BALTIMORE, MD – The visiting Johns Hopkins women's basketball team jumped out to a 25-10 lead at the end of one quarter and never looked back in a 97-55 victory at Muhlenberg Saturday afternoon.  The win is the fifth straight for the Blue Jays, who improve to 14-3 overall and 6-1 in the Centennial Conference with today's victory.  The Mules slip to 11-5 overall and 2-4 in the Centennial.
 
The 42-point margin of victory is the largest in series history, topping a 31-point Blue Jay win on January 31, 2004 (104-73).  In addition, today's win is Hopkins' seventh straight and 10^th in its last 11 games against the Mules.
 
The Blue Jays took control over the final 6:33 of the first quarter as they used a 21-5 spurt to turn an early 5-4 deficit into the 25-10 lead that was never seriously challenged.  Six different players scoring during the run for Johns Hopkins, which got six points from senior Michaela O'Neil, hit 8-of-17 shots from the floor and buried four from beyond the arc during the game-turning spree.  Over the same span, the Blue Jay defense forced four turnovers and held the Mules to just 2-of-9 shooting.
 
While they couldn't really cut into the Blue Jay lead in the second quarter, the Mules battled nearly evenly in what would be their best quarter of the first three.  The Blue Jays still outscored them 24-19 in the period with O'Neil scoring 10 of her 20 points in the game during the second quarter.
 
After punching up 49 first-half points, the Blue Jays would actually enjoy their most productive quarter of the game in the third as nine different players scored – led by Layla Henderson's eight points – and the Jays hit 11-of-19 (.579) shots from the floor, drained four more triples, turned five Mule turnovers into 10 points and got 25 points from the bench in the period as they stretched a 49-29 halftime lead to 83-42.
 
The Blue Jays would outscore the Mules 14-13 in the final 10 minutes to account for the 97-55 final score.
 
The 97-point output marks the fifth time this season the Blue Jays have topped the 90-point mark.  This is already the most 90-point games in a season in Johns Hopkins history.
 
O'Neil led the way for the Blue Jays with a 20-point, 11-rebound effort in just 22 minutes.  Henderson (13), Lauren Knudson (11) and Emily Collins (10) also reached double figures for the Blue Jays, who had 12 of their 13 players score in the victory.  Hopkins held a 55-34 rebounding advantage, turned 24 Muhlenberg turnovers into 27 points and got 55 bench points on the day.  Of the 55 rebounds the Blue Jays collected, 31 came on the offensive glass.
 
Muhlenberg was led by Veronica Dawson's 18 points and seven rebounds, while Emily Unger (11) and Rachel Saxton (10) also reached double figures.
 
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Wednesday, January 29 when they travel to Dickinson (6 pm).