BALTIMORE, MD – The Gettysburg women's basketball team outscored host Johns Hopkins 24-14 in the fourth quarter and the Bullets topped the Blue Jays, 64-55, in the Centennial Conference Championship game in Goldfarb Gymnasium Sunday afternoon.  The title is the third straight and the fourth in the last six years for the Bullets, who improve to 24-3 and earn the league's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament with today's victory.
 
The Blue Jays, who slip to 24-3 with the loss, are in a strong position to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when the bracket is announced at 2:30 pm on Monday (February 26).
 
The Blue Jay carried a 41-40 lead into the fourth quarter after Greta Miller hit a jumper at the buzzer to end the third period.  The Bullets needed just 66 seconds to take the lead in the fourth quarter as tournament MVP Shinya Lee layed one home after a Blue Jay turnover to give Gettysburg a lead it would maintain for nearly six minutes.
 
Five Kimberly Hopkins points and another basket from Lee gave the Bullets a 49-43 lead with 5:30 on the fourth-quarter clock before the Blue Jays rallied to pull even on a conventional three-point play from Jadyn Murray and an Elisabeth Peebles  three-pointer from the wing.
 
A conventional three-point play from Hopkins and another pair of free throws from her gave the Bullets a 54-49 lead as the clock dripped under the three-minute mark, only to have the Blue Jays pull within one on four straight free throws from Macie Feldman and Peebles.  Lee then hit a pair from the line with exactly two minutes to play, Alayna Arnolie hit a jumper in the paint and the Bullets hit six-of-eight from the line down the stretch to seal the victory.
 
A first-half of runs saw the Blue Jays build an early eight-point lead, only to have the Bullets fight back with a 13-1 spurt to grab a four-point lead before Johns Hopkins ultimately led by a point, 24-23, at the half.
 
Down 4-2 early, the Blue Jays used a 10-0 run to quickly turn the two-point deficit into a 12-4 lead.  A Miller three-pointer jump started the spree, which also included a triple from Peebles and two free throws apiece for Feldman and Murray.  The Blue Jay defense held the Bullets scoreless for more than six minutes during the run.
 
The Bullets started their spurt late in the first quarter as a Caitlyn Priore layup was followed by a Hopkins driving layup to make it 12-8 after one quarter.
 
The Bullets outscored the Blue Jays 15-12 in the second period and used a late 8-0 run to turn a 17-13 deficit into a 21-17 lead.  Arnolie hit back-to-back jumpers, including one from beyond the arc, and Maria Szlosek banged home a triple of her own to account for all eight points in the run.  The Blue Jays capped the quarter with a 7-1 run of their own with Peebles dropping in a late three-pointer of her own to give Johns Hopkins the one-point halftime lead.
 
A higher scoring and evenly played third quarter saw the teams evenly split 34 points to account for the 41-40 Blue Jay lead entering the final period.  The Bullets used an early spurt that Szlosek capped with a layup to grab a four-point lead at 30-26, but the back-and-forth period would see 10 lead changes and one tie with a late Peebles triple and the buzzer-beating jumper from Miller giving the Blue Jays the one-point lead after 30 minutes.
 
Lee earned her MVP with a strong all-around performance as she punched up 10 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks, while Hopkins added 13 points and six rebounds and Szlosek chipped in with 12 points to fuel the victory.  The biggest difference in the game came from the bench as Hopkins' 13 points helped the Bullets to a 23-5 advantage in bench scoring.
 
Peebles scored a game-high 16 points and added six rebounds, while Miller added her seventh double-double of the year with 13 points and 10 rebounds.  Feldman added 10 points and five rebounds for the Blue Jays.