Since head coach Kelly Morrone arrived on the scene, the John Carroll women's basketball team has not lost a season opener.

That trend continued Wednesday evening in Pittsburgh, as John Carroll rolled to a 68-59 victory over LaRoche College.

It was not quite wire-to-wire, but the Blue Streaks held the lead for most of the game.

An inspired start had JCU ahead 11-2 in the opening six minutes, an advantage that the visitors would stretch to as many as 13 points. When Kahrin Spear canned two free throws at the 7:42 mark of the second quarter, the Blue Streaks led 24-11.

The host squad would charge back, and cut the John Carroll lead to 30-27 by halftime.

Jenna Cole made back-to-back lay-ups early in the third quarter to give the Red Hawks their first lead of the contest at 35-32 at the 6:07 mark. John Carroll responded by closing out the period on a 15-2 run. Keyed by five points by Dani Carlson and three pointers by Sarah Sprecher and Spear, John Carroll took a 47-37 lead into the final quarter.

LaRoche never got closer than six the rest of the way.

Chelbi Graham led the way with 18 points for John Carroll (1-0), which shot 21-43 (.488) from the floor for the game. Nicole Heffington scored 15 in her collegiate debut , and pulled down a team-high ten rebounds to complete her first collegiate double double. Spear added 11 points and was 6-6 from the free throw line.

John Carroll won the rebound battle, 35-33.