Any worries about a post-holiday letdown for the John Carroll women's basketball team were alleviated quickly on Sunday afternoon.

In fact, quite the opposite occured, as the Blue Streaks scored the game's first 29 points to roll to an 85-32 victory over Alfred State College at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center.

The 32 points by the visiting Pioneers marked the lowest scoring total for a Blue Streaks opponent since John Carroll earned a 76-32 victory over Waynesburg on December 28, 1996, in the opening round of a tournament at Wittenberg University.

The Blue Streaks were led by Katlyn Spahar and Shmoo Pryor with 19 and 13 points, respectively. A total of 14 Blue Streaks saw minutes in the win.

John Carroll showed its dominance on both ends of the court, particularly on defense. The defense forced 26 turnovers, and outrebounded the Pioneers on the defensive glass, 36-27. Freshman Bri Pittenger led all players in the game with nine rebounds.

"It was nice to see our pace create transition opportunities," said John Carroll head coach Kelly Morrone. "Our offense started rolling when we showed urgency on defense early."

The Pioneers they were led by Allison Danielak's eight points and six rebounds.

The first quarter was all Blue Streaks, as the hosts outscored Alfred State 25-0 in the quarter. John Carroll had eight different players score and recorded five assists in the period.

JCU upped the lead to 29-0 before a pair of Danielak free throws put the Pioneers on the board with 9:23 to play in the second quarter. Breana Gleaton notched the first field goal at the 7:42 mark.

The Blue Streaks led by as many as 39 before settling on a 46-11 halftime lead. In the first half, freshman Chelbi Graham was all over the court for John Carroll as she had three points, four rebounds, one assist, one block and two steals. As a team, the Blue Streaks totaled eight steals in the opening half.

John Carroll held Alfred State to 3-33 (.091) shooting from the field in the first half, and 12-63 (.190) for the game in posting its largest margin of victory since a 94-39 win at Oberlin on November 25, 2008.
 

"The nice thing is that [these players] aren't satisfied," remarked Morrone after the game. "There were some undisciplined moments that we can learn from. They're setting the bar for themselves very high."