ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Dec. 30) — Johns Hopkins scored 12-straight fourth quarter points to comeback to defeat the Denison University women's basketball team by a 61-53 score in a Division III game at St. Pete Catholic High School in Florida.
For a second-straight day, the Big Red saw its chances of earning a win over a ranked opponent come up short, despite holding second half leads in both games.
The late run lifted Johns Hopkins to an 8-2 overall record. Denison drops to 7-5 this season.
Sophomore guard Violet Mitchell paced Denison in scoring for a second-straight day. Mitchell finished with 17 points and added four rebounds.
Senior forward Abigail Westmeyer notched seven points and pulled down a team-best eight rebounds in the loss. Sophomore guard Abby Cooch dished out a team-best five assists.
Both teams were slow out of the gates offensively with the 11 a.m. start time. JHU held a 13-10 lead after the opening 10 minutes of play. Denison. Add just two field goals in the opening quartet but tallied five points at the free throw line.
The Blue Jays opened the second quarter with a pair of free throws before Denison ripped off five straight points to even the score at 15. A three-pointer by Mitchell gave Denison an 18-17 advantage at the 5:43 mark. Layups by Westmeyer and Mitchell stretched the DU lead to 22-17 just a little more than a minute later. Denison remained in the lead for the remainder of the half. JHU was able to trim that lead to a single point at 26-25 at the break.
The Blue Jays opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run to surge into the lead. A triple made the score 34-26 in favor of JHU at the 7:13 mark. Denison spent the rest of the quarter battling back. A three-pointer by junior Brooke Toigo trimmed the JHU lead to 34-31 near the midway point. Later in the quarter, a layup by sophomore Maeve Perry and free throws before Denison makes by Westmeyer evened the score at 41-41 with 1:29 showing on the clock. The Blue Jays used a layup with 38 seconds left to carry a narrow lead into the fourth.
Denison opened the final quarter with scores on back to back possessions to retake the lead. Senior Maddie Goodman knocked down a triple and senior Bryana Woodard converted a layup at the 9:00 mark to make it 46-43 Denison.
Following a free throw by Cooch that made the score 47-45 with 7:27 to play, Denison went scoreless for more than six minutes. During that time, JHU scored 12-straight points to take a double-digit advantage. Westmeyer ended the drought with a layup with 1:06 remaining. However, the deficit proved too much at that point. Denison held JHU without a field goal over the final four minutes but the Blue Jays were able to convert seven free throws during that time to earn the win.
Denison was unable to find its shooting touch in the loss. The Big Red made 32.2 percent from the field and just 17.4 percent (4-23) from three-point range. JHU finished at 35.9 percent from the field and made just two-of-nine three-point attempts. Additionally, JHU finished at plus seven in turnover margin (16-9).
Michaela O'Neil scored a game high 19 points to lead the Blue Jays in the win.
Up Next: Denison resumes play in 2025 when they travel to Kenyon College for a North Coast Athletic Conference game. The Big Red and Owls will start at 1 p.m.
