WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Wilmington College women's basketball women's basketball team, for the third consecutive year, heads to John Carroll University for an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday. Tip-off from the DeCarlo Center is slated for 7 p.m.
The Teams: Wilmington and John Carroll (JCU). The Fightin' Quakers are 8-17 on the season and opened the OAC Tournament, as the No. 8 seed, with a 61-50 triumph over No. 9 Capital University on Monday evening. The Blue Streaks finished the regular season 20-3, were the OAC co-champions, and are the OAC Tournament's top seed.
The Coaches: Wilmington is under the direction of second-year Head Coach Janel Blankespoor, who is in her fourth season with the program having been interim coach during the 2020-21 season and the program's top assistant the two years prior. The 2007 Otterbein College alumna spent stints at Mount Union and Earlham College before coming to Wilmington. Beth Andrews, a 2015 JCU alumna, is in her second season as JCU's head coach.
The Players: Wilmington is led by the backcourt duo of Kennedy Lewis and Zahrya Bailey, who combine to average nearly 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists per game. A trio of Quakers - Kenzie Campbell, Brooke Davis and Haley Cook - all score of a half-dozen points per game while Cook leads the team in rebounding at 4.8 boards per contest. The Blue Streaks are led by a pair of All-American seniors in Nicole Heffington and Olivia Nagy. The duo combines to score 30 points and grab 20 rebounds per contest, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the team's scoring and 50 percent of rebounding.
Tale of the Tape: Points per game – Wilmington 58.4, JCU 74.7; opponents' points per game – Wilmington 63.8, JCU 58.6; field goal percentage – Wilmington 37.1, JCU 44.0; three-point percentage – Wilmington 26.4, JCU 29.3; free throw percentage – Wilmington 68.1, JCU 74.4; rebounding margin – Wilmington -3.0, JCU +6.3; assist-to-turnover ratio – Wilmington 0.69, JCU 0.90.
Top 25 Poll: John Carroll checks in at No. 12 in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll.
Recent History: Wilmington is 25-25 against John Carroll since becoming an NCAA Division III member in the 1990s. The Blue Streaks have won 10-of-11 meetings including by an 85-59 score in University Heights on Saturday. More information can be viewed by visiting the link above.
Conference Tournament History: Wilmington is 27-17 all-time in OAC Tournament games including 4-3 against John Carroll. More information can be viewed by visiting the link above.
Coverage: Live statistics and live video of the game will be available – visit the links above.
Social Media: Wilmington athletics is represented on Facebook (Wilmington College Athletics), Twitter (@DubCQuakers) and Instagram (@DubCQuakers). Follow all the happenings of Wilmington College on social media by using the hashtag "#WeAreDubC".
Up Next: The winner of the contest will face the winner of Otterbein University and Ohio Northern University in an OAC Tournament semifinal on Thursday.
