Jan. 21, 2012

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Freshman Maggie Fruehan converted a layup off a pass from senior Chantel Mattiolawith 1:56 left to play to put the Johns Hopkins women's basketball team up 12 points and secure a 56-44 victory over Dickinson Saturday afternoon inside Goldfarb Gym.

The Fruehan layup capped a 11-5 spurt by the Blue Jays over eight minutes of the latter half of the second frame. Mattiola capped off the Blue Jay scoring with 27 seconds left on the clock with two good free throws to give Hopkins its largest lead of the game, 56-42. Dickinson's Sarah Phillip hit a layup with 10 seconds to go to cut the Blue Jay lead to 56-44, where the score would hold firm for a Hopkins victory.

With 14:55 to go in the first half, Mattiola hit both of her free throws to kick off a 12-0 run for the Blue Jays that covered 3:28 and gave Hopkins a 14-5 lead. The Red Devils did not score again until the 11-minute mark, going 4:19 without scoring a basket.

The Blue Jays took a 12 point lead, 29-17, with 2:15 to go, but the Red Devils mounted a comeback going on a 6-4 run to close of the half but could not overtake Hopkins and the Blue Jays led 33-25 going into the locker room.

The Red Devils whittled the Blue Jays' lead to four, 35-31, outscoring the Blue Jays 6-2 to open the second frame but that would be as close as Dickinson would get. Fruehan converted a traditional three-point play on the Blue Jays' next possession to extend the lead to seven but Dickinson used a 6-5 run to cut the lead back to six, 43-37 with 10:24 to go. Hopkins then went on its 11-5 spree to put the game away for the Blue Jays.

Fruehan led the Blue Jays' scoring with 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Junior Alex Vassila posted her third double-double of the season with 10 points and a game-high 12 boards; she posted a career-high six blocks of the team's 11 on the day. The Blue Jays have now posted double-digit blocks in back-to-back games. Senior guard Stephanie Fong handed out a career-high 10 assists, handing out eight in the first half, and finished the day with six points.

The Blue Jays won the rebounding battle 40-38 and with each team posting 29 defensive boards.

Johns Hopkins will return to action when the Blue Jays travel to Lancaster, PA to face Franklin & Marshall on January 25 in a key Centennial Conference game. Tipoff is set for 6 pm.