Box Score
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, OHIO – Otterbein University rebounded from Wednesday’s loss with a 49-42 victory over John Carroll University Saturday afternoon at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.
The Cardinals move to 15-6 overall and 9-5 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), keeping pace with Capital University and Baldwin-Wallace College for third place in the league standings. Meanwhile, John Carroll drops to 7-13 overall and 4-10 in the conference.
John Carroll nailed a three-pointer to take a 9-8 lead with 11:59 left in the first half. But after a bucket by freshman guard Madi Miller made the score 10-9 with 10:34 left in the half, the Cardinals did not relinquish the lead.
The Cardinals went on to outscore the Blue Streaks 16-to-8 after the Miller basket and took a 26-17 lead into the half.
Otterbein controlled the opening 10 minutes of the second half, extending their lead to 16 points (43-27) on a jump-shot by junior center Bourke Kelley with 9:50 left in the game.
The Blue Streaks closed the gap with 10 unanswered points. However junior forward Hannah Day ended the run with a three-point shot to make the score 46-37 with just under five minutes remaining in the game.
The Cardinals limited John Carroll to five points over the final five minutes and held on for the victory.
The Cardinals committed 21 turnovers in the contest, but the Blue Streaks could not capitalize. John Carroll only shot 15-of 64 (23%) from the field.
Junior forward Chelsea Cannon led the Cardinals with 11 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from the field while freshman forward Tabatha Piper grabbed 12 rebounds. Both picked up their play with the recent loss of junior forward Rachel Snedegar, who was averaging 7.9 ppg. and 6.9 rpg. before she was lost for the season due to injury.
"We have been concentrating on our defense at practice and I thought we came out and defended really well," Piper said. "A lot of people have been able to step in and score and rebound for us, and we'll continue to need that with Rachel being out."
Both Capital (14-7, 9-5 OAC) and Baldwin-Wallace (14-7, 9-5) earned victories on Saturday to keep pace with Otterbein for third-place in the conference. Mount Union (20-1, 13-1) and Ohio Northern (18-3, 12-2) own the top two spots in the OAC.
Otterbein returns to the Rike Center for their next three games, kicking-off the home stand with cross-town rival Capital on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
