Lairson Scores Career-High 26 To Help B-W Win Sixth Straight, 78-58 Against John Carroll On SportsTime Ohio

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, OHIO  – Sophomore guard Jessica Lairson (Louisville) scored a career-high 26 points as the Baldwin-Wallace women's basketball team defeated John Carroll University, 78-58, tonight (Wednesday, February 8, 2012) in an Ohio Athletic Conference game in the DeCarlo Varsity Center. The game will air on regional cable network SportsTime Ohio tonight at 11:00 p.m. and Thursday, February 9 at 5:00 a.m.

With the victory, the Yellow Jackets won their sixth straight game to improve to 15-7 overall and 10-5 in the OAC while the Blue Streaks fell to 7-14 overall and 4-11 in the OAC.  

In addition to Lairson for B-W, freshman guard Shari Mangas (Leipsic) recorded 11 points and a game and career-high five assists,  Senior forward Catherine Spisak (Sandusky/St. Mary's Central Catholic) grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.  John Carroll was led by Missy Spahar with 12 points and Heidi Mervar contributed 10,

The Yellow Jackets  opened the scoring, 2-0, when Lairson hit a jumper at the 19:41 mark. B-W added to its lead, 4-0, when Lairson drove to the hoop for a layup at 17:47. Sophomore forward Natalia Simovic (Seven Hills/Normandy) added to the lead, 6-0, offensive rebound put-back.

John Carroll got on the board when Spahar split a pair of free throws making the score 6-1 at the 16:22 mark. The Yellow Jackets quickly responded with a pair of jumpers by Mangas and sophomore forward Lexi Rohrbach (Tiffin/ Columbian) making the score 10-1 with 15:15 on the clock.

John Carroll would go on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to four points, 16-12, on back-to-back buckets by Heidi Mervar and Emilee Ritchie at 10:47. The run was snapped by junior All-OAC forward Jessica Carpenter (North Canton /Hoover) as she drove the lane for a layup.  B-W then would go on 6-0 run to push it leas back to 10 points, 24-14,at the 8:41 mark.

The Yellow Jackets would close out the first half by outscoring the Blue Streaks,17-6 run, to take a 45-24 lead into the intermission.

In the second half, B-W would extend its lead to as many as 28 points on a three-pointer by freshman guard Sharlee Bailey (Wadsworth) with 2:13 left in the game. John Carroll would use a 10-0 run to cut the lead down to 13 points, 47-34, on a jumper by Spahar. The Blue Streaks would not come any closer in the second half.

The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Saturday, February 11 when they will travel to Bexley to play Capital University in an OAC game in the Capital Center at 3:00 p.m.  Fans can listen to the game live on WBWC, 88.3 FM, or via the internet at www.wbwc.com.  The pregame show will start 15 minutes prior to tipoff. The final regular season home game is on Wednesday, February 15 when B-W hosts OAC leading and No. 7-ranked (www.D3hoops.com national poll) University of Mount Union in the Ursprung Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m.

Media and fans are reminded that B-W will televise its February 18 women's and men's basketball doubleheader versus Ohio Northern University on SportsTime Ohio. The women's game will be shown on STO on February 18 at 11:00 p.m. and again on February 19 at both 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.  B-W has broadcast more of its athletics events on regional cable TV than any other Division III school.

FOR MORE B-W 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 B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.