Box Score

John Carroll went toe-to-toe with the league-leading Capital Crusaders in the first half, but could not keep it going in the second half as the Blue Streaks fell by a 73-64 score Saturday afternoon in an Ohio Athletic Conference game held in Bexley, Ohio.

The Blue Streaks did not get off to the best of starts, missing eight of their first nine attempts from the field in falling behind 11-3. But a made jumper by Laura Gruber at the 13:45 mark of the opening period got matters moving in a positive direction. That basket kicked off 13 unanswered points for John Carroll in taking a 16-13 lead.

John Carroll would go up by five points at 27-22 on a Whitney Hamilton lay-up with just under six minutes to play before halftime, but the host Crusaders responded with a 14-3 run and retook the lead.

The Blue Streaks gathered themselves just before the end of the half. Baskets by Sadie Zander and Caitlin Sureck and two free throws by Rachael Price gave JCU a 36-34 advantage in the final minute, but Kristen Richardson of Capital canned a pair of free tosses to tie the contest at 36-36 heading into the break.

Again, John Carroll would push its lead up to five points to open the second half of play. A Zander jumper gave the visitors at 42-37 lead with 17:49 showing on the clock.

But the five-point ceiling proved tough to break through, as the Crusaders rallied by scoring the next nine points and grabbed the lead for good.

Hamilton pulled JCU to within 48-47 on a three-point play at the 12:26 mark, but the Blue Streaks could not regain the upper hand. 

It would be Capital putting together the decisive run of the day, an 11-1 burst in which Danielle Sanna kicked off with a jumper and ended with two free throws. When the dust cleared, Capital held a 59-48 edge with just over nine minutes remaining, and it never let the lead dip below eight points the remainder of the game.

Capital (13-4, 10-2 OAC) was led by a game-high 19 points from Caitlin Elsass and 18 each from Sanna and Richardson. The Crusaders won the rebounding battle, 39-28, and limited the Blue Streaks to just six offensive boards.

John Carroll (9-10, 4-8), which lost for the sixth consecutive time, had just one player in double figures as Price dropped in 16 points. The Blue Streaks were hounded into 20 turnovers, the second time this season that Capital was able to cause that many miscues against John Carroll.