Head coach Kelly Morrone continued her season opener winning streak tonight at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center as the John Carroll women's basketball team kicked off their season with a victory against Hiram on the first day of the inaugural John Carroll University Tip Off Tournament.

A win is a win and the Blue Streaks will gladly take it, but despite holding at least an eight point lead for most of the game, the Blue Streaks clinched the victory by a thin two point margin. JCU had to survive a last second shot by the Terriers that threatened to force overtime in what was a 64-62 Blue Streak triumph.

Starting off the game with a lay up by sophomore Nicole Heffington, John Carroll led wire to wire.  Thanks to a three-point play by Shmoo Pryor, JCU would end the first quarter with a five point lead at 18-13.

John Carroll kept Hiram from scoring again until 5:56 remained in the first half. The Blue Streaks lead the Terriers 38-26 at halftime.

The Blue Streaks led by as many as 17 points (45-28) in the third quarter and still managed to hold a double digit lead  (54-44) heading into the fourth. Through three quarters, JCU was making over 50 percent of its shots (20-39) from the field.

The fourth quarter was simply a different story. The Terriers started to find their footing and began to slowly chip away at the 10 point deficit. A lay up by Paris Thompson put Hiram within one point of taking the lead, 60-59, with 2:09 remaining int he contest.

Senior Chelbi Graham responded with a lay up of her own, and a foul by Thompson sent Kahrin Spear to the line. After making two clutch free throws, the Blue Streaks increased the deficit to five with 1:16 left in the game. A three pointer by Hiram's Josie Earnhardt made the score 64-62 in favor of the Blue and Gold.

John Carroll had a chance to salt the game, but couldn't get a shot off with four ticks left.

With one second left on the clock, Hiram's Alainna Conroy had a baseline jumper glance off the opposite side of the rim, and a defensive rebound by Spear secured the win for the home team.

Overall, four Blue Streaks scored 10 points or more in tonight's game: Heffington (13), Spear (11), Graham (10), and Pryor (10). Freshman Olivia Nagy lead the team in rebounds with seven.

JCU had 18 assists of its 23 field goals with Spear contributing eight of those assists. For the game, JCU was 23-51 (.451) from the field.

Hiram (1-1) was led by 16 points from Tashauna Wright.

JCU (1-0) will play Oberlin (0-1) on day two of the Tip-Off Tournament Saturday at 6:00 p.m.