Jose Figueroa

Box Score

Otterbein OTT 13-13,8-10 OAC

John Carroll JCU 19-8,13-5 OAC

Otterbein OTT

13-13,8-10 OAC

Final

Feb. 25, 2025

John Carroll JCU

19-8,13-5 OAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Otterbein OTT	14	12	23	22	71
John Carroll JCU	7	11	12	24	54

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 2/25/2025 9:37:00 PM | Jack Stephens, Staff Writer

Campaign Ends in OAC Quarterfinal Defeat for Women's Basketball

The Blue Streaks couldn't find enough traction on offense to avoid an upset

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — The sixth seeded Otterbein Cardinals shocked the entire Ohio Athletic Conference on Tuesday evening, upsetting the #3 seed John Carroll Blue Streaks in the quarterfinal round, 71-54.

John Carroll came into this game winners of six of their last seven with their most recent loss being a close defeat on the road against top-ten ranked Baldwin Wallace. However, in the most recent meeting between these two teams, it was the Cardinals pulling off the upset at home, 69-67.

The defeat ends the Blue Streaks' campaign, as JCU finishes with a 19-8 overall mark.

Carmen Heuker broke the ice for JCU with a triple from the wing to beat the shot clock buzzer. The Blue Streaks kept up the early momentum with a driving layup from Ava Ryncarz and a post hook from Carly Perusek, to take an early 7-0 lead. The sixth seeded Cardinals were not fazed with the early deficit as they rattled off a 8-0 run of their own to take the lead heading into the first media timeout.

Otterbein's run did not falter with the break, as Abby Rawlings opened the second half of the first with a elbow jumper off a fastbreak. The Cardinals were in full control on both ends as the lead doubled to 14-7 off a jumper from Kiara Hudgins and a layup from Kathleen DeCarlo. This lead would hold as the underdog Cardinals came in hungry with a 14-7 lead after the first period. John Carroll was held scoreless in the final seven minutes of the first.

The Blue Streaks wasted no time ending their scoring drought with a Graci Semptimphelter triple to start the second. Semptimphelter was doing it all, as the Ohio Wesleyan transfer finished a layup through contact to cut the lead to two. Otterbein quickly grew the lead back to eight off a 6-0 run, ended by a Ryncarz layup off a nice pick-and-roll. Both squads traded buckets down the stretch of the first half and it was the Cardinals riding their early lead to a 26-18 lead after the first 20 minutes.

Otterbein's Kathleen DeCarlo led all scorers with 11 points and three rebounds despite missing the final four minutes with an injury. In a half with very limited offense, Semptimphelter was able to put together seven points on 3-of-7 shooting to lead all Blue Streaks. John Carroll, as a team, shot 29.6% from the field and 22.2% from three in the first half.

The Cardinals picked up right where they left off in the third as after Perusek split a pair from the line, Kyla Irby drained a triple, followed by another three from Abby Rawlings. Otterbein could not miss to start the third, as Mattie Walburn connected on a contested mid-range jumper and Walburn finished through contact, forcing a JCU timeout. John Carroll found themselves down 36-22 entering the first media timeout.

The Blue Streaks began to chip away at the lead, as Kaylie McKenney hit a layup and Rosol split a pair from the charity stripe. Otterbein quickly responded with a free throw from Hudgins and a layup from Irby to up the lead to 16 points. The advantage grew to as much as 19 as the Cardinals made a last second layup to go up 49-30 entering the final period.

John Carroll began the fourth quarter with some positive momentum with a pair of Semptimphelter free throws and a tough finish from Maddie Pietrowski. The full court pressure put on by JCU really started to pick up, as they forced consecutive turnovers to help cut the deficit to 14. After a chaotic couple of possessions, Ryncarz connected on her first triple of the game to get the crowd into the game. But each time the Blue Streaks tried to pull closer, a Cardinal came up clutch with a big shot. Kyla Irby was a big part of this as she hit a high arcing triple to grow the lead back to 17.

A three from Semptimpheler and a long two from Heuker gave the Blue Streaks a spark to start the final three minutes. But the ball movement from the Cardinals continuously broke the JCU pressure and they hit enough of their free throws to do enough to pull off the road tournament upset, 71-54.

Ava Ryncarz led all scorers with 15 points. Semptimphelter (10) and Heuker (10) also reached double figures in points.

The Blue Streaks have nothing to hang their heads about, as they put together a very strong season with 19 wins overall and 13 conference wins, their most since the 2021-22 season.

John Carroll says a heartfelt goodbye to senior Maddie Pietrowski who has been a big part of the program for the last four years. However, JCU will return a majority of their production from this season, so they will be in store for another big year.

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