Women’s Basketball falls in tight showdown with #12 John Carroll
By Wes Mayberry
ADA — The Ohio Northern women's basketball team gave No. 12 John Carroll all it could handle Saturday afternoon in an eventual 54-49 defeat at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears (9-4 overall, 3-3 OAC) outscored the Blue Streaks (10-2 overall, 5-1 OAC) 17-7 in the second quarter and led by as many as eight points in the third quarter before JCU made a late comeback.
Senior Jaidyn Hale (Lima/Bath) finished with a career-high 19 points for ONU to go with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. She was 3-for-4 from 3-point range.
Sophomore Kasey Knippen (Ottoville) was 3-for-5 from 3-point range for her nine points in the game. She added seven rebounds and two assists.
Freshman Abby Dickson (Germantown/Valley View) led the team with eight rebounds and four assists.
Olivia Nagy led JCU with a double-double of 13 points and 17 rebounds to go with six blocks, two assists and two steals.
Nicole Heffington also scored in double figures for John Carroll with 12 points to go with six rebounds.
The Blue Streaks jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the first quarter before senior Molly Palecek (Wadsworth) stopped that run with the first of ONU's eight 3-pointers on the night.
A 3-pointer from Heffington and a pair of free throws from Abby Adler put JCU up 17-4 with 3:51 left in the opening quarter, and the Blue Streaks took a 17-10 edge into the second period.
A Hale 3-pointer gave ONU its first lead of the game at 22-20 with 3:45 left in the first half, and the Polar Bears took a 27-24 lead into the halftime break.
Hale opened the third quarter on a personal 5-0 run to give Northern its largest lead of eight, 32-24, with 8:33 left in the period.
A pair of free throws from Heffington tied the game at 33-all with 4:31 left in the period, and the teams continued to battle back and forth with ONU taking a 41-40 lead into the fourth quarter.
A two-pointer from Nagy put JCU up 45-43 with 8:21 remaining, which ended up giving the Blue Streaks the lead for good.
Freshman Jada Benjamin (Parma/Valley Forge) made a 3-pointer just before the final buzzer to cut the final margin to five as the Polar Bears held JCU to its lowest point total of the season thus far.
Ohio Northern made 18-of-56 field goals for 32.1% and was 8-of-14 from 3-point range for 57.1%, while the Blue Streaks made 20-of-64 field goals for 31.3% and were 6-of-23 from beyond the arc for 26.1%.
The Polar Bears were 5-of-14 from the foul line for 35.7% while JCU made all eight of its free throws.
JCU out-rebounded ONU by a 46-40 margin.
The Polar Bears return to the court on Wednesday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. at Ohio Athletic Conference foe Baldwin Wallace.