Feb. 24, 2004

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Johns Hopkins women's basketball team sprinted out to a 21-point halftime lead, held off an early second half run by visiting Franklin & Marshall and had three players score in double figures as the Blue Jays ran their winning streak to 10 games with a 67-50 victory over the Diplomats Tuesday night. The 10-game winning streak is the fourth-longest in school history and the Blue Jays improve to 22-2 overall and 17-1 in the Centennial Conference with the win. The Diplomats slip to 12-11, 12-6. The two teams will meet on Saturday in the Centennial Conference semifinals at Johns Hopkins.

The Blue Jays took control early as they limited the Diplomats to just seven points in the first 10 minutes of the game and 14 in the first half. An early 16-4 run gave Hopkins a 20-7 lead with 9:57 remaining before halftime. Eight different players scored during the run for the Blue Jays with a layup by junior Ashanna Randall (Media, PA/Penncrest) and a three-pointer by senior Trista Snyder (West Chester, PA/Unionville) jump-starting the spree.

The lead hovered between 13 and 16 for the next eight minutes before the Blue Jays closed the half with a 6-0 run. Randall, Myers and junior guard Ashley Felix (Pittsburgh, PA/North Catholic) all scored during the mini-run, which gave the Blue Jays a 35-14 halftime lead.

The Diplomats scored the first 12 points of the second half to pull within 35-26 as senior center Amy Abernathy (Far Hills, NJ/American School-Paris) scored 10 of her 18 points in the first five minutes of the half. After hitting three straight layups she added a pair of short jumpers, while sophomore Dana Johns (York, PA/Eastern York) also hit an early jumper as the Dips forced Hopkins to call a pair of timeouts in the first 3:28 of the second half.

After the teams traded baskets the Blue Jays quickly built the lead back up to 20 points at 48-28 as sophomore Amanda Leese (Amherst, NJ/Bishop Guertin) hit a pair of short jumpers to fuel an 11-0 run. The Diplomats cut the deficit to 16 twice in the final 12 minutes of the game, but could get no closer and fell to the Blue Jays for the fourth straight time.

Randall led the Blue Jays with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Leese and Myers both added 10 points. Snyder and freshman Julie Miller (Annandale, VA/Thomas Jefferson) added nine points apiece as Hopkins continued its season-long run of getting production from a variety of players. The Blue Jays held a 52-41 rebounding advantage and came up with 17 steals on 23 F&M turnovers. Felix, who leads the Centennial in steals, had seven of the team's 17 steals.

Abernathy led the way for Franklin & Marshall as she scored a game-high 18 points and added 16 rebounds, while senior Courtney Tierney (Princeton, NJ/The Hun School) added 11 points and Johns chipped in with 10. However, the Diplomats couldn't dig out of the first-half hole after they hit just 5-of-28 (.179) shots from the floor.

The win secures the top seed and home-court advantage in this weekend's Centennial Conference Women's Basketball Tournament for the Blue Jays. On Saturday, second-seeded McDaniel will play third-seeded Muhlenberg at 1:30 pm at with the Blue Jays and Diplomats scheduled to meet at 4:00 pm. Sunday's championship game will be also played at Johns Hopkins at 2:00 pm.

Franklin & Marshall (12-11, 12-6 CC) 14-36/50

Johns Hopkins (22-2, 17-1 CC) 35-32/67

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