John Carroll entered the second half of play hopeful that their 16 point lead would be enough.

Rather than rely on hope, John Carroll went out and made sure the lead would hold with an impressive third quarter effort that propelled the Blue Streaks to an 83-57 win over visiting Muskingum University Friday night at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.

JCU went 7-11 from the field in the third quarter, including 4-6 from three-point range, to quell any thought of a comeback after the Fighting Muskies opened up the period with the first five points. John Carroll would outscore Muskingum, 20-10, over the final 7:28 of the quarter.

The Blue Streaks would cruise to their 12th victory of the season from there.

In an effort to bounce back from their Wednesday night loss against cross-town rival Baldwin Wallace, John Carroll roared out of the gate by building a 12-0 lead. Making their first five three-pointers in the game, John Carroll took control of the competition early and led 21-9 with 3:05 remaining in the opening ten minutes.

To their credit, the Muskies hung around and made some three-point shots of their own. By the end of the quarter, the John Carroll lead was down to seven points at 23-16.

Once again, John Carroll started a quarter strong, this time in the second. A 16-4 burst over the first six-plus minutes netted JCU a 39-30 lead.  By halftime, the Blue Streaks were leading 44-28 over Muskingum.

In the first half, Nicole Heffington paced the Blue Streaks with nine points, followed by Sarah Sprecher and Shmoo Pryor with eight points each. On defense, Abby Adler grabbed five rebounds, followed by Heffington and Olivia Nagy with four each.

John Carroll (12-5, 8-2 in the OAC) stayed in sole possession of first place in the league standings with tonight's win. As a team, the Blue Streaks shot 27-56 (.482) from the field and 11-23 (.478) from long range.

Heffington, the league's second best scorer, led all players with 19 points, making 8-10 from the field, including 2-2 from three-point range. Sprecher, who was 3-4 from beyond the arc, and Pryor followed closely with 11 points each. Chelbi Graham added ten as ten different players got into the scorebook for the Blue & Gold.

Muskingum (1-16, 0-10 OAC) got a team-high nine points from Sam Fillaggi, who also led the Muskies in rebounds with eight. 

JCU won the rebounding battle, 46-37.

The Blue Streaks will travel to Alliance, Ohio, on Wednesday, January 23rd, for a rivalry matchup against the Purple Raiders of Mount Union.