Wins aren't easy to come by on the road. Unless, of course, you have Katlyn Spahar.

The sophomore tallied a career-high 36 points in a sparkling performance to help the John Carroll University women's basketball team to a 77-71 victory at Carnegie Mellon University.

Spahar came within one point of tying her sister's career record, as Missy Spahar dropped 37 points, set against the University of Mount Union on January 29. Katlyn Spahar notcher her 36 points impressive fashion, nailing 4-of-8 from behind the arc and shooting 50 percent overall.

Beth Switzler also stepped up, finishing with 20 points and nine rebounds. Spahar and Switzler combined for 56 of JCU's 77 points. The duo helped JCU improve to 3-0 on the season.

Turnovers also proved to be a key factor. A formidable JCU defense forced 18 Tartan turnovers, scoring 21 points off of CMU's mistakes.

"I'm very pleased with our performance today," head coach Kelly Morrone said. "Early on in the year, wins come from defense and rebounding. Our collective team effort in both categories kept up steady throughout the game."

Carnegie Mellon still managed to hang tough late into the contest. The Tartans actually held a 61-60 lead with 5:52 remaining.

At that point, Spahar took over the game and scored 12 of JCU's 17 points to seal the game. The Willowick native nailed a three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining to put the game out of reach for the Tartans. Meghan Weber hit a pair of free throws with nine seconds left to seal JCU's seventh consecutive regular season road win dating back to last year.

The Blue Streaks started out strong in the first half, breaking out to a 13-7 lead in the first four minutes. Beth Switzler sank a layup and a free throw to extend JCU's lead to nine with 13:32 left in the first half.

Lisa Murphy and Jackie Hudepohl then combined to score 12 of CMU's next 14 points to narrow JCU's lead to one with just under eight minutes left in the opening period. Kajae Jones hit a layup two minutes later to give the Tartans a one-point lead, the team's first since the 17:25 mark of the first.

"Carnegie Mellon is a very, very good team," Morrone said. "We knew this game was going to be competitive."

The two teams then traded the lead until Emily Taylor knocked down a three-pointer with 53 seconds left in the half to break the tie. Spahar added on a free throw with 14 seconds left to give JCU a 41-38 advantage heading into the break.

Murphy gave CMU the lead back early in the second half on a layup. The Blue Streaks quickly took the lead back on a Spahar jumper, but every time JCU took the advantage, CMU tied it up. The Blue Streaks began to break away in the middle of the half, as JCU used an 11-3 run to take a 58-49 lead with 11:58 to play.  

The Tartans slowly marched back into the game, using a 12-2 blitz to retake the lead, 61-60 with just less than six minutes to play. From there, it was all Spahar.

The Blue Streaks will make their home debut on Saturday, November 29, as JCU will host Medaille College in a 1 p.m. contest.