Two seasons ago, the John Carroll University women’s basketball team finished the year 8-18 and were undergoing a necessary rebuild of the program. No one could have predicted the outcome of a dreadful losing season, especially when the result made history last year and with the current pace of play,  history is well on its way to be rewritten again

Fast forward to January of 2020. Kelly Morrone led Blue Streaks have an outright Ohio Athletic Conference regular season championship and the program’s first-ever OAC Tournament Championship to look back on and are now on pace to have their best season in program history.

“It was daunting, to say the least, to continue the development and motivation to see where we could go,” Morrone told The Carroll News. “I do not know if any of us would have said the following year we would be able to pull off what we did. With 22 wins and the outright OAC championship and the tournament championship. That was not something we were planning for. Did we think we could? For sure. But that was a really quick turnaround.

“We went from hunting, hunting again, now to being the hunted.”

Back in 1976-77, the Blue and Gold only lost two games in just their seventh season after being recognized as a varsity sport at JCU. For a program startup to find success so early on was possible but now always plausible. However, there is an asterisk. The difference is, there were only 14 games played in that season 43 years ago — now there are 25 games minimum.

So now the Blue Streaks are chasing their marks from the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, in which they finished 22-5. As their record currently stands, John Carroll has lost only two games this season: a non-conference hiccup against Denison on Nov. 20, and a 62-55 defeat in the OAC Tournament Championship rematch against Ohio Northern in Ada, Ohio, on Jan. 4. 

Since then, the Blue Streaks have won their last four games and are undefeated at 7-0 in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center. Not only is their record quite impressive, but considering the youth on the team and the loss of their only senior Sarah Sprecher due to injury, it is even more impressive.

“Sprecher going out was a big hit, obviously. She is the only senior. Seniors have that urgency because there is no next year for them,” said Morrone. 

Stepping into Sprecher’s place is sophomore Hannah Bouchy. As a freshman, Bouchy only appeared in three games and played 12 minutes last season. Although her numbers don’t quite resemble Sprecher’s, her mark on the team as of late has not gone unnoticed.

“Hannah has done a really good job handling that pressure and responsibility with game management. [She has shown the] ability to organize and communicate on the floor,” said Morrone.

Players such as Bouchy, the pair of sophomores in Shelby Ford and Sarah Balfour, the freshman duo of Jaylen Hoffman and Kaelyn Underwood, and of course junior Gabrielle Gevaudan, who endured the 8-18 season two years ago, are a result of the chemistry and culture that was built from the short-lived rebuild.

“Our starters get a ton of attention. They are huge contributors across the stat[istics] sheet. They also do a good job of managing our bench play and making them impactful when they come in,” Morrone said. “At this point in the season, when you lose a senior and you have subs that haven’t played any minutes for you on varsity until this year, everyone else has to step up. I think the culture has made them feel very comfortable and confident to be able to do so.”

The “starters” that Morrone is referring to are sophomore Olivia Nagy, juniors Nicole Heffington, Dani Carlson, Abby Adler and now Bouchy. However, two names stick out that have anchored JCU’s blazing hot 13-2 start: Heffington and Nagy. 

Sophomore Olivia Nagy has registered a year that is on pace to receive All-American recognition. The All-American campaign has hit a full head of steam as of late, as Nagy’s stats during JCU’s four-game win streak have been phenomenal.

Up until last Saturday’s 51-49 victory over the Capital Crusaders, Nagy had scored in double figures in every game this season. This included a career-high 24 points against Wilmington on Jan. 11 and a dominant 22-point, 19-rebound and eight-block showing over Otterbein on Jan. 6. Nagy’s impressive back-to-back performances earned D3Hoops.com Player of the Week recognition, a great honor, as the winner is selected from every Division III basketball player in the nation.

“Liv put the work in. I was watching film of her last year against BW and she looks like a freshman,” said Morrone. “She just doesn’t have the same level of confidence and dominance and she came into this year — and said I am going for it. She is still very young as a sophomore.”

Nagy lighting the OAC on fire is other-worldly. It also helps that Nagy plays with last year’s OAC Player of the Year, junior Nicole Heffington. The duo of Nagy and Heffington has become the conference’s best and the numbers are there to prove it.

Both players have scored over 200 points and exceeded 100 rebounds. Their dominance has resulted in opposing teams setting their game plans for the two.

“The duo of Heffington and Nagy is really hard to guard. You have to pick your poison. They have great chemistry together. They can find each other without even looking,” said Morrone. “Some games it is teams trying to take away Heff and some games they’re trying to take away Liv.

“Neither one of them care about their stats compared to figuring out how to win the game. When you have that high level of intelligence of countering what the defense is trying to do to you, it makes my job a whole lot easier.”

Perhaps the two most overshadowed players on the Blue Streaks are juniors Abby Adler and Dani Carlson. Both have had to accept their roles knowing Nagy and Heffington will cause all of the attention. Meanwhile, Adler and Carlson have had stellar seasons themselves.

Each of them is averaging over 40% shooting from the field and esentially five rebouds per game (Adler is 0.2 rebounds away from hitting 5.0.)

Still, the season is not close to being over, as 10 games still remain — each being an opportunity for the Blue Streaks to cement themselves as the best team in JCU women’s basketball history. With the momentum JCU has, it is the perfect time for their tallest task yet: a meeting with the No. 12 team in the country, cross-town rival Baldwin Wallace.

“We really put the focus on us. How we can improve our strengths and weaknesses. There is always a ton of emotio,” Morrone said. “There is some weight on this one. We want to worry about taking care of the process. We can’t control how the ball is going to bounce but we can control the shot.” 

The result of that game on Wednesday, Jan. 22 was not available at press time and the result can be found on JCUSports.com