The basketball axiom of "live by the three, die by the three" played itself out Saturday afternoon at the DeCarlo Varsity Center, as the visiting Case Western Reserve Spartans rode 11 three-pointers to down host John Carroll, 80-64.

The Spartans were a sizzling 6-14 (.429) from long range in the first half to build a 42-27 lead, and wound up shooting 11-27 (.407) beyond the arc for the game.

Neither team could find the basket in the early going, The teams were deadlocked at 4-4 after the first seven minutes of play.

A traditional three-point play followed by three-point field goals by Case over a span of 75 seconds gave the visitors the lead for good.

John Carroll trailed 19-8 after one period.

The Blue Streaks could not get closer than nine points at any juncture of the second quarter.

The lone quarter John Carroll had the upper hand was the fourth, when the Blue Streaks outscored the Spartans, 18-12, but it was not enough to overcome the large deficit built over the first 30 minutes.

Nicole Heffington has 12 points and nine rebounds, while Chelbi Graham added eight points and nine boards to lead JCU, which dropped its first home opener in head coach Kelly Morrone's five seasons. Whereas Case thrived with the long ball, JCU was just 4-18 (.222) from three-point land.

Bri Pittinger (8) and Abby Adler (7) also had solid games for JCU, which slipped to 1-1.

Hillary Hellman, who scored 31 in a win over John Carroll last year, scored a team-high 21 points for Case Western Reserve, which improved to 1-1.