Box Score After winning just 23 games in the previous two seasons, the John Carroll University women's basketball program changed direction by hiring a rookie head coach.

Less than eight months after being hired, Kelly Morrone has already made history by guiding the Blue Streaks to their first 11-0 start in program history.

John Carroll reached that record win by dispatching of Wilmington College, 72-59, Saturday afternoon at the DeCarlo Varsity Center. JCU, which had never before beaten  Wilmington team by a double-digit margin, led 71-46 with 5:11 to play before pulling its regulars.

"Wilmington is a good team, and a good team is going to make runs," said Morrone. "But we are a good team, too, and right now we are finding ways to win. We're just piggybacking on our senior captains."

JCU established the game tempo early, jumping out to a 12-6 lead before forcing a Wilmington timeout. Out of the timeout, the Blue Streaks continued to extend their lead, pushing their lead to 13 by a score of 28-15.

However, the Quakers refused to simply roll over. Wilmington trimmed the lead to single digits, 33-24, on a fast break layup from Brittaney Jefferson with less than three minutes remaining before half.

The Blue Streaks went into halftime with a 37-26 lead, in large part due to a total team effort. Senior Missy Spahar had nine points and seven rebounds at halftime and senior Allie Lustig dished out six assists while both played for the entire first half.

In the second half, neither team really took control of the game, and the Quakers continued to hang around. A 3-pointer from Wilmington's Hannah Haeseker cut the deficit to just eight, 48-40, and forced a JCU timeout with 12:46 remaining.

The Blue Streaks' response was to use a pair of Beth Switzler free throws and a steal-turned-layup from Lustig to ignite a 23-6 run over the next seven minutes that iced the game. The signature play of the game was authored by the elder Spahar. After the Quakers' Ashley Andracki picked up a steal, Spahar chased Andracki down on the fast break and swatted the layup attempt to thwart the potential momentum changer.

John Carroll not only improved to 11-0 overall for the first time in program history, but is 6-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play for the first time since joining the league in 1989-90.

We try to control what we can control, and be as prepared as we possibly can be," said Morrone. "We want our practices to be the same every day; as challenging as we can possibly make them. Game day is really about our kids and what they're doing out on the court. The team's success is because of our internal leadership, our internal core is really taking charge."

The Blue Streaks, which won their seventh consecutive home game, was paced by 15 points from Switzler, 14 from Missy Spahar and 13 from Emily Taylor. Missy Spahar picked up her seventh double double of the season with ten rebounds.

Allie Lustig picked up a season-high eight assists, and matched Daniellea Rice for the team lead with three steals. JCU has double figure steal totals as a team in every game this season.

Wilmington, which fell to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in the OAC, was led by Makenzie Wippel's 13 points. The Quakers were just 19-64 (.297) from the field.