LANCASTER, PA - Point guard Dana Johns (Sr., York, PA/Eastern York) connected on four-of-nine from beyond the arc to become the all-time three point field goal leader in school history as the Franklin & Marshall College women's basketball team upended Washington College 74-53 in Centennial Conference action in the Mayser Center.
Johns, who entered the game with 125 three pointers on 347 attempts to trail F&M leader Mika Lugue '97 (127) by two treys, made history in the first 14 minutes of the game as she connected on treys at 15:57, 14:20 and 6:32 to surpass Lugue. She added another three-pointer with 18:45 left on the clock in the second half as she finished the game with 12 points and five assists. Overall, she raised her career assists total to 264 to surpass Lauren Howanski '02 for fourth place on the all-time list at the College.
The Diplomats (4-7, 2-3 Centennial Conference) trailed once in the game as Washington's Kaitlyn Roth made a lay-up 49 seconds into the game for a 2-0 Shorewomen lead. F&M took the lead as Johns led the team on a 13-2 run to go ahead 13-4 with 13:42 left in the first half.
Washington (4-10, 1-6 Centennial Conference) cut the lead to two points at 17-15 with 7:36 until the break, but the Diplomats went on an 11-0 run which included Johns record-breaking three-pointer to go ahead 28-15 with 2:50 left in the first half. The Shorewomen fought back to pull to within 29-18 with 54 seconds remaining, but forward Emily Weaver (Sr., Prince Frederick, MD/Calverton) made back-to-back lay-ups at the 45 and eight second marks for a 33-18 lead at halftime.
Washington failed to cut the lead below 11 points the rest of the way as the Diplomats led by as many as 27 points in the second half to cruise to the 21 point victory.
For F&M, four players reached double-digits in scoring as forward Brittany Braxton (So., Pearl River, NY/Nanuet) tallied 12 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double, while guard Sarah Meisenberg (Fr., Severna Park, MD/Severn) added 10 points and Weaver tacked on 17 points with eight boards.
The key to the game was F&M's three-point shooting as the Diplomats drained eight-of-17 attempts while holding Washington to zero-for-five. Further, F&M held a 48-38 rebounding edge, including a 19-9 advantage on the offensive glass.
Brenda Lucas and Roth led the Shorewomen with 10 points apiece, while Kay May added nine points as Washington falls to 1-14 all-time against F&M as the Diplomats have won the last 10 meetings since a 55-50 Washington win on January 10, 1998 in Chestertown, Maryland.
Franklin & Marshall will continue the season on January 14 at Swarthmore College in Centennial Conference action. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m.
