BALTIMORE, Pa. – A fast start and a two-point lead at halftime did not hold up for Franklin & Marshall on Wednesday night, falling to Johns Hopkins 67-53 in Centennial Conference (CC) women's basketball. The Diplomats fell to 2-5, 2-3 CC with the loss, while the Blue Jays improved to 4-4, 3-2 CC with the victory.

Two early buckets from the hosts put F&M in a four-point hole early, but a triple from Sarah Pisani followed by buckets from Erica Brown and Lindsey Powers gave the Diplomats a 7-4 edge with 7:17 left in the opener.

A pair of free throws from Sarah Haddon and one from Brown extended the lead to 10-6 at 6:14, but an 11-0 run from Hopkins returned the lead to the hosts at 17-10. Still, F&M responded with a tough deuce from Haddon and a stepback jumper from Ashlyn Petersen to make the score 17-14 after one.

The Diplomats' shooting heated up in the second, with treys from Haley Pilone and AnnMarie DiCarlo starting a 14-4 run that gave F&M a 28-23 edge with 2:58 left in the half. Layups from Kristin Hamill and Powers in the closing moments of the half allowed the visitors to enter halftime up two at 32-30.

Haddon tied a game-high with eight points at halftime as eight different Diplomats scored in the first two quarters.

The second half told a second story as the Blue Jays held F&M to just two points in the first six minutes of the third, taking a 44-34 advantage. Another 7-0 Hopkins run to close the quarter gave the hosts a 53-38 lead entering the fourth.

The Blue Jay lead grew to as much as 26 in the fourth quarter, before a late F&M surge cut the final deficit to 14.

Haddon finished with a game-high 16 points, while Brown, Pisani, and Petersen all added seven for the Diplomats.

F&M looks to even its CC record on Saturday, visiting McDaniel at 1:00 p.m.