WC drops 73-72 decision
to John Carroll

Smith, Peters score 22 apiece

|Box Score|

February 4, 2006

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — Wilmington College was unable to hold a seven-point lead in the final seven minutes of play as the Lady Quakers fell to John Carroll, 73-72, in OAC action Saturday. The loss drops the Lady Quakers to 9-5 in the OAC, 14-7 overall. John Carroll is now 7-7 in the conference, 11-9 overall.

For Wilmington, the loss came on the heels of Wednesday's gut-wrenching loss to Capital and marks Wilmington's first two-game in-season losing streak in five years.

John Carroll's Shayla Bell, on her way to a 26-point performance, scored to begin a 14-0 spurt to open the game. Wilmington got on the board when Katie Streck (Dayton/Carroll) hit a free throw with 13:08 to play in the first half

"Capital was a tough game to come back from, but the fact is we just came up here and weren't ready to play in the beginning. We can't allow that to happen," WC head coach Jerry Scheve said.

The Lady Quakers played comeback ball to reduce the Blue Streaks' lead to 20-16 when Erica Smith (Union/Northmont) hit a jumper at 7:21. Kelly Peters (Spencerville) scored eight points and WC received strong bench play from Gina Hyle (Lawrenceburg, Ind./McAuley) and Amy Starks (Greenville) to stay within four, 33-29, at halftime.

"We just started playing harder and better, and just as we did, we had some misfortune," Scheve said. "Katie Streck missed most of the first half with an injury and Jackie Hauke (Sardinia/Whiteoak) hardly played the first half because of foul trouble and Kelly Peters missed time at the end of the half with two fouls. Going in at halftime down four was really kind of a good feeling, considering how we had played."

Peters scored off a Streck assist as Wilmington tied the game at 41-all four minutes into the second half. After a Bell basket, Sam Hood (Lockbourne/Teays Valley) fed Streck, who buried a three-pointer to give WC its first lead of the game. Peters connected to move the Lady Quakers up, 58-51, with 9:09 remaining.

John Carroll reduced Wilmington's advantage to 64-62 at 4:57. On the next possession, Smith stuck a three-pointer to give WC a five-point lead. Bell then rang the bell twice from long distance, the second trey giving JCU a 73-70 lead with 57 seconds to play. Smith scored to cut the deficit to one. Bell missed a jumper, but the Lady Quakers were unable to convert at the other end.

Smith and Peters scored 22 points each. Peters hit nine of 13 field-goal attempts while Smith made eight of 14. Streck scored 11 points and Hood added seven points and seven assists. Smith led WC in rebounding with seven boards, six off the offensive glass.

"Erica played well. What I like most about her stats was her offensive rebounds," Scheve said. "That's something we've harped on all year with our wings, that they have to go to the offensive boards. Today, most of Erica's points came off put-backs off those offensive boards.

"Kelly played really hard. She's the one kid that we've consistently had come out every game this year and just lay it on the line. Not that other kids haven't done that, but not to the degree that she has. We've got to remember that we're not that far off. We're still a good basketball team. We need to continue to work to get better."

The Lady Quakers travel to Ada to face Ohio Northern 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.