UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Wilmington College women's basketball team saw its 2020-21 season come to an end with an 83-53 defeat at the hands of No. 14 John Carroll University (JCU) in an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday evening.
The victory moves JCU into the OAC Tournament semifinals while the loss ends the Fightin' Quakers' season at 7-7.
The Blue Streaks, which haven't lost at home all season, were afforded some good looks from distance early as the Fightin' Quakers elected to put extra bodies in the paint to defend JCU's center, Olivia Nagy, who was a First Team All-OAC selection a year ago. Nagy did not score for the first eight minutes, but the hosts made the visitors pay by burying five triples in the first 10 minutes to lead 25-11 after one.
The John Carroll lead would grow to as many as 20 points (38-18), but Wilmington would hold the Blue Streaks scoreless over the final 4:41 of the second quarter. During that stretch, the Quakers scored nine points including four from Zahrya Bailey, making the score 38-27 at halftime.
A 7-2 run to open the third quarter put the hosts back on top 15, but Wilmington battled back to within single digits (54-45) with 2:33 to play on a pair of Cassidy Lovett free throws. The Quakers, playing in their fourth game in five days, went cold as the Blue Streaks put the game away with an 11-0 run that both closed the third quarter and opened the fourth.
John Carroll made 30-of-62 (48.4 percent) from the field to go along with eight triples and a 45-31 rebounding advantage. Wilmington made 17-of-59 (28.8 percent) from the field along with a 17-of-23 (73.9 percent) performance from the free throw line.
McKayla Binkley led all scorers with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field to finish her career with 1,199 points, 13th in program history. Bailey added eight points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals off the bench.
Nagy finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds to lead JCU. Nicole Heffington, Dani Carlson and Jaylen Hoffman all finished with 13 points.
