While the rest of the
student body at Hopkins
returned home to recover
from a long fall semester,
the Lady Blue Jay basket-
ball team took little time
off. In fact, the ladies took
advantage of the down
time from school to contin-
ue improving their game.
Though the weather got
colder outside, the Lady
Jays turned up the heat in
gyms throughout the Cen-
tennial Conference and be-
yond, compiling a record
of 10-1 over the break. This
hot play raised their record
to 18-2 overall and 13-2 in
the Centennial Conference
- good for first place.
As recently as this past
week, Hopkins earned a
spot in the USA Today/
ESPN WCBA top 25 at #23
nationally.
After spending the
holidays at home, the Blue
Jays made a trip to sunny
Southern California where
they took down two West
Coast powerhouses in Oc-
cidental College and Chap-
man University in a couple
of closely contested games.
The Jays then returned
home only to hit the road
again with a win at Ursi-
nus before two home Cen-
tennial Conference wins
against Washington Col-
lege and Swarthmore.
The lone rough spot in
the month of January was
a road loss against rival
Haverford College by a
score of 41-37. Despite be-
ing 13-6 (8-6 CC), Haver-
ford has given the Lady
Blue Jays fits this season,
accounting for their only
two losses on record.
In those teams the
Haverford defense has
been the difference, hold-
ing Hopkins to 39.5 points
per game, down from their
season average of 62.8.
The Lady Jays wasted no
time bouncing back, win-
ning their next five games
in relatively easy fashion,
including three games
against the next two top
teams in the Centennial
Conference in Muhlenberg
and Franklin & Marshall.
Leading the way for
the Blue Jays this season
has been senior shooting
guard Chantel Mattiola
who has averaged 12.5
points per game and 3.5 re-
bounds per game. Mattiola
also set a Hopkins record
during the break for most
career three-point baskets
made.
She is the Jays' sharpest
shooter, accounting for 41
of the team's 56 total made
three pointers this season,
including an impressive
streak in which she has hit
at least one trey in each of
her last 28 games played
dating back to the 2010-
2011 season.
Right behind Mattiola is
junior center Alex Vassila,
who is second on the team
in scoring (9.7 ppg), ranks
second in the conference
in blocked shots (45 on the
season), and ranks seventh
in rebounding (8.8 rpg).Her impressive play, es-
pecially in the past week,
earned her Centennial
Conference Player of the
Week honors. She was also
named The News-Letter's
Athlete of the Week.
This past week against
the other two teams at the
top of the Centennial Con-
ference, Vassila was at her
best, collecting 16 points
and 13 rebounds against
Muhlenberg and 12 points
and 11 rebounds against
F&M. These two games ac-
counted for half of her dou-
ble-doubles on the season.
Perhaps the most in-
triguing aspect of the Lady
Jays this season is their
impressive depth that may
have been missing in pre-
vious years. Eight players
have seen playing time in
every game this season,
and two of the top five
scorers on the team, sopho-
more guard Fatu Conteh
(7.2 ppg) and freshman for-
ward Maggie Fruehan (5.3
ppg), come off the bench.
Senior point guard
Stephanie Fong has ex-
celled in her role as team
leader and floor general,
as she ranks second in the
Ccentennial Conference in
assists and eight all-time in
career assists at Hopkins.
She also leads the confer-
ence in free throw percent-
age with a by shooting at a
91.1% (51-56) clip from the
line.
On Wednesday night,
the Lady Jays faced off with
Gettysburg, a team batting
for playoff position, and
handed the Bullets a 67-57
loss. Hopkins was led by
Mattiola, whose three-point
skills were once again on
display, and Fong. Mattiola
hit a decisive deep-ball to
put the game away for good
late in the second half. On
the game, Mattiola notched
11 points.
Fong was the team's
leading scorer with 16, and
she also topped the Jays
with seven assists. Again,
it was her prowess at the
free-throw line that boost-
ed Hopkins. Half of Fong's
points came on foul shots.
Nine Jays scored in the
game, including a great
performance from fresh-
man forward Haley Bush.
Up next this week for
the Lady Blue Jays is an-
other tough couple games
against Centennial op-
ponents on their home
courts. On Saturday the
Jays travel to Swarthmore
College to take on the
Garnet before making a
trip on Wednesday 2/8 to
Westminster, MD to take
on the Green Terror of Mc-
Daniel College.
After this road swing
the Lady Blue Jays Basket-
ball team will return home
to finish out the regular
season with the hopes of
securing the top spot and
potentially hosting the
conference tournament.
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