Dec. 1, 2011

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Senior Chantel Mattiola drained a long jumper as time was expiring in the first half to pull the Johns Hopkins women's basketball team to within one point of Gettysburg as the Blue Jays rallied past the Bullets to a 45-37 victory inside Goldfarb Gym, Thursday evening.

The Blue Jays (5-1, 2-1 CC) found their rhythm late in the first half but kept the Bullets (2-4, 1-2 CC) in check, swapping the last nine baskets of the first half. With 11:25 to go in the half, sophomore Fatu Conteh converted a layup to cut the Gettysburg lead to 12-9 before Mattiola laid the ball in the net to get the Blue Jays to within one at 12-11. The Bullets answered just 18 seconds later with a jumper and the two teams went basket-for-basket over the remaining 9:06.

After a Gettysburg foul with exactly one second on the clock to give possession back to Hopkins, Mattiola took an inbound pass from senior Kat Fox and drained a jumper just inside the three point line for the final score of the first half and put the Blue Jays within one at 20-19.

Mattiola hit her second three of the game just over two minutes into the second half to give the Blue Jays their first lead of the game at 22-20. Hopkins could not build a substantial lead, however, as the Bullets kept the Blue Jay offense in check until they tied the game at 26 with 12:46 left to play.

The Blue Jays regained the lead with a jumper from Conteh but the Bullets battled back and took their first lead of the second half with 8:41 on the clock. Gettysburg could not pull away, however and lead by only three before Hopkins tied the game with 3:45 left to play and took the lead back for good at 37-35 with a layup from freshman Haley Bush.

Mattiola and junior Alex Vassila combined to go a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe in the last 49 seconds of the game to build the Blue Jays' biggest lead of the game at 45-37. With 22 seconds left to play, sophomore Cori Younghans attempted a last-chance three pointer but could not convert and Mattiola pulled down the final rebound and seal off a Blue Jay victory.

Mattiola finished the day with a team- and season-high 16 points and led the Blue Jays with eight rebounds. Senior Stephanie Fong handed out five assists while Fox collected three steals. The Blue Jays were a season-best 7-8 from the free throw line and held the Bullets to just 18-51 from the floor (35.3 percent).

Johns Hopkins returns to the court when the Blue Jays travel to Carlisle, PA to face Dickinson in Centennial Conference action with the tip off scheduled for 2 pm. - 30 -