SWARTHMORE, PA – The #20 (WBCA)/#22 (D3hoops.com) Johns Hopkins women's basketball team used a used a 14-0 run that bridged the first and second quarters to turn an early two-point deficit into a 12-point lead and the visiting Blue Jays went on to a 58-45 victory at Swarthmore Wednesday evening.
 
The win is the sixth straight for the Blue Jays, who improve to 9-2 overall and 3-0 in the Centennial Conference with the victory.  The Garnet slip to 4-8 overall and 0-3 in the Centennial.
 
Johns Hopkins found itself down 7-5 midway through the first quarter before a Layla Henderson three-pointer ignited the game-turning 14-point run.  Henderson's triple was the first of four the Blue Jays would knock down in the final 3:41 of the opening period as Beth Corelli heated up from beyond the arc and connected from deep three times in a span of less than three minutes down the stretch to help Hopkins to a 17-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
A Kendall Dunham layup 90 seconds into the second quarter extended the lead to 19-7 before a Norah Wingfield jumper for the Garnet halted the Blue Jay run.  The Blue Jay defense had held the Garnet scoreless for seven minutes before Wingfield's bucket.
 
Swarthmore had the deficit down to six at 22-16 with 3:16 on the first-half clock after a Rebekah Gendler three-pointer, but Grace Soltes answered with a triple of her own 19 seconds later to spark a 7-2 half-ending run for the Blue Jays that made it 29-18 at the half.
 
Both teams heated up in a third quarter that saw the Garnet outscore the Blue Jays 17-16.  Michaela O'Neil scored six of her eight points on the night in the period and Lauren Knudson added six points of her own in the quarter for Johns Hopkins.  Swarthmore had the 11-point halftime deficit down to seven (35-28) midway through the period, but that was as close as the Garnet would get.
 
It was closer than a three possession game in a fourth quarter that saw Johns Hopkins outscore the Garnet 13-10.  The Blue Jay lead was as high as 16 after a Knudson three-pointer with 2:39 to play (55-39) before the Garnet scored six of the final nine points of the game to account for the 58-45 final score.
 
Corelli and Knudson led the Blue Jays with nine points apiece, while O'Neil added the eight and nine different players scored at least five points in the victory for Johns Hopkins.  With Corelli and Knudson leading the way, the Johns Hopkins bench contributed 34 points on the night.
 
The Blue Jays got a game-high 13 rebounds from Macie Feldman and Greta Miller added 11 rebounds as the Jays held a 54-35 rebounding advantage in the victory.
 
Alyssa Hayashi scored a game-high 10 points for Swarthmore, which also got nine points and five rebounds from Gendler.  The Garnet got 34 of their 45 points from their starters with Wingfield contributing seven points off the bench.
 
Johns Hopkins has now held five consecutive opponents to 53 points or less and four of the five have been held below 50.  Overall, this was the sixth time this season the Blue Jays have held the opposition under 50 points.
 
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, January 11 when the Blue Jays travel to Gettysburg to take on the Bullets.  Gettysburg is ranked 12^th in the most recent WBCA and D3hoops.com Polls.