ST. PETERSBURG, FL – The Johns Hopkins women's basketball team used a 26-4 run that bridged the second and third quarters to turn a 13-point deficit into a 38-29 lead and the Blue Jays never trailed again in a 64-48 win over Vassar at the St. Pete Classic Sunday afternoon.  The win is the fourth straight for Johns Hopkins, which improves to 7-2 on the year with today's victory.  The Brewers had a two-game winning streak snapped and slip to 5-3.
 
Down as many as 13 in the first quarter (21-8), the Blue Jays were staring at the same deficit at 23-10 after Sierra McDermed's jumper just 16 seconds into the second period.  From there, the Blue Jays got going on both ends of the court.
 
An Emily Collins layup ignited a 10-2 Blue Jay spurt that took just under two minutes and drew Hopkins within five at 25-20.  A traditional three-point play from Layla Henderson and five quick Michaela O'Neil points fueled the run for the Blue Jays.
 
A Julia Harvey layup with 6:05 on the second-quarter clock halted the spree and gave the Brewers a 27-20 lead, but the Blue Jay defense held Vassar scoreless the rest of the half and Jadyn Murray's layup 19 seconds after Harvey's bucket jump-started a 12-point half-ending run that gave the Blue Jays a 32-27 halftime lead.  Murray and Greta Miller both scored four points during the run for Johns Hopkins, which took the lead for good at 28-27 on a Kendall Dunham layup at the 2:39 mark and added a pair of Miller layups in the final minute to grab the five-point halftime lead.
 
Johns Hopkins had the lead up to 38-29 after another Miller layup and the lead held between six and 11 points for the final seven minutes of the third quarter before the Blue Jays carried a 47-38 lead into the fourth quarter after a Beth Corelli layup with four seconds remaining capped the third quarter scoring.  After allowing 23 points in the opening 15:16 of the game, the Blue Jays surrendered just 15 total points over the final 9:44 of the second quarter and the entire third quarter.
 
After a pair of Miller free throws capped the Blue Jays' fourth-quarter-opening possession to give Hopkins a 49-38 lead, the Brewers made one final push and trimmed the 11-point deficit to 49-45 on a Tova Gelb pull-up jumper at the 6:47 mark that polished off a seven-point Vassar run.
 
Exactly 60 seconds after Gelb's jumper, O'Neil got free inside for a layup that sparked a 15-3 game-ending run for the Blue Jays.  Five different players scored for the Blue Jays during the run with Feldman accounting for six straight Blue Jay points in a 90-second span to bump a 51-45 lead to 57-46 with 3:33 to play; Johns Hopkins would hold the Brewers scoreless for the final three minutes to seal the victory.

Feldman and Miller both punched up double-doubles as Feldman collected 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Miller added 12 points and 10 rebounds.  O'Neil was the third Blue Jay to reach double figures (10) and Dunham and Henderson both added points to a balanced offensive effort.  O'Neil narrowly missed joining Feldman and Miller with a double-double as she added nine rebounds to go along with her 10 points.
 
Vassar got all but four of its points from Gelb (17), McDermed (14) and Harvey (13) and Harvey added 10 rebounds to her 13-point effort.
 
While the rebounding was even (50-50), the Blue Jays held decided advantages in points in the paint (52-20) and bench scoring (15-4) committed just five turnovers in the victory while collecting 13 steals on 17 Vassar turnovers.
 
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Monday, December 30 when the Blue Jays take on Denison (7-4) in their second game at the St. Pete Classic.  The Big Red dropped a 66-64 decision to sixth-ranked Bowdoin in their first game of the tournament earlier Sunday afternoon.