Release courtesy of Gettysburg Athletic Communications
THE FACTS
Gettysburg (21-6) 65, Johns Hopkins (21-6) 52
What: Centennial Conference (CC) women's basketball championship game
When: Sunday, Feb. 25
Where: Baltimore, Md.
THE SKINNY STORY
After a back-and-forth first half, Gettysburg did as it had done in the two regular-season meetings and pulled away from Johns Hopkins in the second half. The Bullets outscored the host Blue Jays 41-29 after the half to claim their fourth Centennial Conference championship.
THE LEADERS
• Alayna Arnolie (Vienna, Va./James Madison) led Gettysburg with 15 points – 11 of which came in the decisive second half – to earn the tournament's Most Outstanding Player honors.
• Shinya Lee (Rochester, N.Y./Holderness Prep School) added 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.
• Mackenzie Szlosek (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) chipped in 11 points – all in the second half. She added eight rebounds.
FOR THE FOES
• Olivia Parisi led the Blue Jays with 21 points.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Baskets from Emily Violante (Easton, Pa./Easton Area) and Alayna Arnolie staked Gettysburg to a 4-0 lead in the game's first 1:57. Buckets from Olivia Parisi and Kendall Dunham over the next 50 seconds tied the game. The Bullets went back in front by four twice before a Parisi jumper made it a 12-11 game after the first period.
• The second quarter featured six ties and one lead change. A Jadyn Murray layup 48 seconds into the period gave Johns Hopkins its first lead of the game before Cynthia Williams (North Brunswick, N.J./Hill School) scored four straight points to put Gettysburg back in front 16-13 with 7:34 on the clock. The Blue Jays countered with eight straight points, including six from Parisi to go up 21-16 at the 4:10 mark. The Bullets, however, closed the half on a 8-2 run to take a 24-23 lead into the break. An AB Holsinger (Crozet, Va./Langley) driving, spinning layup gave the visitors the lead with 34 ticks remaining.
• Murray hit a layup on the first possession of the second half but Violante responded with a layup and Arnolie drained a 3-pointer from the wing for a 29-25 lead with 6:04 to play. Parisi cut the lead in half before a Mackenzie Szlosek driving layup and three straight points from Caitlin Priore (Holland, Pa./Germantown Academy) stretched the advantage to 34-27 with 3:17 on the clock. Leading 39-33, the Bullets scored four straight to open up a double-digit lead but a Michaela O'Neill three-point play closed the margin to 43-36 after three quarters.
• Shinya Lee hit a short jumper and Arnolie drained a triple on the first two possession of the final quarter to open up a 48-36 lead just 1:08 into the period. The Blue Jays closed to within 48-41 with 5:51 remaining but pull-up jumpers from Holsinger and Szlosek stretch the lead back to 11 just 49 seconds later. A Lee three-point play and another free throw stretched the lead to 56-41 with 2:54 to play. Johns Hopkins scored eight of the next 10 but got no closer than nine down the stretch.
THE INSIDE STORY
• For Gettysburg, it was the team's fourth and second straight. It was the first time the Bullets had won a conference title away from Bream Gym.
• Gettysburg earned the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III tournament field, which will be announced on Monday afternoon.
• AB Holsinger had eight points and four assists.
• The Bullets finished with a 41-34 rebounding advantage and shot 41.4 percent for the game.
NEXT UP
The NCAA tournament bracket will be revealed on Monday at 2:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.