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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Enie
Jose Figueroa
69
Heidelberg HEID 3-21,2-15 OAC
78
Winner John Carroll JCU 18-7,12-5 OAC
Heidelberg HEID
3-21,2-15 OAC
69
Final
78
John Carroll JCU
18-7,12-5 OAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Heidelberg HEID 14 16 20 19 69
John Carroll JCU 17 20 21 20 78

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Jack Stephens, Staff Writer

John Carroll Continues Charge Defeating Heidelberg

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — The John Carroll Blue Streaks (18-6, 11-5 OAC) were had to battle all night, but a big run in the fourth quarter propelled them to a 78-69 victory over the Heidelberg Student Princes (3-20, 2-14 OAC). 

The Blue Streaks came into this contest winners of four of their last five and tied for third place in the conference with Capital. They needed to take care of business in their final home game of the season in order to give them a chance to be the three seed in the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament. 

Heidelberg scored the first points of the game off of a putback layup, but a floater and three from Ava Ryncarz, who was honored before the game for eclipsing 1,000 career points, gave the Blue Streaks their first lead of the ball game. JCU came out with a full court press that Heidelberg did a good job to dissect with good ball movement. Both squads were deadlocked at nine midway through the first, until Ella Nietzel was able to finish a layup through contact that sparked a little momentum. Another tough finish seconds later, this one from Kaylie McKenney, caused a Heidelberg timeout. 

A layup from Ryncarz grew the Blue Streak advantage to 6. Heidelberg began to claw their way back with a pair of free throws from Morgan Altenburger and a three from Ashley Ballard to cut it to one. But an acrobatic layup from Nietzel in the final seconds gave JCU a 17-14 lead after one. 

Heidelberg was able to tie the game after a Jewel Persinger layup, but a three-point play from Abigail Rosol reclaimed the lead. JCU began to pick up their pace, forcing turnovers and fast break opportunities as two more layups from Ryncarz and Carmen Heuker gave John Carroll a seven point lead, forcing a Student Prince timeout. 

The Student Princes came out of the timeout firing, getting it back to a four-point game. Another three pointer from Ryncarz and an easy bucket from Carly Perusek off a great find from Brooke Laub made Heidelberg call another timeout. McKenney scored on a putback off her own miss and then Daylan Baker's mid range heave to end the half caught glass and went through. However, after review the shot did not go up in time. JCU held a 37-30 advantage through the first 20 minutes. 

Ryncarz led all scorers with 14 points on an impressive six-of-ten shooting. John Carroll took control of the game on the inside with 22 points in the paint and forcing 13 Heidelberg turnovers in the first half. 

Ava Ryncarz picked up in the third quarter right where she left off draining a corner three. Heidelberg strung together a few good offensive possessions to get it back to 6, until Ryncarz pulled off a nifty up-and-under to regain some momentum. Carly Perusek put together a strong finish at the rim to once again give JCU a double digit lead. Heidelberg was able to once again get it back to 5, but a three from Nietzel and a layup from Abigail Rosol got it back to 10. The Blue Streaks were not done there, as Baker intercepted a pass in the back court and converted an and-one to give JCU their largest lead of the game to that point. After Heidelberg split a pair from the line, Laub made a tremendous full court pass to McKenney for the easy lay. 

The game was not out of reach just yet, as the Student Princes were able to go on a 6-2 run in the final minutes off of strong play from Altenburger to get it back to single digits entering the final frame. JCU was clinging to a 58-50 lead heading into the fourth.

Graci Semptimphelter ignited the crowd with a deep three to open the final frame. Shortly after, Ryncarz connected on her fourth triple of the ballgame. Out of nowhere, Heidelberg erupted to a 7-0 run to trim the lead to a single possession at 65-62. When the Blue Streaks desperately needed a bucket, Semptimphelter came through drilling a left wing three. After a stop on defense, McKenney put her defender in a spin cycle for a layup. Then JCU forced a steal and Semptimpheleter converted the layup to get the lead back to seven.

After Heidelberg used their final timeout, Semptimphelter once again connected from deep to give JCU their second 13 point lead of the game. This lead would prove to be too much to overcome, as the Blue Streaks defended home court with a 78-69 victory. 

Ava Ryncarz led the way for JCU with 22 points and three rebounds. Semptimphelter's big fourth quarter gave her 11 points on the game, while also grabbing five rebounds. JCU played stifling defense all game long forcing 24 Heidelberg turnovers and holding the Student Princes to 4-19 from the three point line. 

UP NEXT
John Carroll will hit the road to take on the Muskingum Muskies in the final game of the regular season, on Saturday at 1pm.
 
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