Women's Basketball Captures Program's 4th OAC Regular Season Crown on Senior Day

2/19/2022 4:26:00 PM | By: Jack Wymard, Staff Writer

The Blue Streaks rolled past the Quakers to celebrate Senior Day.

Box Score UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- No. 13 John Carroll Women's Basketball (20-3, 14-2 OAC) returned home for their final regular-season game against Wilmington College on Saturday. It was also Senior Day for the Blue & Gold's senior class. JCU needed a win to secure the regular-season crown and the No. 1 seed in the tournament. They did just that.

Due to John Carroll's sharpshooting and offensive dominance on the court, the Blue Streaks completed their mission of securing the OAC regular season crown by capturing a decisive 85-59 victory over the Wilmington College Fightin' Quakers (7-16).

"These accomplishments speak to our senior class," said Beth Andrews. "I am happy that this championship came on their senior night because they have really stuck with this program and turned this program into what it is now."

The Blue Streaks began the final regular season game with the same intensity that they have played with all year. In the blink of an eye, the Blue Streaks had a 29-11 lead over Wilmington thanks to an early 10 points from Nicole Heffington, who started the game 2-for-2 from the three-point line. Gabrielle Gevaudan also helped the Blue Streaks get off to an early lead with 7 points, hitting an early three-pointer.

At the end of the first quarter, John Carroll was up 31-13 with a 28-point lead. Shooting 100% from the free-throw line and 57% from three, the Blue Streaks looked like they had no plans to slow down.

In the second quarter, the Blue Streaks came out hot once again with an 11-4 run in the first five minutes courtesy of triples from Jaylen Hoffmann and Halle Landies.

Going into the locker room, John Carroll held a remarkable 54-28 lead, with Heffington leading the way with 14 points, four rebounds, one assist, and one steal.

Coming out of the break, Wilmington did not give up as they quickly scored 5 points. But, the Blue Streaks did not take their foot off the gas. At the halfway point of the third quarter, John Carroll kept the lead going with their 64-35 lead. The Blue Streaks were 2-2 from three to open up the second half.

At the end of the third quarter, the score was 72-45 John Carroll.

The Blue Streaks continued to keep the pressure on in the fourth quarter. Hoffmann drilled a three-pointer right in front of the John Carroll bench to open up the fourth.

John Carroll dominated all game on the glass and kept it up in the fourth quarter, nearly doubling Wilmington in the rebound category.

The swarming John Carroll defense would not stop with a 30 point lead in the fourth quarter as Olivia Nagy tallied her sixth block of the game.

Then, late in the fourth quarter Olivia Nagy tallied her 10th block to complete her third career triple double. Nagy finished the game with 10 points, 24 rebounds, and 10 blocks.

"It's awesome to have my family here, always supporting me and cheering at each game," said Olivia Nagy after her dominant performance on senior day.

John Carroll took the lead early in the first and never looked back as the final score ended up being 85-59 as John Carroll claimed the top spot in the OAC for the second year in a row, and their fourth OAC regular season championship.

"The OAC tournament is by no means going to be easy. Beating a team for a third time is very hard to do. Each team is going to be playing their best game, but we have big goals on this team to go to the NCAA tournament," said Andrews.

Heffington led John Carroll in points with 21, followed by Balfour with 15. Nagy also captured 24 rebounds and 10 blocks.

"The goal is to not play down to anybody's level in the tournament. Just playing together and fighting through adversity, like we did today with two starters out, is how we want to approach the tournament," said Nagy. "This season we have had a few ups and downs with injuries and dropping some games earlier in the season, but we bounced back and the six seniors on this team all want to finish strong."

For the next few days, John Carroll will focus on preparing for the OAC Tournament.

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