W. Basketball to host Centennial playoffs

With resounding victories
this week over Ursinus
and Franklin & Marshall,
the Lady Blue Jays basketball
team clinched the
top spot in the Centennial
Conference for the regular
season.
Hopkins defeated the
Ursinus Bears 67-46 on Saturday
and stormed past
Franklin and Marshall 68-
40 on Tuesday.
As the conference's regular
season champion, Hopkins
(21-3, 16-3 CC) will host
the Centennial Conference
post-season tournament as
the number one seed.
"I'm so excited they're
hosting," said Athletic
Communications Intern
Mary Raskob, the team's
statitician. "They worked
really hard this season and
played well. They deserved
it."
The Lady Blue Jays
honored their seniors before
the Ursinus game.
Prior to tip-off, a small
ceremony was held for
Chantel Mattiola, Kathryn
Fox and Stephanie
Fong in honor of their
commitment and dedication
to the Blue Jays' basketball
community.
The Lady
Bears (13-
10, 12-6 CC)
held tight for
the first half
and were
even able
to gain the
lead twice in
the first five
minutes of
the game.
However,
a jumper by junior Kara-
Lea Follmer with 13:42
left in the first half pulled
Hopkins ahead 11-9, and
the Lady Blue Jays never
looked back. When sophomore
Katie Brooks hit a
jumper to close out the first
half of the game, Hopkins
had a solid 31-26 lead.
However, Ursinus came
out fighting in the second
half and jumped out with a
4-1 run to bring the teams
close at 32-30.
Hopkins responded
with a dominating run of
their own, pulling ahead
41-31 on the next drives
and widening their lead to
10 points. The Lady Bears
and Lady Blue Jays battled
back and forth for some
time, but in the final 2:54
Hopkins went on an 11-0
spree to bring the final
score to 67-46.
Sophomore Fatu Conteh
closed out all scoring
for the evening when she
swiped the ball from an
Ursinus player and scored a
layup off the resulting fastbreak.
Junior Alex Vassila led
the Blue Jays in scoring
with 16 points and boasted
a career-high 16 rebounds,
making this her eighth
double-double of the season.
In addition, Vassila
also had five blocks.
Mattiola and Fong had
11 and 8 points, respectively,
to round out the
Lady Blue Jays' leading
scorers.
Hopkins shot 45.3 percent
from the field and outrebounded
the Lady Bears,
47-28.
"It was a great win on
senior night," said Fox. "It
meant a lot."
Hopkins had equally as
impressive numbers versus
Franklin and Marshall.
The match-up was
highly anticipated. It was a
battle for first place in the
conference as well as the
right to host the post-season
tournament.
But Hopkins shut
down the second place
team in the conference
with force.
The Lady Blue Jays shot
45.6 percent from the field
and out-rebounded the
Lady Diplomats 48-37.
In addition, Hopkins'
bench contributed 27
points in the win. It took
just over two minutes for
either team
to score, but
once Fox hit
a free throw
for the first
basket of
the night
the Lady
Blue Jays
went on a
12-4 run to
start off the
game.
At halftime, Hopkins
was leading at 33-17, and,
with 6:29 remaining, Hopkins
had gained a menacing
60-33 lead. The Lady
Blue Jays went 4-for-4
from the field to close out
the night.
The Hopkins defense
dominated the game, holding
Franklin & Marshall to
a season-low 40 points and
20 percent shooting from
the field. Franklin and
Marshall also went 0-for-8
on three pointers.
It was the first time the
Lady Diplomats had not
made a three-pointer in
a game all season. Mattiola
lead all scoring with
16 points and Vassila and
Fong scored 12 and 10, respectively.
"We played great tonight,"
said Vassila, "we
were all proud and really
excited."
The Lady Blue Jays host
the Bryn Mawr Owls to
close out their regular season.
The game will be at
home at Goldfarb gymnasium,
with tip-off at 7p.m.