Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
JCU team WBB
Dustin Johnson
60
Winner John Carroll JCU 5-0,5-0 OAC
53
Baldwin Wallace BW 3-2,3-2 OAC
Winner
John Carroll JCU
5-0,5-0 OAC
60
Final
53
Baldwin Wallace BW
3-2,3-2 OAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
John Carroll JCU 9 17 9 25 60
Baldwin Wallace BW 9 17 17 10 53

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Luke Potosky, Staff Writer

Intense Defense and Late Offense Give Women's Basketball Revenge over BW

BEREA, Ohio -- To use a wise adage from local legend LeBron James, "In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned." 

John Carroll University Women's Basketball embodied King James' words as they dispatched their rival, the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets, 60-53.

Exactly 342 days ago, JCU lost the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship Game to the Yellow Jackets 80-63 in Berea. More than 11 months after that game, a sour taste was left in their mouths, as it left them out of the 2020 NCAA Tournament. 

With that in mind, the Blue Streaks came into Ursprung Gymnasium on February 5 with vengeance on their minds. They walked out having exacted revenge over their rival & improving to 5-0 on the new season.

Even with revenge on their mind, the Blue Streaks started the game out slow, but they weren't alone. Both teams combined for 20 points and several turnovers in the early going as the Yellow Jackets buzzed out to an early 11-9 lead.

In the second quarter, the theme remained the same, as both teams had to fight tooth and nail for each bucket. Nevertheless, both teams shot the ball better as JCU & BW went into halftime gridlocked at 26 apiece.

Coming out of the half, there were several lead changes to be accounted for, but it was Baldwin Wallace in control for most of the quarter, keyed by an 11-2 run heading into the final stanza. The Blue Streaks were held to nine points in a quarter for the second time in the game as they went into the 4th quarter trailing 43-35.

Up until the 4th quarter, almost none of JCU's points were freebies; every one of them was earned. But something clicked heading into the final 10 minutes of play. The Blue & Gold bolted to a 7-0 run out of the gate in the fourth, keyed by a Dani Carlson three-pointer to make it 43-42. The Yellow Jackets didn't make it easy, though, as they tallied a few more points. However, Nicole Heffington and Olivia Nagy teamed up to make a couple of key plays to tie things up 48-48.

With 3:06 left in the game, Nicole Heffington hit a free throw to tie it at 50 apiece. Soon thereafter, the Blue Streaks found themselves up 58-50 with less than a minute to play. It was that two-and-a-half-minute span of rock-solid defense by the Blue & Gold that propelled them to a hard-earned 60-53 victory, their fifth in a row to open the 2021 season.

Individually for the Blue Streaks, Nicole Heffington (15 pts., 5 rebs., 3 asts.), Olivia Nagy (15 pts., 15 rebs., 5 blks), and Abby Adler (8 pts, 5 stls) helped push the Blue Streaks to victory.

Izzy Andrews (13 pts., 3 rebs.) and Lilly Edwards (12 pts., 8 rebs.) led the way for the Yellow Jackets, but came up a bit short.

For both sides, it was a very strongly defended contest, as the teams combined for 47 turnovers (22 for JCU, 25 for BW) and both kept each other to less than 40% from the field. If there were a key to victory for the Blue and Gold, however, it was their 23 points off turnovers compared to the Yellow Jackets' nine points. 

All in all, JCU improves to 5-0 in OAC play, whereas Baldwin Wallace falls to 3-2. Both teams square off once again on Saturday, February 6 at 6:00 pm in University Heights. 
Print Friendly Version

Sponsors