BALTIMORE, MD – The second-seeded Gettysburg women's basketball team outscored host and top-seeded Johns Hopkins 41-29 in the second half to turn a one-point lead into a 65-52 victory over the Blue Jays in the 2023 Centennial Conference Championship game Sunday afternoon.  The Bullets grab the Centennial's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament, improve to 21-6 and claim their fourth CC title.  The Blue Jays slip to 21-6 and will learn their NCAA Tournament fate on Monday, February 27 when the bracket for the Division III Women's Basketball Tournament is announced (2:30 pm).
 
The Blue Jays trailed by just one at the half (24-23) and were within two at 29-27 midway through the third quarter before the Bullets used a 14-6 spurt to turn the two-point lead into a 10-point margin at 43-33 with 75 seconds remaining in the period.  Sophomore Mackenzie Szlosek bookended the spree with a pair of drives to the basket and tournament MVP Alayna Arnolie went 5-for-5 from the free throw line during the run.
 
A Michaela O'Neil three-point play in the final seconds of the third quarter sliced the deficit to seven (43-36) heading into the fourth quarter and the margin was still seven with 5:51 to play after a pair of Olivia Parisi free throws, but AB Holsinger hit a jumper 15 seconds later to ignite an 8-0 run that quickly pushed the lead to 15 (56-41) with less than three minutes to play and the Blue Jays were never closer than nine down the stretch.
 
A back-and-forth first quarter that the Bullets led for more than seven minutes ended with Gettysburg holding a 12-11 lead, but the Blue Jays rode the hot first-half shooting of Parisi to build a 21-16 lead midway through the second quarter.  Parisi scored six of Hopkins' eight points in an 8-0 run that turned a 16-13 deficit into the 21-16 advantage with just over four minutes remaining before the break.
 
The Bullets grabbed the one-point halftime lead with an 8-2 run to close the half.  A Caitlyn Priore layup got the late surge going and Holsinger's two late buckets were the difference down the stretch as the Blue Jays managed just a Parisi jumper in the lane in the final four minutes of the first half.
 
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Parisi scored a game-high 21 points with 16 of those coming in the first half.  She added eight rebounds and was 10-of-18 from the floor.
• Junior Zoe Soule chipped in with 10 points off the bench with all 10 coming in the second half.
• The Blue Jays were outrebounded for just the fourth time this season as the Bullets won the battle on the glass, 41-34.
 
Inside the Box Score – Gettysburg
• Arnolie scored a team-high 15 points to lead three Bullets in double figures.  She scored eight of her 15 points in the decisive third quarter.
• Szolsek scored 11 points and added eight rbeounds and Shinya Lee provided a strong presence inside as she finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.
• After hitting just 11-of-29 (.379) in the first half, the Bullets were 13-of-29 (.448) in the second half and led for all but 36 seconds after halftime.