BALTIMORE, MD -- Franklin & Marshall center Amy Abernathy (Sr., Far Hills, NJ/American School Paris) recorded her 18th double-double of the season, but Johns Hopkins University turned a 35-14 halftime lead into a 67-50 defeat of the Diplomats in Centennial Conference women's basketball action.
With the win, Hopkins clinches home court advantage and hosting rights for the upcoming Centennial Conference women's basketball playoffs as the Blue Jays (22-2, 17-1 Centennial Conference) will host the Diplomats (12-11, 12-6 Centennial Conference) on Saturday, February 27 at 4:00 p.m. at Goldfarb Gymnasium. In the other semifinal at Goldfarb, McDaniel will face-off with Muhlenberg in Baltimore at 1:30 p.m. for the chance to advance to the CC title game slated for 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 28 at Hopkins.
Against the Jays, Abernathy hit eight-of-17 from the field and two-of-three at the line for 18 points while pulling down 18 rebounds, including 13 defensive boards, and blocking four shots to raise her career total to 107, a Franklin & Marshall and Centennial Conference single season record.
The third women's player in F&M history to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career, Abernathy now has 1,457 points, 1,133 rebounds and 265 blocked shots. In addition, she ranks sixth in scoring and second in blocked shots in F&M history.
Hopkins never trailed in the game as Ashanna Randall hit a jumper at the 19:26 mark to put JHU in front to stay. The lead ballooned to 10 points at 13-3 following a pair of free-throws by Alex Felix at the 14:02 mark before Ann Parker (Sr., Baltimore, MD/Notre Dame) hit a jumper 12 seconds later to cut the lead to eight.
However, Hopkins used a 5-0 run to move the margin out to 13 before Courtney Tierney (Sr., Princeton, NJ/Hun School) drove the lane for a lay-up. Maureen Myers countered for the Jays knocking down a jumper before Tierney connected on a pair of free-throws to slice the lead back to 11 points at 20-9 with 9:41 left in the half.
Neither team would score over the next two minutes before Randall made back-to-back lay-ups at 7:05 and 6:44 to push the lead to 15 points. Trista Snyder added a bucket for a 17-point margin before Lauren Dodrill (Jr., Timonium, MD/Roland Park) hit the front-end of a pair of free throws to trim the lead back to 16 points with 6:17 remaining in the half.
F&M trimmed the lead back to 15 with 4:09 left as Maura Lentz (Jr., Baltimore, MD/Catonsville) dropped in a basket for a 29-14 deficit before Hopkins closed out the half with a 6-0 run to carry a 21-point lead into the break.
The story of the half was F&M's shooting as the Diplomats connected on just five-of-28 from the field (17.9%), one-of-seven from beyond the arc (14.3%) and three-of-four at the charity stripe (75%) while being outrebounded 30-20, including a 13-6 deficit on the offensive glass.
F&M attempted a comeback in the dawning moments of the second half engineering a 12-0 run behind four baskets by Abernathy and a jumper by point guard Dana Johns (So., York, PA/Eastern York) to move to within 35-26 with 15:51 to play.
The teams exchanged baskets as Amanda Leese hit a jumper for the Jays and Abernathy added another lay-up to keep the deficit at nine points at 37-28 with 15:09 to go.
Abernathy's basket marked the last points for the Diplomats for the next four minutes a Hopkins rattled off an 11-0 run capped by a pair of free-throws by Trista Snyder for a 48-28 lead.
Tierney made a pair of free-throws with 11:32 to go and Abernathy converted on a lay-up opportunity 29 seconds later to move to within 16, but could draw no closer as the #7 nationally ranked Blue Jays held on for the win.
For F&M, Tierney finished with 11 points and five rebounds, while Johns added 10 points and four assists.
Randall led Hopkins with 14 points, while Maureen Myers and Leese tossed in 10 points apiece to key the Jays to the win.
