WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein women's basketball team put together one of its best first performances of the season, but ultimately fell short to the visiting John Carroll Blue Streaks, 68-59. The Streaks relied heavily on the reigning Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Defensive Player of the Year, Olivia Nagy, in the middle who posted an astronomical 23-point, 28-rebound double-double in the win.

The Blue Streaks currently sit at second place in the OAC behind Baldwin Wallace with one game left to play, the Streaks are now 20-4 on the season and 14-3 within the OAC. Otterbein drops to 12-12 overall and 7-10 in the conference, good enough for seventh and a spot in the OAC tournament.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Otterbein jumped out to an early 17-11 lead after one quarter, out matching JCU at their own up and down pace.
   
• The Blue Streaks kicked things up a notch in the second, outscoring the Cardinals 25-13 to take a 36-30 lead into the break.
   
• Otterbein battled JCU the entire third quarter, but still trailed going into the final 10 minutes at 52-43.
   
• The fourth quarter saw Otterbein cut the deficit to just five before a made three by Hailey Bauer was called off on an offensive foul, John Carroll then began to pull away.
   
• Otterbein was forced to foul down the stretch but the Streaks stepped up to put things away, walking away with their 20th win of the season.
   

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• John Carroll's Nagy secured her 10th double-double of the season at the half, collecting 14 rebounds and 11 points over the first two quarters.
   
• Abbie Scholz paced Otterbein on offense with 17 points, while Abby Zerkle added 13.
   
• The Cardinal defense has been the calling card of the season, holding yet another OAC team below their scoring average.
   

UP NEXT:

• The Cardinals will welcome regular season OAC champion Baldwin Wallace to town on Saturday for senior day, and the final regular season contest. Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m.