BEREA, Ohio – Sophomore guard Alissa Munro (Mansfield/Lexington) scored a career-high 26 points as the Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team defeated Cleveland cross-town rival, 16th-ranked and previously undefeated John Carroll University, 97-85, in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center. 

 

BW (11-3, 6-1 OAC), who now leads the OAC race, has won five straight games against John Carroll, (11-1, 6-1 OAC).  The Yellow Jackets also have won 40 of the last 44 meetings versus the Blue Streaks, and own a 46-21 all-time series advantage.

 

The keys to the BW victory was shooting 48.5 percent from the field (32-66), including a season-best 63.2% from the three-point land (12-19) and holding John Carroll to 39.2% from the field and 25% from three.  The 97 points scored by the Yellow Jackets was a season-best.

 

In addition to Munro for BW, senior All-OAC forward Jessica Lairson (Louisville) scored season-high 23 points and junior guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic) added 15.  Sophomore center Sam Hamar (Galion) grabbed a career-best and game-high tying 12 rebounds.

 

The Blue Streaks were led by senior forward Missy Spahar with a game-best 36 points and a grabbed a game-high tying 12 rebounds.  Junior guard Beth Switzler tallied 14, junior guard Emily Taylor added 11 and sophomore guard Daniella Rice contributed 10.

 

John Carroll opened the game on a 7-2 run when Spahar converted the traditional three-point play with 18:28 left to play, The Yellow Jackets responded with a 9-4 run to tie the game at 11-11 when Mangas buried a trey at 16:18. 

 

The game would be tied on two more occasions with the last coming at 23-23 with 12:27 remaining before the Blue Streaks responded with a 10-2 run to take a 33-25 lead on a three-pointer by Rice at the 9:29 mark.

 

BW would go on 14-4 run to tie the game at 37-37 on a jumper by sophomore guard Janaya Feaster (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) with 4:12 remaining in the opening period.  The Jackets would outscore John Carroll 17-13 over the remainder of the first half and led 55-50 at the intermission.

 

The Blue Streaks opened the second half on 7-2 run to tie the game at 57-57 on a jumper by Taylor with 18:39 remaining.  After the game was tied at 59-59, BW responded with a 16-4 run to take a 75-63 lead on a layup by senior center Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/Columbian) at the 11:51 mark.

 

The Yellow Jackets pushed their lead to 12 points on three occasions with the last coming at 81-69 on a layup by Hamar with 9:42 to play.  John Carroll would not overcome the BW run as it came no closer than six points at 81-75 on a layup by Spahar at 4:25. 

 

The Yellow Jackets outscored the Blue Streaks 16-10 over the remainder of the game to secure the win.

 

BW is back in action on Saturday, January 18 when it travels to New Concord to play Muskingum University in OAC game in the Muskingum HPER Center at 3 p.m.  The next home game is on Saturday, January 25 when the Yellow Jackets host Capital University at 3 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.