BALTIMORE, MD – Ninth-ranked Johns Hopkins got a combined 22 points from Ava Angello, Ashley Mackin and Campbell Case and 12 caused turnovers from Reagan O'Brien in a 21-11 win over Liberty in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon.
 
It was a back-and-forth affair for the first 48 minutes and Hopkins held a slim 12-10 lead. Megan Kielbasa scored in tight off a feed from Angello with 11:02 to play to spark a 9-1 game-ending run. Five different Blue Jays scored in a span of eight minutes and 11 seconds as the pushed out to a 21-11 lead. Angello blew home a free position shot just 32 seconds after Kilebasa's score and Mackin followed with back-to-back strikes and the lead was six with 7:56 to play.
 
Taiva Reinertson broke up the run with her third of the afternoon at 6:54. Mackin answered just 91 seconds later, and Hopkins would score five goals in the span of just two minutes and 34 seconds to close out the game.
 
The Blue Jays jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a pair of Mackin goals, followed by a Hoss score in the opening 7:29. Mackin struck first, scoring just 1:13 into the game after a Lacey Downey caused turnover. Mackin made it two in a row before Hoss scored on the doorstep in transition. Mackenzie Lehman got the Flames on the board at 7:02 off an Ava Rajala helper.
 
Angello scored another fast-break goal with 1:23 to play in the opening quarter to give Hopkins a 4-1 lead. Charlotte Smith then converted an eight-meter shot at 10:59 in the second to push the lead to four. Katie Colavito responded for Liberty, scoring on a shot from about seven meters to out to spark a 5-1 run. After a Downey step down and score at 7:49, the Flames scored four times in just three minutes and nine seconds to knot the score at six.
 
Downey halted the Flames' run with 2:43 to play in the second when she scored into an open net in transition. Hopkins started the third the same way it started the first, with three straight goals, as the Jays pushed out to a 10-6 lead. Liberty battled back, getting goals from Cami Merkel and Olivia Young just 21 seconds apart to the cut the lead to two.
 
Angello and Mackin sandwiched goals and a Lehman score for the Flames and the Blue Jays led 12-9 after three. Kendall Coss cut that deficit to two when she scored 2:34 into the fourth quarter. Kielbasa then ignited that game-ending 9-1 with her goal at 11:02.
 
Angello led Hopkins with a school NCAA Division I Tournament record nine points (6g, 3a). She and Mackin scored six goals each, the most by a Blue Jay in an NCAA Tournament game. Mackin finished with seven points and Case handed out a career-best six assists, tying the school DI Tournament record. Hoss (2g, 2a), Gonzalez (2g), Downey (2g, 2a), Smith (1g, 1a) and Samantha DiCarlo (2a) all had multi-point games.
 
In addition to her 12 caused turnovers, O'Brien also picked up a career-best 10 ground balls to go with three draw controls and a goal. Downey also tied her career high with four caused turnovers and Gonzalez finished with seven draw controls. Morgan Giardina tallied eight saves and a ground ball in the win.
 
Merkel paced Liberty with five points (2g, 3a) and Reinertson scored a team-high three goals. Lehman added three points (2g, 1a) while Coss (2g) and Colavito (1g, 1a) had two points each. Ava Menna controlled a game-high 12 draws while Colavito controlled seven. Rachel Hines finished with 12 saves, two ground balls and a caused turnover.
 
Hopkins returns to action on Sunday, May 11 as the Blue Jays take on the winner of Princeton-UMass. Opening draw at Homewood Field is slated for 1:00 pm.
 
Notes: O'Brien's 12 caused turnovers are the most in the nation since at least the 2014 season. She now ranks 17^th in NCAA history with 160 career caused turnovers. Mackin is now tied for 10^th in Johns Hopkins Division I history with 175 career points. Hopkins' 17 assists in the game are a school record. JHU also broke the school single-season records for goals (260), assists (170) and points (430) in the win.