Box Score

 

A recharged John Carroll women's basketball team took control early on and cruised to an 85-64 victory over the Marietta College Pioneers Saturday afternoon at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

 

JCU had scuffled in its last game, a 66-49 defeat at the hands of Heidelberg at home Wednesday in which it posted a season-low point total and only scored 17 of those points in the second half.

On Saturday afternoon, the Blue Streaks hit on all cylinders from start to finish.

 

Marietta junior Amanda Carraher hit a three-pointer at 18:19 in the first period to give the Pioneers a 3-2 lead. That would be Marietta's only advantage of the game, as the Pioneers would go scoreless for the next five minutes. In the meantime, Whitney Hamilton and Lianna Jennings chipped in with four points apiece and Rachael Price hit a three pointer as the Blue Streaks built a 15-3 lead with 13:38 to play in the opening half.

 

John Carroll led by as many as 14 points in the opening half, but Marietta attempted to chip away at its deficit. Pioneers senior guard Justine Pagenhardt, who had 13 points in the first half, cut the JCU lead to seven points on three different ocacsions -- the last of which was 30-23 with 3:08 left.

 

With just under three minutes left in the first period, Jennings and Price teamed up for the final six points for John Carroll to help make the score 36-24 in favor of the Blue Streaks at the intermission.

 

John Carroll started hot in the second half with an instant three-pointer by Price followed by another trey from Jennings to take an 18-point lead. 

The margin never fell under 16 points the rest of the way as John Carroll won for the sixth time in its last seven games.

 

For John Carroll (8-6, 3-4 OAC), Jennings ended the game by matching her career-high 21 points. She also amassed seven assists, four steals, five rebounds and one block. Price had 15 points and matched Jennings with a game-high seven assists. Caitlin Sureck finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and a game-high four blocks.

 

A total of 17 Blue Streaks took the court against Marietta and 12 of them found their way into the scoring column, contributing to a 36-70 (.514) shooting effort from the field and an 8-16 (.500) day from beyond the arc.

 

For Marietta (3-10, 0-7 OAC), Pagenhardt finished with a game-high 22 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and a steal. She began the day as the leading scorer in the Ohio Athletic Conference with an 18.2 scoring average. Jamie Beckett had 12 points and seven rebounds.