Jan. 22, 2011

Box Score

CARLISLE, PA - The Johns Hopkins women's basketball team overcame a 10-point deficit late in regulation to defeat host Dickinson, 67-65, in overtime on Saturday afternoon in Centennial Conference action. The Blue Jays have now won five straight and improve to 14-3 (11-2 CC), while the Red Devils fall to 7-9 (5-7 CC).

The two sides were neck-and-neck for the opening 33 minutes of the game, with 12 ties and eight lead changes during that time span.

Leading 40-38 with under seven minutes remaining in regulation, Dickinson senior Alesha Sisco hit a jumper to ignite a 10-2 run over the next 2:40 that gave the Red Devils their largest lead of the game, 50-40, with just over four minutes left.

Trailing by 10 with under 3:30 to play, sophomore Alex Vassila made a layup off a feed from junior Chantel Mattiola to start a 9-2 JHU run, as the Blue Jays kept their hopes of a fifth straight win alive.

Freshman Fatu Conteh followed up Vassila's layup with a steal and layup of her own, before Mattiola drilled a three-pointer on Hopkins next possession to cut the Dickinson advantage to 52-49 with just over two minutes remaining.

Sisco completed a three-point play the old fashioned way with 1:39 on the clock to put an end to Hopkins run and extend the Red Devil lead back to six, 55-49.

Vassila made a layup just 13 seconds later, before junior Stephanie Fong came up with a huge steal that turned into another Conteh layup, as Hopkins was right back in the mix at 55-53 with 1:04 left.

The Blue Jays forced a Red Devil turnover with 33 seconds remaining, before Vassila drained a clutch jumper with 15 seconds left to knot the game for the first time since the 12:20 mark of the second half at 55-55.

Hopkins took two early two-point leads in the overtime period, with the Red Devils responding to re-tie the contest each time. A Vassila layup with 2:43 remaining in the extra session gave the Blue Jays the lead for good, as Fong drilled all four of her free throw attempts in the final 31 seconds to help preserve the 67-65 road win.

Vassila led the Blue Jays with a career-high 16 points and 11 rebounds, Conteh and Fong each notched 13 points and senior Lyndsay Burton also reached double figures with 10 points and seven boards.

Sisco led all scorers with 24 points for Dickinson, while sophomore Dana Walsh and junior Taylor Miller added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Hopkins returns home on Wednesday, January 26 against Franklin & Marshall in Centennial Conference action. Tip-off is slated for 6 pm in Goldfarb Gym.