John Carroll was going for the wire-to-wire win Wednesday night in Westerville.
Once that was bid snapped, the Blue Streaks made sure to finish the most important part of the task, stepping up big in the final minute to knock off host Otterbein, 75-72, in an Ohio Athletic Conference match-up.
Box Score
Over the course of the first 39 minutes, John Carroll never relinquished the lead. But with 54 seconds left, Otterbein's Karli Volkmer sank a pair of free throws to give the Cardinalstheir first lead of the contest, 72-71.
Ten seconds later, however, JCU junior Sadie Zander drained a three-pointer to put JCU back ahead, 74-72.
Otterbein's Shea McCoy tried to answer but missed her long range shot. Caitlin Sureck got the rebound and was fouled. With 18 seconds left, Sureck missed the first free throw but made the second to give her team a three-point lead.
The host Cardinals had three shots to tie the game, but came up empty as the Blue Streaks won their fifth consecutive game.
Behind Lee Jennings, Whitney Hamilton and Sureck, John Carroll would storm out to a 9-2 lead just a little over three minutes into the contest. JCU would stretch its lead to as many as nine points in the opening period before settling on a 30-26 halftime advantage.
The same trio helped John Carroll storm out of the gate in the second half. A 7-0 burst extended John Carroll's advantage 37-26 at the 17:41 mark -- the first time its lead had reached double digits.
Three different times in the second half, JCU would push its lead to 16 points, the last of which occured at the 8:34 mark. Jennings' free throw put her team ahead 65-49.
Otterbein would then mount a furious comeback, aided largely by three long range field goals by McCoy. A 23-6 run capped by Volkmer's free throws would give the Cardinals their first lead with less than a minute to play.
But Zander's Second three-pointer of the game would prove to be the game winner.
John Carroll (7-5, 4-2 OAC), which won its third consecutive conference game, was paced by 25 points from Jennings. The reigning OAC Player of the Week was 9-20 from the field and 7-9 from the free throw line.
Hamilton had a season-best 18 points thanks in large part to a 4-7 effort from three-point range. Zander added ten points, eight of which were in the second half.
Otterbein (4-9, 1-5 OAC) was led by 20 points from McCoy and 19 from Katy Miller.