Garnet Rally Falls Short In Charm City
BALTIMORE, Md. - Swarthmore rallied from a 12-point deficit on two occasions but timely foul shooting by the home standing Johns Hopkins Blue Jays kept the Garnet at bay. JHU junior Julie Miller dropped in 20 points and senior wing Katie Kimball added a double-double as the Blue Jays (15-4, 12-1 Centennial) defeated the visiting Garnet 66-58 on Tuesday evening in Goldfarb Gymnasium.
Swarthmore sophomore post Karen Berk led the Garnet (8-10, 5-8 Centennial) with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds, her eighth double-double of the season.
Johns Hopkins opened up the scoring with a jumper from the corner by Kimball at 19:18 and the Garnet answered back with a lay-up by Berk to tie the score at 2-2. This would be the only time JHU failed to hold the lead.
The Blue Jays broke out to an early 19-10 lead following a lay-up by freshman guard Jonay Foster at 11:50. The Garnet grabbed the momentum, cutting off a 15-8 run over the next seven minutes. Berk capped the run with a lay-up and a foul, converting the freebie to make the score 27-25 JHU.
Swarthmore called a time-out to catch a rest, but Johns Hopkins was able to use the break to re-group and the Blue Jays ran off 11 straight points to push their lead to 38-25 with 1:39 left in the first half. Berk converted a move in the lane and sophomore guard Laura Popovics converted one-of-two at the free line to send the teams into the intermission with Johns Hopkins on top 40-30.
Both teams shot the ball well in the first twenty minutes - Johns Hopkins hit at 45.5% and the Garnet shot 42.3%.
Swarthmore hit the floor running in the second stanza, using three consecutive buckets by Berk to force a JHU time-out at 18:34 with the Blue Jay lead cut to 40-36.
The Hopkins women responded immediately, tearing off eight straight points to push their lead back to 12 (48-36) with 15:55 remaining. The Garnet countered with another Berk bank shot and a triple from freshman swing Melissa Grigsby to make the score 48-41 with 13:44 on the clock.
Swarthmore coach Renee DeVarney switched up to a zone defense and the Blue Jay shooters struggled to stretch the defense, shooting 1-of-18 (5.6%) from beyond the arc for the night. The strategy bought the Garnet some time to make a run at Johns Hopkins. The Blue Jays led 54-48 with 5:58 left in the game following a one-of-two effort by Grigsby from the charity stripe.
For the next three minutes, Swarthmore traded long three-point misses by JHU for free throws at the other end. Popovics and Grigsby combined to go six-for-six from the line and Berk put in a basket to bring the Garnet within 59-56 with 2:03 remaining.
Miller hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to five, 61-56 with 1:49 left. A three-pointer by Popovics was off target and the Blue Jays grabbed the rebound and converted a foul jumper by guard Katie O'Malley to gain a seven-point cushion with 1:13 left on the clock.
Swarthmore was unable to convert quickly and Johns Hopkins shot three-of-four to claim its 15th victory of the season and retain the top position in the Centennial Conference.
The Blue Jays converted 23-of-34 (67.6%) at the line on the night while the Garnet converted 68.2% (15-of-22). Hopkins enjoyed a 45-41 rebounding advantage and won the turnover battle, 18-13.
Miller was 10-of-13 from the line and grabbed seven rebounds, while Kimball filled out the stat sheet with 10 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks, and four assists.
Berk continued to score at will in the post, hitting 10-of-15 from the floor to bump her team-leading average to 16.3 points per game. Grigsby finished with 12 points, the fifth time she has hit double figures this season. Senior forward Cara Tigue grabbed 10 rebounds for Swarthmore while Popovics finished with eight points. Senior Debbie Farrelly handed out a season-high five assists for the Garnet.
Swarthmore concludes its personal Murders' Row of Centennial road games on Saturday, Feb. 4 at McDaniel College. The Garnet will tip-off with the Green Terror at 1:00 p.m.; McDaniel defeated Swarthmore 74-63 in Tarble Pavilion on January 10.