WESTERVILLE — Sophomore Abby Rawlings made some clutch free throws down the stretch and finished with 16 points to lead the Otterbein women's basketball team to a 69-67 win over John Carroll in Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday night.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (9-9 overall, 5-6 OAC), John Carroll (13-5 overall, 7-4 OAC)
• Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Rawlings made a trio of 3-pointers and was 5-of-9 from the free-throw line as part of her team-high 16 points to go with two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
• Graduate student Kathleen DeCarlo added 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
• Sophomore Kyla Irby finished with 10 points and two rebounds.
• Freshman Mattie Walburn tallied 10 points, two rebounds and two assists.
• Sophomore Anna Waskiewicz posted eight points, three rebounds and two steals.
• Freshman Kiara Hudgins added seven points, two rebounds and a team-high six assists.

Game Highlights

• First Quarter: John Carroll took an early 6-2 lead on a pair of 3-pointers before Otterbein answered with a 6-0 run, getting two points each from DeCarlo, Hudgins and freshman Madilyn Stechschulte for an 8-6 lead. Back-to-back baskets from Walburn put the Cardinals up 12-8 with 2:25 left, and a 3-pointer from Irby followed by a layup from Waskiewicz made it a 17-11 edge with 1:24 remaining. The Blue Streaks were able to cut the deficit to two, 17-15, going into the second quarter.
• Second Quarter: Rawlings opened the second-quarter scoring with a 3-pointer to extend Otterbein's lead to five, and Hudgins added a triple of her own to make it a 23-15 lead with 8:06 left. A jumper from DeCarlo put Otterbein up by nine, 26-17, with 7:02 remaining, and a jumper from Walburn extended the lead to 11, 30-19, 5:33 left. After a DeCarlo jumper put Otterbein up 32-19, the Blue Streaks ended the spurt with a 3-pointer to get within 10 with 2:48 remaining. The Cardinals took a 37-28 edge into halftime. Otterbein got nine points and six rebounds from DeCarlo in the first half to go with eight points from Walburn and seven points from Hudgins.
• Third Quarter: Rawlings opened the second-half scoring with back-to-back 3-pointers to keep momentum squarely on the Cardinals' side with a 43-28 lead. After a Walburn jumper put Otterbein up 53-45 with 1:57 left, the Blue Streaks closed the quarter with a 6-2 run to close the gap to four, 55-51, going into the fourth.
• Fourth Quarter: JCU tied the score at 55 with 9:17 remaining, but a free throw from Rawlings followed by a layup from DeCarlo put Otterbein up by three with 7:50 left. The Blue Streaks took a three-point edge, 67-64, with 1:21 left before a pair of free throws from Irby brought Otterbein within one with 1:07 remaining. After forcing a JCU miss, Waskiewicz secured the defensive rebound going into an Otterbein timeout with 36 seconds left and the Cardinals trailing 67-66. Rawlings was subsequently fouled on a 3-point shot and made two of the ensuing three foul shots. The missed shot was deflected out of bounds by JCU, allowing Otterbein to retain possession. Another JCU foul sent Rawlings back to the line where she split a pair of free throws to put the Cardinals up 69-67 with 23 seconds remaining. Out of a timeout, the Cardinals forced a Blue Streak miss from close range, and Hudgins grabbed the rebound with just under a second remaining. Coming out of another timeout, the Cardinals successfully inbounded the ball to secure the victory.
• Key Team Stats: Otterbein shot 47.2% from the field and was 5-of-15 (33.3%) from 3-point range. John Carroll shot 42% from the field and was 6-of-19 (31.6%) from 3-point range. The Cardinals were 14-of-21 (66.7%) from the free-throw line, while the Blue Streaks were 19-of-22 (86.4%). Both teams tallied 30 rebounds in the game.

Quotes

• Head coach Diana Noles: "We've been searching for a win, and we didn't play well against John Carroll at their place earlier this season, so there was a lot tonight that our players were searching to prove to themselves and everybody else and to our coaching staff that they're better than how they've performed in the last few weeks and the last time we played John Carroll. This is a great win for us, and we're trying to build confidence going into the second round of OAC play. We're playing a lot of young and inexperienced kids, so we're trying to make sure they're getting good minutes and that they're growing on the floor so that we're playing at our best when we get to the tournament."
• Sophomore Abby Rawlings: "Our energy was really good before the game tonight. We really focused on our energy, especially on the bench. We kind of got a little off the gas in the third quarter but brought it back in the fourth. When we were trailing late, none of us doubted ourselves. We kept our energy and confidence, which was really nice. Going to the free-throw line, I was nervous, but I knew that my team believed in me. I got a couple high fives and was really confident and tried to knock them down."

Notables

• Rawlings matched her season-high scoring total of 16 points from Jan. 4 against Mount Union. Her career-high is 18 points.
• Rawlings has scored in double figures in five games this season and is averaging 7 points per game.
• DeCarlo has scored in double figures in 11 games this season and is averaging 10.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
• Irby has scored in double figures in 15 games this season and is averaging a team-high 14.1 points per game. She entered Wednesday ranked fifth in the OAC in scoring average (14.4 points per game), second in free-throw percentage (85.2%), third in free throws made (69) and sixth in 3-pointers made (33).
• Walburn has scored in double figures in five games this season and is averaging 6.8 points per game.
• Hudgins' six assists matched her career high from Jan. 18 against Capital.
• Head coach Diana Noles is in her sixth year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 72-61 at the helm of the Cardinals.
• Otterbein entered Wednesday in sixth place in the OAC standings, while John Carroll was in fourth.
• John Carroll holds an 18-17 edge in the series against Otterbein dating back to 2008. In the teams' prior meeting this season, on Jan. 8, John Carroll came away with a 48-31 win in University Heights.