John Carroll University’s women’s basketball team fell to the conference champion Marietta Pioneers by a score of 81–65 on Saturday, Dec. 1. In their first conference match of the season, the women moved to .500 with a 3–3 record.

The Blue Streaks held their own in the first quarter of action in Marietta, Ohio. Trailing by just four points heading into the second quarter, the team was confident in their play. Nonetheless, the Blue Streaks proceeded to score only a combined 28 points in the second and third quarters, compared to Marietta’s 42.

Down 11 points coming into the second half of action, the Blue Streaks fell victim to a 13–1 run by the Pioneers. That hot streak nearly sealed the fate of the game between the Blue and Gold and Marietta. JCU outscored the Pioneers 18–16 in the final quarter of play, but the game was well in the Pioneers’ favor.

Senior Kahrin Spear led the way for the Blue Streaks, knocking in 13 points and four assists. Sophomore Nicole Heffington contributed 11 points and five rebounds, while senior Chelbi Graham added six points and five rebounds of her own to the JCU effort.

Historically, John Carroll has dominated Marietta. Winning 44 of the teams’ 77 meetings, the Blue Streaks have fared well in the historical battle. Twenty-eight of those 44 wins for John Carroll have come when playing at home, and the Blue Streaks even had a 12-game win streak against Marietta that went from 2006 through 2011.

Nonetheless, that historical dominance has not continued of late. The Pioneers have taken the last five meetings between the two teams, four of which were away. In the matchup, John Carroll has struggled against Marietta when playing on their home turf, achieving a 16–21 record playing away.

The next two weeks of action will be crucial for the Blue Streaks as they will face three more conference opponents in the 10-day stand.

John Carroll will host the University of Mount Union and Ohio Northern University at home, then travel to New Concord, Ohio, to take on the Fightin’ Muskies of Muskingum University.

The Blue Streaks were able to pull out close wins in their last matches against Ohio Northern and Muskingum, but have not beaten Mount Union since John Carroll came out victorious in a double overtime thriller in January 2017.