UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Otterbein women's basketball team saw its postseason come to a close Thursday night, making a late push but eventually falling by a score of 62-53 at No. 1 seed John Carroll. The Cardinals, seeded fifth, end their season at 16-11 overall after winning a tournament game for the second-straight year.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Otterbein held a 14-13 lead after the opening quarter, as John Carroll did almost all of its damage down low with five offensive rebounds and subsequent put-back layups.
- The Cards held a 22-18 lead with 7:03 remaining in the first half but both sides went cold, with neither scoring for over two minutes. Otterbein scored just three points in that final 7:03 of the frame, with JCU finishing on an 11-4 run to take a 29-25 edge at intermission.
- John Carroll took control in the third, using a 16-3 run spanning five minutes of game time that turned a 33-30 score into a 49-33 gap. Otterbein eventually regathered itself and sliced the deficit to 51-41 after Dani Kissel buried a three in the closing seconds of the period.
- Otterbein kept chipping away in the fourth quarter, holding possession down just 58-53 with under 90 seconds remaining. A clean look from Kissel would have made it a one-score game, but the ball rimmed out and JCU prevailed in the final minute.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Kissel (1,532) and Ali Cartnal (1,280) finish their careers ranked second and seventh on the program's all-time scoring list. Their combined 2,812 points make them the highest-scoring classmates ever.
- John Carroll post players Olivia Nagy and Nicole Heffington dominated the paint. Nagy, standing 6'2", delivered an all-around stat line of 16 points, six boards and five blocks while Heffington posted 14 points and 11 boards.
- JCU finished with a 23-7 edge in points off turnovers and went 13 of 20 on free throws. Conversely, Otterbein went just 2 of 6 at the charity stripe.
UP NEXT:
John Carroll, the league's regular-season champions after finishing eighth last winter, will host No. 7 seed Ohio Northern in the title game Saturday afternoon. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
