Box Score After earning a hard-fought 3-point halftime lead the No. 16/20 John Carroll University women's basketball team never looked back and raced out to a monster second half on Saturday afternoon in Marietta.

Leading 46-43 at the half, the Blue and Gold outscored the Pioneers 42-22 over the final 20 minutes to take the 88-65 decision. John Carroll improved to 12-1, 7-1 OAC while Marietta fell to 8-7, 2-6 OAC.

John Carroll ripped off a 23-0 run midway through the second half to open up a 25-point lead.

Marietta's Lindsey Eckstein cut JCU's lead to two with 13:38 remaining in the game but the Pioneers would not score for the next 9:22 as Marietta would miss their next 14 shots from the field.

"We reminded ourselves today of what is at the core of our identity, defense, defense and rebounding," said head coach Kelly Morrone. "Taking care of the defensive end and the boards created offense for us. I could single out almost every player with a highlight moment, but it's not the individual moments that we are all proud of. We are recharged and focusing on what has made us successful."

The Pioneers led for most of the first half. Missy Spahar's 3-pointer gave the Blue and Gold their first lead since the opening minute midway through the opening stanza. A pair of 3-pointers by Marietta's Tori Dixon over the next two minutes swung the lead back in favor of the Pioneers.

Marietta would stay in control until Spahar's free throw with 1:59 remaining in the half put John Carroll back on top. Emily Taylor's 3-pointer with seven seconds in the first half gave JCU the lead for good.

Junior Beth Switzler recorded her first double-double of the season finishing with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Joining Switzler in double figures were Spahar (28), Allie Lustig (13) and Daniella Rice (10). Lustig narrowly missed out on a double-double finishing with eight assists.

The Blue Streaks shot a season-best 58.3 percent from the floor on the afternoon helped in large part by Spahar and Switzler. The duo combined to shoot 19 for 25 on the afternoon.

As a team the Blue and Gold connected on 11 3-pointers, the most in a game since Feb. 5, 2011.

Defensively, JCU clamped down in the second half to hold Marietta to 26.7 percent from the field after the Pioneers shot 56.7 percent in the first half.

John Carroll returns home to take on Otterbein on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m.