Box Score
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Junior Emily Gibbons (Annapolis, Md./Severn School) scored her 1,000th career point and led Gettysburg College to a thrilling 79-67 victory over Johns Hopkins University in front of the home crowd in the first round of the Centennial Conference Championship Tuesday night inside Bream Gym.
Gettysburg (19-7) received another huge game from Gibbons, who extended her conference record double-double streak to 14 with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Gibbons tallied 15 points in the final quarter, including a lay-up to reach 1,000 with 4:30 remaining in the game. She is the 15th Bullet to reach the milestone and the fourth to accomplish the feat in her junior year.
Gibbons wasn't alone as Gettysburg produced a well-rounded scoring effort with three players in double-figures and two more finishing with nine points apiece. Sophomore Emma Dorshimer (Jenkintown, Pa./Jenkintown) posted her 11th outing of 20 or more points by tallying 21 after going 8-of-14 from the field. Freshman Kiera Cesareo (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) added 11 points, while freshman Emma Hahner (Forest Hill, Md./C. Milton Wright) and junior Kendra Meredith (Boyds, Md./Northwest) each tallied nine points. Meredith tied a personal best with 10 assists and Hahner grabbed seven boards and blocked four shots.
Caroline Corcoran scored 17 points to pace Johns Hopkins (13-12). Madison McGrath tallied 13 points and five assists, while Lexie Scholtz finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
After splitting the regular season series, Tuesday's first round game was intense from the opening tip. The two teams entered the second quarter tied at 17, but back-to-back buckets by Gibbons put Gettysburg in front 21-17.
The Blue Jays started to heat up with three consecutive possessions resulting in points. After a jumper by Cesareo, the visitors reeled off seven more points with a three-pointer by McGrath pushing the advantage to 31-23 with 4:38 left in the first half.
The Bullets sliced the deficit down to three in the final minute, but a three-pointer by Marissa Varnado appeared to give Johns Hopkins some momentum with 11 seconds remaining. Gettysburg raced up the floor with Meredith finding Cesareo for a deep three to set the score at 37-34 at the break.
The Blue Jays remained in front early in the third quarter and took a 45-41 lead on a lay-up by Corcoran with 5:43 on the clock. Dorshimer took over the show from there, netting nine points over the remainder of the period as Gettysburg took a 56-51 lead into the fourth quarter.
Gibbons set the tone for the final period by converting an old-fashioned three-point play, the first of three-straight buckets by the junior which extended the lead to 63-51. The anticipation of the crowd continued to build as Gibbons dropped in two more buckets to move onto the doorstep of 1,000 points midway through the quarter. Following a turnover by Johns Hopkins, Dorshimer found Gibbons rolling to the hoop for the milestone-clinching lay-in.
The Blue Jays would get no closer than nine points in the final eight minutes of the game and Gibbons put the final exclamation point on the victory with an offensive rebound and putback with 31 seconds left.
Gettysburg finished 30-of-63 (47.6 percent) from the floor, while Johns Hopkins finished 27-of-71 (38 percent). After getting out-rebounded in the first half, the Bullets dominated the glass in the second half and finished with a 43-35 advantage.
Gettysburg advances to the conference semifinals to face host and top seed Haverford (19-6) this Friday at 6 p.m. Friday's second semifinal will feature Muhlenberg College (18-7) and Dickinson College (18-7) at 8 p.m. The two winners will meet for the conference title on Saturday at 5 p.m.