BALTIMORE, MD- The Johns Hopkins women's basketball team went into Saturday night trying to protect their one game lead in the Centennial Conference against the team sitting right behind them in second place, Dickinson. The Blue Jays had their senior day festivities before the game and honored seven different seniors for their contributions to the program over the past four years: Emily Howie, Aleah Spruell, Haile Egan, Ellie Pearson, Kara Milliken, Sophie DeBettencourt, and Kristin Ralston. In a game that featured 15 lead changes and six ties, Johns Hopkins made important plays down the stretch to pull away from Dickinson and come out with a 53-43 victory.
 
The game was tightly contested the entire way, with two of the best defenses in the country making life difficult for the other teams' offense. It was a game where a two-possession lead felt like it was a 10-point lead. After a made layup from the Red Devils' Mia Kolb, the score was deadlocked at 43 with three minutes remaining in regulation.
 
Johns Hopkins would go on a 10-0 run to close out the game to propel them to the victory. Sophomore Greta Miller kicked off the run driving down the left side of lane and making a layup over a Dickinson defender to put the Blue Jays up by two. On their next possession, Kendall Dunham zipped a pass down on the right block to Jadyn Murray who converted the layup to give JHU a 47-43 lead. The Red Devils were held to 0-for-5 from the field in the last three minutes of the game, and 4-for-12 overall in the quarter. Olivia Parisi, Zoe Soule, and Kara Milliken all sank free throws in the final seconds to cap off the Blue Jays win.
 
Michaela O'Neil was the key player for Johns Hopkins in the victory as she finished with 18 points, just one shy of tying her career high. In the first half, O'Neil scored 10 of the Blue Jays' 18 points as a team to help them take a slim 18-17 led into the halftime break. O'Neil knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter and also came up four key points in the fourth quarter, including a steal and fast break layup.
 
The Blue Jays were able to gain an advantage in the rebounding category in the contest as they outrebounded the Red Devils 38-29. Johns Hopkins were also very effective at the charity stripe, which helped them greatly down the stretch, as they shot 15-for-18 as a team.
 
After O'Neil's 18, the next leading scorer for Johns Hopkins was Jadyn Murray who had 10 points while going 4-for-4 from the floor. Miller was also huge in the win for the Jays as she scored eight points, all in the second half, and pulled down nine rebounds. The Blue Jays are two wins away from clinching the number one overall seed in the Centennial Conference tournament.
 
Dickinson had two players score in double-figures, Kolb who had 16 points and Kate Montgomery who finished with 15. Dickinson is now in third place in the conference and hold a 15-7 (13-5).
 
Next up Johns Hopkins is its final home game of the season as they will take on Bryn Mawr on Wednesday, February 15^th inside Goldfarb Gym (6 pm).