The John Carroll Blue Streaks had been waiting a long time for this. A real shot at taking down a long-time nemesis.

When presented with the opportunity, the Blue Streaks were able to find the will and the way to finish off the visiting Capital Crusaders. 

It had been since 2005, which was why Saturday's 76-70 victory was made all the more sweet.

Box Score

“It was a real team effort tonight,” said freshman guard Allison Lustig (Palo Alto , CA, Archbishop Mitty). “Everyone played great and our bench stepped up when we need to.”

After the two teams tussled back-and-forth with the lead, a 16-16 tie was broken by a Missy Spahar (Willowick, OH, Mentor Lake Catholic) layup with 11 minutes left to go in the first half. The Blue Streaks did not give up the lead for the rest of the night following that shot. 

But the Crusaders would never make it easy.

The Blue Streaks had their biggest lead of the first half when a Spahar steal was followed by a Lee Jennings (Stow, OH, Stow-Monroe Falls) layup and a foul shot to give the Blue Streaks a 10-point lead at 38-28 with 3:15 left in the opening half. 

The Blue Streaks went into halftime on top by a 42-35 count.

Lustig and the Blue Streaks kept up the assault in the second half. With 13 of her career-high 15 points coming in the second half, Lustig would make three out of four from behind the arc. 

Her third trey finished off an 8-0 run that came at an opportune time. After JCU had built its lead to 62-51 on a Heidi Mervar three-pointer, Capital would score ten unanswered to cut the Blue Streak advantage to a single point with 5:46 to play.

But Lustig and fellow rookie Hilary Liwosz (Imperial, PA, West Allegheny) combined scored the next eight points to put the home team up, 70-61, with 3:22 left.

Every point was needed down the stretch, When Hilary Kuhns knocked home a pair of free throws with 1:28 showing on the clock, the Crusaders were back to within four at 72-68.

JCU would hold on, as Lustig and Jennings hit free throws down the stretch to wrap up the Blue Streaks' third consecutive win.

“We just had to weather the storm,” said JCU head coach Kristie Maravalli said, “There were times in the second half that they were hitting shots and we weren't. We knew we would have to keep our focus and we got points when we needed it and we got defense when we needed it.” 

Four Blue Streaks scored in double digits, led by Jennings with 18. Lustig and Spahar each chipped in with 15, while Liwosz added 11. 

John Carroll (10-7, 5-5 OAC) would only commit nine turnovers against Capital's defense -- marking the fourth time in the last six games JCU has finished with less than ten.

 “It was a complete win tonight," said Maravalli. You can't point to one player; it was a complete team effort.” 

Capital (11-5, 6-4 OAC) was paced by 17 points from Shalena Hawkins and 15 from Kuhns. The Crusaders won the battle of the boards (52-42) but were held to .357 shooting (25-70) from the field.