JCU men, women ready for openers in OAC tournament

The John Carroll University women’s and men’s teams begin their quests for Ohio Athletic Conference tournament titles on Feb. 19.

Having earned the No. 1 seed in the women’s tournament by claiming the first outright OAC regular-season title in the program’s 48-year history, the JCU women host No. 8 Wilmington (11-14, 6-12) at DeCarlo Varsity Center. Tipoff is 7 p.m.

Led by sophomore forward and former Mentor High School standout Nicole Heffington (15.3 points), the JCU women finished 19-6 overall and 15-3 in the OAC. The Blue Streaks confounded the OAC preseason poll that had them pegged to finish in sixth place.

The reverse happened to the JCU men.

Picked to finish first in the preseason poll after claiming the OAC regular season and tournament titles last year, the Blue Streaks finished 12-13 overall and 8-10 in the OAC to earn the No. 6 seed.

Junior guard Jimmy Berger (16.6 points) and the Blue Streaks will be at No. Marietta (20-9, 14-3 OAC) in the quarterfinals. Tipoff is 8 p.m.

Both of the JCU teams come into the tournament in good form.

The women have won five straight games and eight of their last 10. They prevailed in both regularseason contests against Wilmington, 56-45 in Wilmington on Feb. 15 and 86-59 at home on Jan. 5.

Finishing the regular season with thee straight wins, the JCU men dropped both regular-season games against Marietta, 82-75 at DeCarlo Varsity center on Dec. 1 and 108-92 in Marietta on Jan. 26.

Semifinal games in the women’s and men’s tournaments are on Feb. 21. Winners of both tournaments receive automatic bids to the NCAA Division III tournament.