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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Jaylen Hoffman
Carmen Ferrante
Jaylen Hoffmann
52
Ohio Northern ONU 3-4,3-4 OAC
55
Winner John Carroll JCU 7-0,7-0 OAC
Ohio Northern ONU
3-4,3-4 OAC
52
Final
55
John Carroll JCU
7-0,7-0 OAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Ohio Northern ONU 11 16 11 14 52
John Carroll JCU 13 17 11 14 55

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | By: Kyle Kelly, Senior Staff Writer

Heffington and Nagy Help Women's Basketball Topple ONU at Home

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Big-time players step up in big-time moments in big-time games.
 
Nicole Heffington and Olivia Nagy kept the No. 8 John Carroll University Women's Basketball team's perfect record intact with key fourth-quarter performances to secure a 55-52 victory at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center on Feb. 12, 2021.
 
For the first time in school history, the Blue Streaks have started 7-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play.
 
With 6:41 to play in the fourth quarter, the Blue Streaks led by seven points and looked well on their way to a win. Ohio Northern thought otherwise.
 
The Polar Bears climbed the iceberg from being down 45-38 to tie the game at 45 with five minutes remaining. That's when Heffington and Nagy took over.
 
The Blue Streaks' OAC Player of the Year tandem of Heffington and Nagy combined to score nine points in the final five minutes of the game.
 
Heffington hit a jumper and a three-pointer that placed JCU ahead 50-48. In the final minute of play, Nagy hit a pair of layups to increase the Blue Streaks' lead to 54-50. Nagy's last layup came with 11 seconds remaining, leaving the Polar Bears down two possessions with time playing against them.
 
Heffington finished with a team-high 17 points and four assists. Nagy scored four of her six points down the final stretch and led the team with nine rebounds and six blocks. Both players had two steals each.
 
"When the game is tight like that, typically no one wants to take that big shot," Head Coach Beth Andrews '15 said after the game. "Nicole Heffington is always comfortable. She feels confident to knock that down, even with the team having a rough shooting night.
 
"Olivia [Nagy] knows when she is under the basket and is able to set herself up for a good pass that it's going in. I applaud them for feeling that confidence, especially when we struggled to make shots."
 
Hannah Bouchy's free throw with three seconds remaining put a bow on the win.
 
Free throws were the bright spot in the scoring column for the Blue Streaks. John Carroll finished 14-of-18 from the charity stripe, with just one missed free throw in the second half. JCU shot a season-low 32.7% from the field.
 
The shooting woes began early on as the Blue Streaks missed nine of their first 10 shots. Then, Andrews' team found the spark they needed off the bench.
 
Jaylen Hoffmann checked into the game and scored five of the final seven points in the first quarter, helping the Blue Streaks battle back from being down 11-6, to go ahead 13-11. Hoffmann led John Carroll with 10 points in the first half.
 
"Jaylen was a well-rounded player today," Andrews said. "Knocking down big free throws, hitting a big three, while also being able to get to the hoop. She brought that spark of energy off the bench. You always need that one person that can start something and tonight she was that person for us."
 
After a scoreless opening quarter, Heffington found the stat sheet with a free throw and a three-pointer that sparked a 4-0 run. JCU went ahead by as much as seven points in the second half but the Polar Bears answered with a 7-0 run to even the game at 24.
 
To close out the half, John Carroll pulled ahead 30-27. Both teams hovered slightly above 30% shooting from the field through the first 20 minutes of play.
 
Coming out of the locker room, both teams continued to shoot the ball by only scoring 11 points each.
 
The fourth quarter looked like the JCU-ONU rivalry the two teams have seen many times before. Tonight, the Blue Streaks were the better team as they won their 18th home game in the all-time series. Since upsetting nationally ranked Ohio Northern in 2018, the Blue Streaks have won 30 of their last 32 games on Mike Moran Court.
 
Tomorrow night, the two teams will meet once again in Ada for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
 
"It's sometimes hard to be the winning team. It adds pressure to you," Andrews said. "What we always say to our team is the second night is about us. What are we fixing from the night before.
 
"That gym, they could write a book about the Ohio Northern vs. John Carroll battle. It's sometimes been bad on both ends. We've won a buzzer beater there and we've only had two rebounds in a half there. I am hoping that with this veteran team that when we get off the bus, we'll be ready to go."
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