With eight games remaining before Ohio Athletic Conference tournament play, the John Carroll Blue Streaks faced a tough challenge playing in Alliance on Wednesday night as they looked to maintain their two-game lead in the OAC standings.

Thanks to a large second quarter run, the Blue Streaks were able to leave with a statement win as John Carroll defeated Mount Union, 83-71.

JCU (13-5, 9-2 OAC) still holds a two-game lead over Baldwin Wallace, Capital and Otterbein -- all of whom are 7-4 in league play.

Dani Carlson paced the offense for the Blue Streaks, scoring a career-high 21 points on 7-9 shooting from the field, including 3-4 from behind the arc. Other Blue Streaks who scored in double digits were Nicole Heffington with 14 points, Sarah Sprecher  with 12, and Olivia Nagy with 12.

Mount Union (13-5, 6-5) was led by Rachel Tinkey who scored 21 points and Tori Rappach who scored 15 points.

The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair as neither team had more than a five-point advantage.  However, John Carroll was able to gain the upper hand at the end of the quarter as Nagy made a layup, capping a close to the quarter by scoring five of John Carroll's last seven points. That effort gave the Blue Streaks a 20-18 advantage heading into the second quarter.  

The second quarter started the same as the first with both teams trading baskets up to the five-minute mark.  The Blue Streaks, however, would settle in on offense and lock down on defense, going on a 20-2 run to break the game wide open.  The Blue Streaks ended the half on back-to-back three pointers by Sarah Sprecher to take a commanding 48-29 lead over the Purple Raiders.

Carlson scored 16 points of her 21 points in the opening half, making 5-6 from the field, including all three of her three point shots and shooting 3-4 from the free throw line. Sprecher contributed 8 points on 3-4 shooting, including 2-3 from behind the arc.

Nagy also contributed eight points and continued her strong play on the inside with three rebounds and three blocks. Kahrin Spear also did a good job orchestrating the Blue Streaks offense as she had seven assists in the first half to aid in the Blue Streaks effort.

John Carroll shot 61.5% from the field, including 60% on three pointers, while holding the Purple Raiders to 35.5% shooting from the field and 27.3% on three pointers.

John Carroll started the second half looking to increase the lead and started strong by building the lead to as much as 26 points.  However, the Purple Raiders refused to go away as they closed the quarter on a 13-2 run to make the score 68-53 heading into the final ten minutes of regulation.

Mount Union would continue to fight its way back, and at one juncture, the hosts would cut the Blue Streaks lead to single digits for the first time since the second quarter. Tinkey completed a traditional three-point play to make the score 78-69 with 2:20 remaining.

Putting all the drama to rest, Heffington made a running layup with 1:40 left to push the Blue Streaks' lead back to double digits, where it would remain for the duration of the contest.

For the game, John Carroll shot 52.6% from the field and 36.8% from three while holding Mount Union to 40.6% from the field and 32% from three.

Coupled with a 61-58 win over the Purple Raiders on December 5, the Blue Streaks completed a regular season sweep of Mount Union for just the eighth time since joining the OAC in 1989, and for the first time since 2014-15.
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John Carroll will return home on Saturday, January 26 to take on Marietta College at 3 PM.  The Pioneers were one of the two teams to beat the Blue Streaks int he first half of the OAC schedule, 81-65, in Marietta on December 1. The Blue Streaks are 9-1 in conference play since that loss.