For the second consecutive day, John Carroll suffered a costly second half dry spell that led to a 75-69 setback at the hands of host Carnegie Mellon on the final day of the OAC-UAA Challenge Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Box Score

The Tartans had a strong start to the contest and led by as many as nine points. Jump started by a Kate Mahoney (Oakland, CA, Bishop O'Dowd) three-point field goal at the 6:37 mark, the Blue Streaks would close the half by scoring 15 of the final 21 points to take a 36-30 lead into the locker room.

JCU pushed the lead out to eight points in the opening minute of the second half, but it did not take Carnegie Mellon long to catch the Blue Streaks. A Brit Philips three-pointer tied the score at 42-42 with 17:21 on the clock, and a three by Jennifer Larsen gave CMU the lead for good (47-46) with 14:53 to play. 

Carnegie Mellon pushed the lead out to 60-52 with just under eight minutes remaining when John Carroll made one last run. A lay-up by Lee Jennings (Stow, OH, Stow) capped a 10-3 run that pulled JCU to within 63-62 with 4:29 left, but that would be as close as the Streaks would get. The Tartans scored 12 of the next 16 points to pull away.

In the win, Carnegie Mellon (2-0) was led by Jacki Cortese, who posted an impressive double double with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Larsen added 15 for the Tartans, who won the rebounding  battle (48-40) in addition to the one on the scoreboard.

John Carroll (1-2) was led by Jennings and Sadie Zander (Vermillion, OH, Vermillion), who combined for 39 of the 69 points scored and 12 of the 15 assists dished out by the Blue Streaks.