BEREA, OHIO -- Junior center Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Normandy) scored a game and career-high 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds as Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team defeated cross-town rival John Carroll University, 72-42, tonight (Wednesday, February 6, 2012) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.

With the win, the Yellow Jackets improve to 13-9 overall and 8-7 in the OAC and extend their winning streak to three games in a row.  With the loss, the Blue Steaks fall to 13-9 overall and 6-9 in the OAC and end their three-game winning.
 
In addition to Simovic for BW, sophomore guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) scored 11 points and snagged eight boards. John Carroll was led by sophomore guard Beth Switzler who scored a team-high nine points.
 
The Blue Streaks got on the board first to give them an early 2-0 lead when freshman guard Elissa Day hit a jumper at the 19:14 mark. The Yellow Jackets would then answer and take the lead with an 8-0 run at 16:24 capped off by junior forward Jessica Lairson (Louisville) making the score 8-2. Junior forward Hilary Liwosz would make a layup at 16:03 to end BW's run and cut into the lead 8-4.

The Yellow Jackets would then make a 9-4 run at 12:15 to extend their lead to 17-8 ending with Simovic making a hook-shot.  John Carroll would then cut back into BW's lead 17-12 at 11:21 with a 4-0 run by Switzler who hit two layups in succession.

BW made another surge at the 5:00 mark with a 12-4 run capped off by junior center Lexi Rohrbach's (Tiffin/Columbian) layup extending the Yellow Jacket lead 29-16. The Blue Streaks then made a 7-2 run at 2:40 cutting into BW's lead 31-23 when junior guard Allie Lustig hit a three-pointer.

Baldwin Wallace would end the half extending their lead with a 7-0 run when senior guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) nailed a jumper with 0:03 seconds remaining making the halftime score 38-23.

In the second half, Baldwin Wallace would push the lead to as much as 30 points as the Yellow Jackets would complete the 72-42 victory. BW's keys to victory were they held John Carroll to 25 percent shooting from the field, and they won the rebounding battle 60-30 for a plus-30 margin.

BW is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 9 when it hosts Marietta College in the Ursprung Gym at 3:00 p.m.

FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.bwyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.