UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio—Sophomore guard Kathleen Phillips (Sandusky/St. Mary's) scored a game-high 23 points, including eight within the last four minutes of the game, but John Carroll University held off a late 'Berg rally to secure a 69-64 victory against the Heidelberg University women's basketball team tonight in an Ohio Athletic Conference game at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center in University Heights, Ohio. Freshman guard Paige Ricketts (Mineral City/Tusky Valley) recorded her first career double-double with 13 points and a game-high-tying 10 rebounds.
Along with Phillips and Ricketts, Heidelberg (4-15, 1-12 OAC) received 12 points and seven boards from sophomore guard Megan Miller (Tiffin/Columbian). Phillips, Ricketts and Miller accounted for 75 percent of the Berg's scoring.
JCU (7-12, 4-9 OAC)'s Beth Switzler also recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Allison Lustig and Emilee Ritchie each scored 13 points.
Phillips gave the Tri-Color its only lead of the game, 4-3, at the 18:14 mark of the first half when she canned a jumper in the paint.
The Blue Steaks answered with a 17-1 run that spanned more than five minutes to take a 20-5 five lead following a three-pointer by Heidi Mervar with 13:03 on the clock.
JCU first built its lead to 20 points after it went on another 13-8 jaunt, taking a 33-13 advantage with a Hilary Liwosz jumper at the 3:54 mark. The Blue streaks led by as many as 22 points in the first half on two separate occasions, with the last coming at 39-17 after Ritchie failed to convert a three-point play with 1:31 on the clock.
The Berg closed the first half on a 7-0, sparked by triples from sophomore guard Emily Giel (Burton/Burskshire) and freshman guard Erika Jordan (Bellevue) with less than a minute to play, cutting the deficit to 39-24 going into the break.
The Blue Streaks came out of the intermission on a 9-3 run, retaking a 20-point lead at 48-27 following Swiztler's lay-up at the 16:49 mark.
JCU held a 20-point lead as late as 11:40, but Heidelberg put together a seven-point run capped at 9:19 when junior guard Jordan Ickes (Wooster/Triway) made one of two free throws, cutting the deficit to 56-43.
With the Blue Streaks holding on to a 63-48 advantage, Ickes capped another nine-point jaunt with a lay-up with 47 seconds to play, leaving the Berg to look at just a 63-57 deficit.
A Ricketts foul sent Lustig to the free throw line where she made both shots, extending the Blue Streak lead to 65-57.
Giel's third three-pointer of the evening cut the deficit back to 65-60 with 25 seconds remaining, but free throws by Ritchie and Day down the stretch countered a pair of lay-ups by Phillips to secure to win.
Heidelberg shot 32.4 (23-of-71) percent from the field, including 25.9 (seven-of-27) from the three point line, and just 55.0 (11-of-20) percent from the charity stripe, but turned the ball over just 13 times.
JCU shot 36.8 (21-of-57) percent from the field and 80.8 (21-of-26) percent from the free throw line and corralled 13 offensive rebounds.
The Berg will look to get back on the winning track Saturday, Feb. 4 when it faces Capital University at 2 p.m. in the first game of a men's and women's OAC doubleheader in Bexley, Ohio.