John Carroll has been playing women's basketball for 49 years, but Saturday's event will mark a first.

The Blue Streaks have never before hosted a league championship game. It did not happen when JCU was a member of the Presidents' Athletic Conference in the 1980's, and it has not happened since the school joined the Ohio Athletic Conference starting in 1990.

The last time John Carroll played in an OAC title game was 2011.  Behind the mercurial Lee Jennings and future All-American Missy Spahar, the #7 seed Blue Streaks beat Baldwin Wallace and Ohio Northern – both on the road – before taking on top seed Mount Union in Alliance.

For Saturday's OAC championship game, JCU is the top seed, and the Blue Streaks will host a number seven seed in Ohio Northern.

Live Stats and Live Video will be available for this contest.

The Polar Bears, who are appearing in their third consecutive OAC championship game, have logged many miles to be here today. On Tuesday, they beat #2 seed Baldwin Wallace in Berea. On Thursday, they knocked off #3 seed Marietta in Marietta.

Ohio Northern, the top ranked defense in terms of points allowed in the conference, has been in lock down mode. In two tournament games, no team has hot better than 36 percent from the field and has reached 60 points against ONU.

Jenna Dirksen has been playing well on offense, scoring 22 points against Baldwin Wallace and 12 against Marietta. Emily Brock came off the bench to score 15 in the win over Marietta, while Emily Mescher has reached double digits in both tournament outings.

John Carroll, on a season-long seven game winning streak, has also been getting contributions from various sources. Olivia Nagy is coming off a career-high 16-point game against Otterbein, while Kahrin Spear erupted for 20 against Wilmington. Abby Adler has tallied double figure point totals in each of John Carroll's two tourney games.

The Blue Streaks have been tough to beat at the DeCarlo Varsity Center. The Blue Streaks are 15-1 in their last 16 games on their home floor dating back to last season.

In the two meetings between John Carroll and Ohio Northern this season, the Blue Streaks won both. JCU delivered a 76-50 win on December 15 in University Heights, while a much closer battle fell the way of the Blue and Gold, 56-54, in Ada on February 9.

That was the Polar Bears' last loss, as ONU has rattled off four consecutive wins.

The winner of Saturday's game receives the Ohio Athletic Conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship tournament, which commences next weekend.
 
Tickets for OAC Basketball Tournament Championship Game are as follows:
$8 for adults
$6 for senior citizens (65 and over)
$3 for non-OAC students and youth (18 and under)
All OAC students are free with their student ID.