No opponent can be taken for granted, especially when facing them for the second time in a season.  The John Carroll Blue Streaks witnessed this first hand as they needed a 17-3 run in the final five minutes of the game to earn a 67-63 win against the visiting Mount Union Purple Raiders Wednesday night at the DeCarlo Varsity Center.
.
The visitors came into the game looking to get an upset win on the Blue Streaks home court, a place John Carroll has not lost in 21 games prior to tonight, and caught the Blue Streaks off guard, maintaining pace with the Blue Streaks through the majority of the game.  

"Mount Union came out with their hair on fire and ready to compete...I love their tenacity and the way that their coach is 'go for it' and they did and it worked for them," said John Carroll head coach Kelly Morrone after an excruciating 40 minute test.

The Blue Streaks, however, struck first, as Abby Adler scored five straight points to start the game.  A 6-0 run gave Mount Union a brief lead as John Carroll was able to respond quickly, going on an 11-0 run that forced a timeout from the visitors just past the six minute mark. 

Coming out of the timeout, the Blue Streaks and Purple Raiders traded buckets until a late 5-0 run from Mount Union made the score 20-13 at the end of the first quarter.

Mount stretched their run to 8-0 until a Kaelyn Underwood layup ended the run two minutes into the quarter.  Both teams proceeded to trade buckets for the next few minutes, the Blue Streaks maintaining the lead but unable to pull away.  Mount Union finally broke the tie, going on a 7-0 run to take the lead once again, until Nicole Heffington scored on a layup with 10 seconds left to send both teams into the locker room tied at 30-30.

At the half, Adler led the way for the Blue Streaks, scoring seven points on 3-7 shooting from the field.  Olivia Nagy and Heffington were tied for second as each had six points through the first two quarters. John Carroll shot 50% from the field while holding Mount Union to 39.3% shooting.

Mount Union came out of the locker room strong, going on an 8-0 run in the first two minutes of the quarter.  John Carroll was able to respond once again though, going on a 9-0 to retake the lead. Neither team was able to pull away, so at the end of the third quarter, the score was tied once again, 47-47.

Once again, it was Mount Union who came out strong at the start of the quarter, going on a 13-3 run to take a 10 point lead with five minutes remaining in regulation.  

Yet, John Carroll did not panic, as Coach Morrone allowed her team to work their way back into the game. 

"These kids have played a lot of minutes together...I trust them, I trust them with the ball, I trust them to make good decisions," said Morrone.

When Corenna Maynard buried Mount Union's ninth three-pointer of the game to make the score 63-55 with 3:10 to play, John Carroll needed an answer.

It came from junior Gabriella Gevaudan, who answered back with a three of her own 20 seconds later to cut the Mount Lead to 63-58. That ignited a 12-0 run by the Blue Streaks that closed out the game in the final three minutes.

"I was feeling confident, it was a big game, and I had to make some big plays," said Gevaudan of her shot.

Gevaudan would show up once again in the closing seconds. Following a missed jumper by Purple Raider Madison Hensley,  the Blue Streaks were finally able to get on the fast break as Gevaudan found Adler, who faked out her defender to make the go ahead layup with only 13.5 seconds left in regulation, putting the Blue Streaks up by one. 

A Nagy block on the Purple Raiders following possession - her eighth of the night - would force Mount Union to start fouling Dani Carlson, who made three of four free throws in the final five seconds to seal the 67-63 win for the Blue Streaks.

John Carroll (16-2, 10-1 OAC) was led by Nagy, who had another double-double in a strong performance, scoring a team-high 15 points while grabbing a team-best 13 rebounds to go along with those eight blocks.  Gevaudan was perfect from the field, as she tied for second on the team by scoring 13 points on 4-4 shooting from the field and hitting both of her three pointers as well as her only two free throw attempts. Adler also had 13 points  while Heffington had 12 points to go along with eight rebounds.  

The Blue Streaks shot 48.9% from the field along with 28.6% from outside while holding the Purple Raiders to 34.8% shooting from the field, but allowing 40.9% from three.  The win also extends John Carroll's home winning streak to 22 games, including 20 against OAC opponents.

Hensley and Elena Rauhe each had 16 points to lead Mount Union (10-8, 4-7 OAC), who forced 24 turnovers from the Blue Streaks, 14 of which were in the first half.

John Carroll next game will be in Marietta as the Blue Streaks travel to take on the Pioneers on Saturday, February 1st.  Tip off is at 3:00 p.m.. The Blue Streaks won the first meeting between the two, 70-48, at home on December 7th.