BALTIMORE, MD – Second-seeded Gettysburg scored the first eight points in overtime and outscored top-seeded Johns Hopkins 11-3 in the extra session as the Bullets claimed their fourth consecutive Centennial Conference title with a 68-60 victory over the Blue Jays Sunday afternoon.
 
With the win, Gettysburg (25-2) claims the Centennial's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament.  Johns Hopkins had a 13-game winning streak snapped and slips to 22-4 on the year.  The Blue Jays are likely to receive one of the at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament when the bracket is announced on Monday, March 3 (2:30 pm – www.ncaa.com).
 
After a pair of Alayna Arnolie free throws gave Gettysburg a 59-57 lead in overtime, the Bullets got a Shinya Lee turnaround jumper and a driving layup from AB Holsinger to extend out to 63-57 lead midway through the period.
 
Holsinger added a pair of free throws to give the Bullets a 65-57 lead in the final minute before a Michaela O'Neil three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining pulled the Blue Jays within five.  From there, the Bullets hit 3-of-4 free throws to seal their championship.
 
Early on, Johns Hopkins used hot shooting to build a 13-point second quarter lead as the Jays hit 14-of-27 (.519) shots from the floor, including 4-of-5 (.800) from beyond the arc, in an opening 20 minutes that saw them hold a 36-23 lead before settling for a 36-28 halftime cushion.
 
The Blue Jays were down 17-16 with 6:47 on the second-quarter clock, but used a 14-2 run to turn the one-point lead into a 30-19 advantage.  A Grace Soltes three-pointer jump-started the spurt for Johns Hopkins, which hit 6-of-7 shots from the floor and got four points from Kendall Dunham and three each from Soltes and Lauren Knudson to fuel the run.
 
After the Bullets scored four straight to pull within seven (30-23), the Blue Jays pushed out to the 36-23 lead on the strength of an Emily Collins conventional three-point play and a Dunham three-pointer.  A Holsinger jumper and a late three-pointer from Kimberly Hopkins helped account for the 36-28 halftime score.
 
A back-and-forth third quarter saw the Bullets get within four early, but the Blue Jays had the lead back up to nine on three different occasions in the period, including at 48-39 after an O'Neil bucket with 3:13 on the clock, but the only scoring in the final three minutes of the period came on a pair of Arnolie free throws and Hopkins carried a 48-41 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
The Bullets methodically turned the seven-point deficit into a four-point lead with an 11-0 run that came entirely off the hands of Hopkins and Arnolie.  Hopkins scored seven of the 11 and Arnolie added four points of her own during the spree, which ended with an Arnolie jumper with 5:02 remaining.
 
A Macie Feldman driving layup halted the Bullet run, but Gettysburg wouldn't surrender the lead until late.  After another Arnolie jumper made it 57-53, the Blue Jays used a Dunham three-pointer with 51 seconds left to pull within one and a Feldman free throw 20 seconds later tied it up.
 
The Bullets had a chance to play for one shot after Feldman's free throw, but a turnover with 1.5 seconds remaining gave the Blue Jays a chance.  Out a timeout and able to advance the ball to midcourt, Johns Hopkins sprung Dunham free at the top of the key, but her three-pointer at the buzzer was just off the mark and the game moved to overtime, where the Bullets would never trail.
 
Dunham paced the Blue Jays with 15 points and O'Neil (12) and Greta Miller (10) also reached double figures.  Feldman added eight points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.
 
Arnolie, who was named the Tournament MVP, scored a game-high 22 points and added four rebounds and three steals while playing all 45 minutes.  Holsinger added 13 points and five rebounds and Hopkins came off the bench to add 12 big points – she accounted for 12 of the 15 non-starter points on the day for the Bullets.