The Basics
• Score: Johns Hopkins-63, Ursinus-43
• Records: JHU (10-2, 7-1 Centennial) • UC (2-12, 2-7 Centennial)
• Location: Collegeville, PA • Helfferich Hall
 
How it Happened

Johns Hopkins raced out to a 15-2 lead in the first five minutes of Saturday's Centennial Conference tilt, going on to defeat the Ursinus Bears by a final score of 63-43. 12 different Blue Jays scored in the victory, making it six straight wins for Hopkins. 

JHU hit its first three shots of the contest, getting a jumper from Diarra Oden, a layup from Erin Walsh, and a three from Emily Howie to take a 7-0 lead less than two minutes in. After Ursinus scored its first bucket, JHU ripped off a 10-0 run, starting with a Howie three and ending with a Kara Milliken jumper with 4:45 to go in the quarter. Milliken hit another jumper with 20 seconds left to give her six points for the quarter, but Chinwe Orondi scored just before the buzzer for Ursinus to cut the deficit to 23-10 after one quarter. 

A 5-0 spurt by Michaela O'Neil started the second off on the right foot for Hopkins, extending the lead to 18. Ursinus scored the next four points, but Howie hit another triple to push the lead back to 17 with 6:32 remaining in the half. Erin Walsh scored the final bucket of the half for Hopkins with 2:10 left, sandwiched around a pair of threes for the Bears' Gabby Downs and the score was 37-24 Blue Jays at the break. 

Irondi scored the first bucket of the third, cutting the Blue Jay lead down to 11, but Howie answered again with a triple, making it 40-26 with 7:35 to play in the third. The shot started another 10-0 run for the Jays as Jadyn Murray got involved in the offense to make it 47-26 with just under three to play in the quarter. A Halie Egan bucket with 1:40 to play in the quarter gave Hopkins its biggest lead so far at 22 points before the Bears scored the final four points of the quarter. 

Taking a step back from leading the offense on Saturday afternoon, Oden scored her first bucket since the first quarter to open up the fourth quarter scoring. Murray scored again about a minute and a half later to push the Hopkins lead back to 22. With the game in hand, Mann and Sophie deBettencourt both knocked down triples in the period, with deBettencourt's giving JHU what would end up being its largest lead of the contest at 61-37. Aleah Spruell got on the scoresheet with less than two to play, scoring the last bucket of the game for the Blue Jays. 
 
What it Means
• The Blue Jays improve to 42-9 all-time versus the Ursinus Bears. Hopkins has now won the last eight meetings. 
 
• The Blue Jays win streak improves to six games. Six is the program's second-longest win streak during Katherine Bixby's tenure. 

• At 7-1 now in conference play, Hopkins holds firm in second-place at the time of this posting. 
 
Inside the Box Score
•  Howie's four threes (4-6) are a season-high for makes and ended an 0-10 spell from beyond the arc. Howie now leads the team in three-point makes with 16. She has moved into 14th-place in program history with 75 three-point makes. 
  
• Milliken entered Saturday with six assists on the season and surpassed that number in just 18 minutes, dishing out a career-high eight assists. Milliken added eight points, matching her high from earlier this year against Bryn Mawr. 
 
• Hopkins was seventh in the country in scoring defense entering Saturday, allowing its opponents to score just 47.2 points per game. That number will drop below 47 after the Bears scored just 43, potentially vaulting the Jays into the top-five nationally. The Blue Jay defense entered Saturday 26th in the nation in opposing field goal percentage, holding teams to 31.7% from the floor. Ursinus shot 27% from the floor so expect the Jays to take another leap up the leader board. 

• Johns Hopkins continues to beat up opposing teams on the glass. Coming into Saturday, the Jays rebound margin was +11.3. Another number that will rise after Hopkins pulled down 45 boards to Ursinus' 28. 
 
Up Next
• JHU will host Swarthmore in an important Centennial Conference clash on Tuesday evening in Baltimore, MD. The game is the rescheduled contest from last week's postponement.