Five years ago, when John Carroll won its first Ohio Athletic Conference regular season title in program history, the Blue Streaks had to share that championship.

This time around, the Blue & Gold will not have to share.

Behind Kahrin Spear's career high 23 points on senior night at the DeCarlo Varsity Center, John Carroll outlasted a very strong Otterbein Cardinals team, 71-67, to capture the OAC title outright for the first time.

JCU had captured at least a share of the regular season crown on Saturday when it held off Ohio Northern, 56-54, on the road. With two games remaining on the regular season schedule, John Carroll had two chances to claim a solo championship.

Turns out the Blue Streaks only needed one.

It was a tense affair throughout, as neither team ever held a lead of more than six points at any time during the contest.

JCU held the lead early on, but a flourish by the Cardinals in which they scored the final five points of the period put the visitors ahead, 16-15, after the opening ten minutes. Otterbein was 6-12 from the field in the first quarter, including 4-8 from three-point range.

Otterbein took its largest lead of the contest just seconds into the second when Angelia Jackson buried her team's fifth three-point field goal of the night to stake the visitors a 19-15 lead.  The Blue Streaks response was a 10-1 run to take a 25-20 advantage and force a time out from the opposition.

Matters would tighten up before the end of the half, and John Carroll's lead was just a single point a 35-34 when the halftime horn sounded.

The back-and-forth tussle continued well into the third period, as there were three ties and six lead changes in the opening six minutes of the half. But a mini 9-4 run by the Blue Streaks had the home team in front, 55-51, heading to the dramatic final period.

Neither team could find much scoring in the early stages of the quarter, as both teams managed just four points through the first six minutes, but when Otterbein senior Alex Schaffer made back-to-back baskets with under three minutes to play, John Carroll's lead had been trimmed to a single point at 61-60.

A big three ball by Spear and two free throws by fellow senior Chelbi Graham had given JCU some breathing room at 66-62 entering the final minute of play, but Schaffer immediately ramped up the tension with a banked in three at the 46 second mark that again cut the Blue Streaks lead to a single point at 66-65.

Spear came up huge again, cutting to the basket for a lay-up with 31 ticks left, and then she and Nicole Heffington made three of four free throws down the stretch to keep the cardinals at bay.

John Carroll (18-6, 14-3 OAC) got 48 of its 71 points from its four seniors - Spear (23), Bri Pittinger (11), Shmoo Pryor (8) and Graham (6). The added bonus for Pryor was reaching the 1000-point milestone for her career on her first basket of the game in the first quarter.

Alex Schaffer had 17 points to lead Otterbein (15-9, 11-6 OAC), which lost for only the second time in its last nine games.

JCU concludes the regular season at Wilmington Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

The OAC Tournament is set to commence Tuesday, February 19, with the top seeded Blue Streaks hosting an opponent to be determined in a quarterfinal round match-up at 7:00 p.m.