Keith Lucas/Sideline Media

Box Score

Carmen Heuker

John Carroll JCU 26-5,11-4 NCAC

Denison Den 27-2,14-1 NCAC

John Carroll JCU

26-5,11-4 NCAC

Final

Mar. 13, 2026

Denison Den

27-2,14-1 NCAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
John Carroll JCU	20	25	13	9	67
Denison Den	26	26	21	13	86

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 3/13/2026 8:02:00 PM | Joe Ginley '16, SID

Fun Season Ends in Round of 16 for #11 Women's Basketball in Defeat to #8 Denison

The Big Red dominated in the paint in the two programs' first Round of 16 appearances

LEXINGTON, Va. – A magical season concluded with a loss to a newfound Ohio rival in the NCAA Division III NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Round of 16.

The Blue Streaks battled hard in the first "Sweet Sixteen" appearance in program history. But Denison's size inside proved too much for #11 John Carroll to handle in the third matchup of the season between new North Coast Athletic Conference foes.

The longest postseason run in program history ended in a 86-67 defeat to the #8 Big Red in Holekamp Gym on the campus of Washington & Lee University on Friday evening.

"Congratulations to Denison, what an outstanding conference run this was for both of us. To meet in Sweet 16 is a testament to how hard this year was and how hard both of us battled the entire year," said Head Coach Beth Andrews '15. "I just had a real emotional locker room talk with this team because of how special they are. The six seniors took us from back-to-back 13-13 seasons to 19 wins, and then here we are at 26 wins. True trust and true growth. We're really thankful to be here. I told the team that the hardest thing about being in the NCAA Tournament is that only one team leaves happy."

Postgame Press Conference

Trouble started brewing for the Blue Streaks in the early going when the defense had trouble with Denison's size. The Big Red found enough room to drive to the hoop as JCU's lack of size matching up with Denison's forwards quickly caused issues.

The Blue Streaks kept up with the Big Red in the early going thanks to strong outside shooting. Ava Ryncarz nailed an early triple. Brooke Laub did not fear Denison's size, with a good dribble drive inside.

Graci Semptimphelter kept the Blue Streaks afloat in the first quarter with a strong opening quarter. A Laub triple with the shot clock expiring proved to be key with 49 seconds left in the quarter. JCU trailed after the first quarter, 26-20.

The 26 points allowed marked the most surrendered by JCU in the opening quarter of a game this season.

The Big Red's size began to overwhelm the Blue Streaks in the second quarter. An 11-4 Denison run in the first three minutes of the period led to a Beth Andrews '15 timeout at the 6:48 mark with JCU trailing, 37-24.

The deep breath helped, as Ava Ryncarz nailed a couple triples to settle the Streaks and Bella Houllioun buried a wing triple to narrow the gap to eight points with 3:45 left. Ryncarz kept up the heat with a near corner two, then sank two triples, one from each wing. Denison called a timeout with the advantage down to just four points, 45-41, with 2:02 remaining.

Despite a Carmen Heuker triple opened up by Laub on the last possession, Denison outscored JCU down the final stretch of the half. JCU trailed by seven at the midpoint, 52-47.

JCU's defense struggled to contain a hard-charging, tall Denison lineup. The Blue Streaks allowed a season-high 52 first-half points, 40 of which were scored in the paint.

What kept the Blue Streaks in the game was an ability to hit both open and contested triples. John Carroll connected on a fantastic 8-of-12 shots from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes.

Out of the break, Denison fired up a 9-2 run in the first two minutes to fire up the lead to 14 points. Ryncarz stopped the bleeding with a nice jumper before Finazzo caught fire. The first year converted a pair of dribble-drives and also hit Perusek perfectly for a nice layup, cutting the margin to single digits.

But Denison continued to win the rebounding battle, slimming JCU's margin for error. A deep Semptimphelter 3-pointer was nice, but JCU struggled to find open room to shoot triples. A late-second chance Denison bucket set the deficit at a daunting 15 points, 73-58, heading into the fourth. The Big Red outscored the Blue Streaks in the third, 21-13.

It took 90 seconds to score the fourth quarter's first bucket when Perusek hit a crosspost pass to an open Heuker for two. Not long after a Finazzo layup, JCU called a timeout with 6:50 on the clock, trailing 73-62.

But despite a dearth of offense for the Big Red (Denison didn't find the bottom of the net until the 4:10 mark), the Blue Streaks could not catch up. The NCAC regular season champs limited 3-point looks and thus JCU's ability to narrow the gap.

The Big Red won all three games in the series between the two new NCAC rivals this season, advancing to the Round of 8 for the first time in Denison program history.

Ava Ryncarz led the way for John Carroll with 20 points, including 17 in the first half. Nicci Finazzo notched 10 points, while both Carmen Heuker and Graci Semptimphelter tabbed 9 points. The key stat? Points in the paint. Denison scored 56 as compared to JCU's 28.

"Now that it's over looking back, I'm really proud of myself and where I'm at," said Ryncarz. "Starting freshman year, I didn't know what was going on. Those minutes made me into what I am now. Every year I focused on specific things to improve on and I did a good job of that. This year, it was the experience and composure on the court, so that when things were going south, knowing it'll be okay and we'll go on a run. As a team we grew, it has a been a really great four years."

JCU will graduate a star-studded senior class of six players in the offseason.

"It's been an awesome four years, they're the reason we are where we are, the reason the culture is built back up, and why JCU is back on map," said Andrews. "They did what was asked of them and left it all out there."

However, the future is bright with a big, talented freshmen class that will form a foundation for the program moving forward.

"As a senior, it's over for us, but I told the freshmen that I'm grateful for them as a group. It's not easy for them when not all of them play. But we were so confident in them and we expressed that to them. I see a lot of potential for them. It's really become a family this season. It makes me sad to leave them, it has been a great year. It explains the year: Big team but such a big culture, that's what got us this far."

"As a transfer, I know what it's like other places, and I honed in on that message on how incredible it is to be at John Carroll," said Semptimphelter. "Beth and Ava welcomed me with open arms. I learned that basketball is all about the relationships that you make. I came into college only worried about the basketball, and now as a senior, I tell the freshmen that basketball is the least important thing about playing a sport. I experienced a lot of growth in my confidence. Ultimately, Beth says it takes everyone and we couldn't have won or lost the game without each other."

John Carroll finishes the campaign with a program-record 26 wins.

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