John Carroll Pulls Away From Manchester

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The John Carroll Blue Streaks took control of a back-and-forth game late in the first half and slowly pulled away for a 72-61 victory over Manchester in the first round of the 2007 Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic, hosted by Wittenberg University.

The Blue Streaks improved to 3-5 on the season, while Manchester dropped to 6-4. John Carroll advanced to Saturday's championship game against the winner of the Wittenberg vs. Carnegie Mellon semifinal game, while Manchester will compete in the consolation game. Tip times are 12:30 p.m. for the consolation game and 5:30 p.m. for the championship game.

Both teams had their offensive struggles through the first 13 minutes of the first half before John Carroll heated up, starting with a three-pointer by Lana Kiko that broke a 17-17 tie. The Blue Streaks hit 7-of-15 shots in the final seven minutes to take a 33-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.

That set the stage for a solid second half as John Carroll slowly pulled away. The Blue Streaks shot 47 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes to outscore Manchester 39-31. John Carroll led by as many as 17 points after a Rachael Price jumper with 9:15 remaining.

John Carroll was paced offensively by Caitlin Sureck, who scored 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting. She was joined in double figures by Whitney Hamilton with 15 points, Price with 12 and Erin Zahariev with 10. Lianna Jennings came off the bench to contribute nine points and a game-high nine rebounds as well.

Manchester was paced by Sarah Bose, who led all scorers with 20 points and eight steals, one short of the tournament record set by Adrian's Karen Baird in 1992 against Bethany. Kelley Meiklejohn added 17 points.