BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins women's basketball team took on Gettysburg in a rematch of the last two Centennial Conference Championships Tuesday night, using a 29-point fourth quarter to surge past the Bullets and secure the 66-63 win in front of the home crowd. The victory is the Blue Jays' first over Gettysburg since February of 2022.
Three Hopkins players got into double figures, paced by 18 from Michaela O'Neil with Kendall Dunham (career-best 15) and Jadyn Murray (14) also eclipsing the 10-point mark. O'Neil and Greta Miller shared the team-lead in rebounds at 10 — giving O'Neil her first double-double of the season — while Miller also added a team-best four assists. Elisabeth Peebles totaled just five points but made her presence felt on the defensive end, registering four combined steals and blocks.
Murray established herself early in Tuesday's contest, scoring six of the Jays' (3-1, 1-0 Centennial) first 10 points. The junior's 14 tied her career high set a season ago against the Bullets, playing a large part in Hopkins outscoring Gettysburg 40-22 in the paint. The Bullets (2-2, 0-1 Centennial) had their own offense going, however, building their lead to three at 13-10, but with the frame about to end Layla Henderson found a cutting Macie Feldman who hit a layup as the clock hit zero to make it a one-point game after one.
The second quarter once again started with Murray, who scored Hopkins' first four points to tie the game at 16 before Gettysburg began to pull away. A made jumper two minutes into the frame made it an 18-16 game before back-to-back 3-pointers extended the Bullets' lead to eight, their largest of the night. The Jays responded with a 9-2 run of their own with points coming from O'Neil, Dunham and Feldman to cut the lead back to one, but a made three by Gettysburg sent Hopkins into halftime down 29-25.
The game was tied four times in a back-and-forth third quarter that saw the Jays shoot 39% compared to just 26% from the Bullets. Murray and Miller combined for a quarter-opening 5-0 run to give Hopkins a 30-29 lead, but a made three from Mackenzie Szlosek, the reigning Conference Player of the Year's game-high fourth of the night, gave Gettysburg back to lead at 32-30. The score was leveled at 32, 38 and 40 before a Szlosek jumper with 11 seconds left gave the Bullets a two-point lead heading into the final frame.
Dunham entered Tuesday's fourth quarter with just two points coming on a pair of free throws in the second quarter, but with the team in need of a spark she was the one to provide, going off for 13 points in the frame en route to a career-best 15 points.
With the Bullets up two, the sophomore made her first bucket of the night to level things at 44. Both sides traded buckets to tie the score again at 46 before Dunham sank her first 3-pointer of the season to put Hopkins ahead and kickstart an 8-0 run to give the Jays their largest lead of the night at 54-46. After Gettysburg had cut it to four, the sophomore hit yet another deep ball to put Hopkins back up 59-52, but turnovers plagued the Jays from there with the Bullets scoring eight unanswered to retake the lead at 60-59. A pair of free throws from Feldman put Hopkins in front 61-60, and after a missed Gettysburg jumper the visitors were forced to foul, with Dunham and O'Neil going 2-2 to extend the lead back to five.
A 3-pointer off the ensuing inbound play cut the lead to two with a 1-2 trip from Peebles extending it back to three. With five seconds on the clock the Bullets tried to get a clean look but were unable to do so, with their heave the buzzer coming up short and clinching the 66-63 win.
Next up for Hopkins is a matchup against McDaniel Tuesday, Nov 28. Tip-off of the Centennial Conference bout is scheduled for 6 p.m.