Granville, Ohio - DePauw capped off a run that included wins over three top-10 teams in the last 11 days with a 64-59 victory over 10th-ranked John Carroll in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship game. DePauw improved to 19-9, while the Blue Streaks dropped to 21-6.

The Tigers, playing in their 14th NCAC Tournament, set a conference record with their 10th tournament title. DePauw improved its record in NCAC Tournament championship games to 10-0.

With the title, the Tigers have earned automatic qualification into the NCAA Division III Championship for the 25th time in program history. The full bracket will be announced on NCAA.com on Monday, March 2, at 2:30 p.m.

The game went back-and-forth early before John Carroll went on a 10-0 run to take a 16-6 lead. The Tigers closed the opening period with six straight to cut the deficit to 16-12.

The Blue Steaks scored first in the second quarter, but DePauw rattled off six straight to even the score at 18-18. Riley Mont's jumper and 3-pointer put DePauw ahead, 27-23, and the Tigers took a 31-26 lead into the halftime following Tori Allen's three-point play in the final second.

John Carroll evened the score with five straight points in the opening two minutes of the third, but the Tigers countered with five as Diana Burgher hit a jumper and Campbell Schrank knocked in a three.

The Tigers pushed the lead to 10 later in the third as Schrank hit a pair of buckets before Bren Hill's layup made it 48-38 with 2:07 remaining. Brooke Laub's 3-pointer with 1:45 left in the third cut the DePauw lead to 48-41.

DePauw again extended the lead to 10 after Allen's 3-pointer with 7:21 left in the game, but John Carroll started to chip away at the Tigers' lead. Ava Ryncarz hit two free throws and Carly Perusek made one before Perusek scored a bucket and Ryncarz knocked in two more charity tosses to cut the Tigers' lead to 57-54 with 3:36 left.

Allen made 1-of-2 free throws at the 2:33 mark to stop the run. The teams exchanged misses before Mont's steal gave the Tigers the ball with just over one minute remaining. Mont's layup with 58 seconds left pushed DePauw's lead to 60-54 and Allen's two free throws with 36 seconds left extended it to eight. 

Gracie Semptimphelter's layup followed and, after the Tigers were unable to convert two free throws, Perusek buried a three to trim the DePauw lead to 62-59 with 18 seconds left. Allen nailed two free throws with 16 seconds remaining and a John Carroll late 3-pointer was off the mark.

Mont, the Nan Nichols Award winner as the tournament MVP, led DePauw with 16 points, while Allen followed with 13 and a team-high four assists. Schrank finished with 12 and Burgher 10. Olivia Hart, an all-tournament team selection, grabbed 10 rebounds.

Ryncarz led John Carroll with 16 points with Semptimphelter following with 10 and a team-high eight rebounds. Perusek and Kylie McKenney each dished out three assists. Semptimphelter and Perusek earned spots on the all-tournament team as did Denison's Ada Taute and Ohio Wesleyan's Kendall Dieringer.

DePauw shot 42.6 percent from the field to John Carroll's 38.6 percent and the Tigers held a 41-32 rebounding edge for a 14-9 lead in second-chance points. The Tigers totaled 10 turnovers to the Blue Streaks' six.