junior Chelbi Graham with 0.4 seconds remaining in the opening quarter would trim the lead to 16-14, in favor of the Capital Crusaders.

Neither team would have an advantage of more than three after the first quarter of play.

The scoring heated up for both teams in the start of the second quarter. With just 30 total points in the first quarter amongst both teams, both the Blue Streaks and the Crusaders combined for 21 points in the first 3:30 of the second quarter. Through this flurry, Capital would take a 26-24 lead with 6:30 remaining.

The Blue Streaks would go on a run and open up their biggest lead of the half, as Heffington knocked down her third three-pointer of the opening half to give JCU a 29-24 lead with 6:11 remaining in the first half.

Capital would respond quickly, going on a seven point run in just three minutes of action to take a 31-29 advantage with 2:54 left in the half.

The Blue Streaks were be able to cut into the Capital lead, as the Crusaders took a 32-31 lead into the intermission.

Saturday's first half was one where neither team lead by more than five points at any time.

Heffington led all scorers with her 16 first-half points, while Adler corralled eight rebounds to lead the Blue Streaks at the intermission.

JCU and Capital traded baskets to start the second half, that was until Capital's Erin Risner completed an and-one opportunity to extend the Crusaders lead to four points, 40-36.

Freshman Sarah Spicer would make sure that momentum was short lived, as she added a layup and then a three-pointer on back-to-back possessions, giving the Blue Streaks their first lead of the second half, 41-40, with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter.

Capital would then go on a 10-5 run to push out to their largest lead of the game, leading by six points with 2:09 remaining in the third. JCU would fight back, but still trail at the end of the third quarter, 53-48.

The Blue Streaks would start off the fourth quarter on a run of their own. Over the first 3:30 elapsed, the Blue & Gold put together an 11-3 run.

Back-to-back threes by sophomore Dani Carlson and Adler would cap off the JCU run, and give the Blue Streaks a 59-56 lead with 6:30 to play in regulation.

After a Risner jumper and a Carly Hulette layup, Capital would hold onto 60-59 advantage.  However, JCU would be quick to respond, thanks to back-to-back layups by Graham and Heffington, moving the Blue Streak advantage back to three.

With 2:52 remaining in regulation, Risner again would answer the call for Capital adding a layup to cut the John Carroll lead to 63-62.

Both teams would have missed opportunities over the next 2:07, with neither team able to score a basket. Capital would then break the silence and knock down a jump shot with 45 seconds remaining to retake the lead 64-63.

On the ensuing John Carroll possession, junior Kahrin Spear was fouled with 23.6 seconds remaining and split the pair of free throws to knot the game up at 64.

Capital came out of the timeout and after dribbling out most of the game clock Caroline Taphorn knocked down the jumper with 3.6 seconds remaining to give Capital the two-point advantage.

Just when you thought things were over for John Carroll, the Blue Streaks would call a timeout and advance the ball to half court. The inbound pass would go into the hands of Spear who knocked down a turnaround jumper to send the game to overtime.

Free-throws would be the difference, as only one field goal would be made in the final five minutes.

Capital got the overtime period started with two free-throws from Caroline Taphorn. Nicole Heffington would respond with two free throws just 15 seconds later.

Both teams tightened up their defense and with 3:51 remaining the Blue Streaks would force a five second call on the Capital inbound.

On the ensuing possession, Carlson would be fouled and make both of her free throws to make the score 70-68 with 3:33 to play in overtime.

Heffington would add two more free throws to push the John Carroll overtime lead out to 72-68.

With just 1:21 remaining in overtime, Taphorn would get fouled on a layup attempt and split the free-throws. After a Sarah Sprecher three-pointer came up just long Capital would push the ball down the floor and Wachtman would make a layup, with 45 seconds remaining in the half to cut the John Carroll lead to 72-71.

The Blue Streaks would use the full shot clock and a Dani Carlson three would fall just short in which Capital would take possession with just 13.7 seconds left.

Capital moved the ball down the floor only to find the heart of the John Carroll defense. The Crusaders would be forced to put up an off balance shot that would fall no good and into the hands of Heffington, who dribbled out the clock and secured the Blue Streaks victory.

Nicole Heffington finished the game with 24 points, while pulling down eight boards. Chelbi Graham added 15 points of her own while corralling seven rebounds.

With this win John Carroll advances 8-17 (6-12 OAC) while Capital dropped to 11-12 (9-9 OAC) to conclude the regular season.

Next up for the Blue Streaks is the First Round of OAC Tournament where they will await their next opponent.