BALTIMORE, MD - Franklin & Marshall College point guard Dana Johns (Sr., York, PA/Eastern York) knocked down four three-pointers in the final six minutes, including the game-winner with 30 seconds left on the game clock, as she finished six-of-14 from beyond the arc as part of a 20 point performance to lead the Diplomats to a 65-64 win over Johns Hopkins University in the Centennial Conference women's basketball regular season finale.
Trailing 52-45 with 6:24 left on the clock, the Diplomats (10-15, 7-10 Centennial Conference) began their comeback as Johns drilled a three-pointer at 6:21 to slice the margin to four points. Following a missed jumper by guard Sarah Meisenberg (Fr., Severna Park, MD/Severn School) at 5:10, forward Brittany Braxton (So., Pearl River, NY/Nanuet) collected an offensive rebound and found Johns for another three-pointer at 5:06 as the Diplomats pulled to within a point of Johns Hopkins (19-6, 15-3 Centennial Conference) at 52-51.
Hopkins' Haley Wojdowski made the backend of a pair of free throws to push the Blue Jays lead to two points, but Johns made her third consecutive three-pointer at 4:13 to give F&M a 54-53 lead.
The lead grew to three points as Meisenberg dropped in a lay-up at 3:56, but JHU's Andrea Dodrill made lay-ups at 3:32 and 2:51 to give Johns Hopkins back the lead at 57-56. F&M countered with a three-pointer by Meisenberg at 2:16 to go back in front, but Wojdowski made a lay-up and a free throw to hand the Blue Jays back the lead with 2:00 to play.
F&M and Hopkins traded the lead over the next minute as guard Christy Strunk (Sr., Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) nailed a three-pointer at 1:41 to put the Diplomats ahead 62-60 before Julie Miller made a lay-up at 1:21 to tie the game at 62-62 and another with 45 seconds to play to give the Blue Jays a 64-62 lead.
Following a timeout by the Diplomats, Johns finished off the game's scoring as she hit the 178th three-pointer of her career to win the game.
Hopkins had a chance to score in the closing seconds as Miller missed a lay-up with 14 seconds to play and Wojdowski pulled down the offensive rebound. However, the Diplomats defense stiffened and forced a turnover to seal the win.
The game began as a close affair as Meisenberg drained a three-pointer 1:51 into the game to give F&M a 3-0 lead. The lead exchanged hands six times over the next six minutes to a 9-8 Diplomats margin, but Johns Hopkins reeled off a 13-0 run to take a 21-9 lead at the 7:17 mark. F&M chipped the lead down to eight points as Johns hit a three-pointer and Braxton made a free throw to pull the Diplomats to within 21-13.
Trailing 26-16 with 3:39 to play in the half, the Diplomats began to climb back into the game as Meisenberg made four-of-four at the free throw line, forward Emily Weaver (Sr., Prince Frederick, MD/Calverton) hit a jumper and forward Maxie Etess (Fr., East Lyme, CT/Lyme-Old Lyme) made a jumper and a free throw to account for a 9-0 run to close out the half and put the Diplomats within 28-25.
The Diplomats tied the game 2:30 into the second half as Strunk drilled a three-pointer to knot the game at 30-30. Franklin & Marshall did not take the lead, but the margin stayed with a tie to four points to the 6:46 mark when Katie Kimball made a lay-up to give Hopkins a 50-45 lead.
Miller added a pair of free throws at 6:24 to set the score at 52-45 and set up the Diplomats dramatic comeback.
For the Diplomats, Meisenberg finished with a game high 23 points and 10 rebounds as she went six-of-14 from the field, including two-of-five beyond the arc, and nine-of-10 at the free throw line with four offensive and six defensive boards, four assists and a steal. In addition, Strunk chipped in 10 points and two assists and Braxton added four points and 14 rebounds as F&M shot 31.7% (20-63) from the field, 36.7% (11-of-30) beyond the arc and 70.0% (14-of-20) at the charity stripe.
Johns keyed the Diplomats' offense in the game as she went seven-for-21 from the field and added six rebounds, four assists and three steals as she finishes her career with 1,131 points, 307 rebounds, 251 steals, 289 assists and 178 three-pointers as she ranks 11th in scoring, second in three point field goal percentage (37.24%, 178-of-478), third in assists and steals and first in three-pointers in school history.
Katie Kimball led Hopkins with 14 points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals, while Wojdowski added 11 points, four assists and two steals and Dodrill tacked on 12 points with six boards.
Historically, the win improves F&M to 25-27 against Johns Hopkins and snaps an eight game win streak by the Blue Jays over the Diplomats as Franklin & Marshall last defeated Hopkins 75-56 on February 27, 2002 in Lancaster. Further, the win marks the Diplomats first in Baltimore since a 62-52 victory on December 4, 1993 as Franklin & Marshall snapped a string of 12 consecutive defeats in Charm City.
