UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, OHIO – Senior two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Jessica Carpenter (North Canton/ Hoover) canned four three-pointers and scored 14 points as the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team defeated Ohio Athletic Conference and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University, 80-59,  in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center. The win was BW's third straight.
 
With its win, BW is 8-6 overall and 3-4 in the OAC and has beaten JCU three straight times to increase its all-time series advantage to 44-21 overall. With its loss, JCU is 9-5 overall and 2-4 in the OAC and lost for the second straight time.
 
In addition to Carpenter for BW, junior All-OAC guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) scored seven points and had a team-high seven rebounds.  Junior forwards Missy Spahar and Hillary Liwosz led the Blue Streaks with 13 points apiece and junior guard Allie Lustig had 11.
 
BW got off to an early, 3-0 lead at the 18:31 mark when senior four-year starting point guard Rachel Rossman (Olmsted Falls) made a three-pointer. JCU came right back with four straight points to take a 4-3 lead before a Lairson triple gave the Yellow Jackets a 6-4 lead with 17:10 left.

After the teams traded four straight three-pointers with the last by BW sophomore guard Audrey Smolik (Strongsville) that gave the Jackets a 12-10 advantage with 15:00 left. BW kept its run going as it scored the next six points, including four by junior forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) and the last by freshman Allyson Helleis (Rocky River), to lead 18-10 with 12:40 left.

Following a triple by JCU's Spahar, her second of the game, at 12:12 end that run, the Yellow Jackets went on another  7-0 run to lead 25-13 with 10:46 remaining in the first half. After a JCU hoop made it 25-15, freshman Alissa Munro (Mansfield/ Lexington) and Rossman canned back-to-back treys and BW led 31-15 with 6:42 left.

JCU scored four straight to cut the deficit to 31-19, but BW outscored the Blue Streaks 13-10 the remainder of the stanza to lead 44-29 at the intermission. The keys to BW's first half assault was making 8-of-12 three-pointers for 66.7 percent shooting, outrebounding JCU, 21-18, and only committing five turnovers.

JCU began the second half with a three-pointer from Lustig to close the BW lead to 44-32, but the Yellow Jackets outscored the Blue Streaks 11-1, including three straight three-pointers by Carpenter in a one-minute span to build a 22-point bulge at 55-33 with 14:40 left.

The largest BW lead of the game was 25 points on two separate occasions as freshman center Sam Hamar (Galion) came off the bench to can a jumper at 12:32 for a 59-34 lead. Then after a JCU hoop, Hamar again canned a jumper for a 61-36 advantage with 12:07 left.

The BW women and men next play in an OAC doubleheader this Saturday, January 12 at Muskingum University. The women tipoff at 2:00 p.m. and the men play at 4:00 p.m. On Saturday, January 19, the BW men and women will host an OAC doubleheader that will be televised by SportsTime Ohio. The women's game is at 2:00 p.m. and is the Fourth Annual "Take a Kid to the Game" Day.  The men tipoff at 4:00 p.m.

With her four assists today, Rossman now has 316 career assists and ranks fifth all-time in BW school history. Tonight, she surpassed Shannon Anderson (1994-98), who had 313 in her career, and BW Hall of Famer Debbie Crider (1982-87), who had 315 career assists. Rossman also started her 94th straight game tonight. In addition and with her victory today, 23-year BW Head Coach Cheri Harrer's record improved to 458-169. Harrer is the second winningest women's coach in OAC history.
  
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.