Box Score The John Carroll women's basketball team went into Saturday's game with the one seed in the conference tournament locked up. Even so, John Carroll still arrived in Wilmington with a winning attitude.
The Blue Streaks (19-6, 15-3 OAC) defeated the Wilmington Fightin' Quakers (11-14, 6-12 OAC) 56-45 on Saturday afternoon, which ended up serving as a preview of the first round of the OAC Tournament.
The Blue Streaks swept the regular-season series against the Quakers in addition to finishing up the regular season with a winning record on the road (6-4).
The first quarter turned out to be a defensive struggle as neither team shot higher than 42 percent.
Kahrin Spear started the scoring with a three pointer, which was then followed up with a pair of three-pointers from
Nicole Heffington to take a 9-7 lead in the first five minutes of action. Wilmington evened the score at nine, but a put-back layup by
Dani Carlson gave the Blue Streaks the lead once again. A jumper by
Sarah Sprecher proved to be the final points for the Blue Streaks as they finished the quarter up 14-9.
John Carroll opened up the following quarter on a 7-2 run in the first two minutes, with all seven Blue Streaks points coming from
Shmoo Pryor. However, John Carroll would only score three points the rest of the way on a
Nicole Heffington and one as Wilmington finished the half on a 7-0 run to bring the score at the half to 24-20.
At halftime, John Carroll's leading scorers were Heffington and Pryor, who tied for the team high in points (7). On the interior,
Olivia Nagy kept up her strong play as she led the team in rebounds and blocks with six and two, respectively.
As a team, the Blue Streaks shot 25 percent from the field compared to Wilmington's 32 percent. However, John Carroll finished the half outshooting the Fightin' Quakers made two more three pointers than the Quakers.
Once again, John Carroll started a quarter on a strong run, opening the third quarter on an 11-3 run to take a 12 point lead. After a Wilmington timeout, the teams proceeded to trade buckets, with John Carroll taking a 42-31 lead at the quarter's close.
In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter,
Shmoo Pryor and
Abby Adler each hit a three-pointer. Wilmington would then respond with an 11-0 run to cut the lead to four points with three and a half minutes remaining. The momentum then shifted back to the Blue and Gold as layups by
Chelbi Graham and
Olivia Nagy ended the run for the Quakers and increased John Carroll's lead to eight.
As the game came to a close, the John Carroll defense would hold Wilmington scoreless in the final minutes. Three JCU free throws at the end the game made the final score 56-45.
The Blue Streaks were led offensively by Pryor, who totaled 13 points on 4-12 shooting. Other double-digit scorers for the Blue Streaks included Spear (11) and Heffington (10).
John Carroll held the advantage in field goal shooting percentage, 33.9 percent to 31 percent, and made 7-25 three pointers compared to Wilmington's 3-18.
Wilmington was led by Hannah Binkley, who tallied 13 points on 5-13 shooting.
The Blue and Gold will next host Wilmington at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center on Tuesday February 19 in the first round of the OAC Tournament. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
