Feb. 29, 2004

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The McDaniel College women's basketball team led Sunday's Centennial Conference championship game for exactly 42 seconds. Fortunately for the second-seeded Green Terror, it was the right 42 seconds as they erased a 12-point second-half deficit to defeat top-seeded Johns Hopkins, 59-57. The Centennial Conference title is the second in the last three years for the Green Terror (23-3), who earn the league's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Hopkins had its 11-game winning streak snapped and falls to 23-3. The Blue Jays will learn later tonight if they receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Blue Jays led 43-31after a jumper by Katie Kimball (Garden City/Garden City) with 11:44 remaining, but the Green Terror slowly began to pull closer. A three-pointer by Brooke Weimer (Williamsport, MD/Williamsport) and a pair of free throws by Sara Franz (Catonsville, MD/Seton Keough) trimmed the deficit to 43-36. The Blue Jays maintained at least a six-point lead for the next several minutes and still led 47-39 with 7:10 remaining after an Ashley Felix (Pittsburgh, PA/North Catholic) layup, but the Green Terror would outscore the Blue Jays, 20-10 in the final seven minutes.

A pair of free throws by Jacqueline Pundt (Mt. Airy, MD/Western Tech) and a jumper by Kelly Cramp (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley Central) made it 47-43 with six minutes remaining, a lead the Blue Jays pushed back to six points when Alissa Burkholder (Allentown, PA/Salisbury) hit a 12-foot jumper on the baseline. Cramp then banged home a three-pointer to make it 49-46 and a pair of Toby McIntire (Crofton, MD/St. Mary's) free throws trimmed the deficit to 49-48.

The Blue Jays were able to hold the lead for the next three minutes before McDaniel took its first lead of the game on a layup by Katy Powell (Smithsburg, MD/Smithsburg) with 1:31 remaining that made it 54-53. Kimball and freshman Julie Miller (Annandale, VA/Thomas Jefferson) then sandwiched a pair of free throws around two by McIntire to give the Blue Jays their last lead of the game at 57-56 with 44 seconds remaining.

That lead held until Miller missed a pair of free throws with less than 20 seconds remaining and McIntire raced the length of the floor with the rebound and found Kristy Costa (Galloway, NJ/Absegami) down the lane. Costa hit the layup and completed the traditional three-point play to make it 59-57. The Blue Jays had three shots in the final eight seconds, all from within 10-feet of the basket, but all three missed the mark.

The Blue Jays took a 30-24 lead into halftime behind the play of sophomore Amanda Leese (Amherst, NH/Bishop Guertin), who scored 10 points and added seven rebounds before intermission. Both teams were off the mark in the first half as the Blue Jays hit just 12-of-41 shots before intermission and McDaniel drained just 8-of-31. The Blue Jays led by as many as eight in the first half, but couldn't push the lead to double-figures despite the poor shooting by the Green Terror.

The cold shooting continued in the second half as neither team scored in the first 3:37 of the half. The Blue Jays finally broke the ice with a pair of free throws by senior Trista Snyder (West Chester, PA/Unionville) with 16:23 to play and Hopkins used an 11-5 run to push the lead to 43-31. Miller scored five points during the spree, which was capped by Kimball's jumper with 11:44 remaining. That set the stage for McDaniel's late-game run that secured the championship and snapped the Blue Jays' 21-game home-court winning streak.

McIntire and Cramp led the way for McDaniel as McIntire scored 14 points and added eight rebounds, five steals and three assists. Cramp chipped in with 13 points and five rebounds, while Costa added seven points - none bigger than the final three - and seven rebounds.

Snyder led the Blue Jays with 14 points, while Leese added 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Blue Jays held a commanding 56-43 rebounding advantage, but couldn't overcome a 24-11 McDaniel scoring margin on the free throw line.

#2 McDaniel (23-3) 24-35/59

#1 Johns Hopkins (23-3) 30-27/57

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