BALTIMORE, Md. - The Haverford College women's basketball team (9-4, 6-2 CC) suffered just its second conference loss of the season to the host Johns Hopkins (7-4, 3-3 CC), falling in a back-and-forth game by a final score of 48-44 Saturday afternoon inside Goldfarb Gymnasium.
Despite Kayla Robinson's 11th double-double of the season, the Fords saw their six-game win streak come to an end in a tightly contested matchup between the two Centennial Conference powerhouses. Robinson finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds while Ally Landau scored 14, assisted five times, and hauled in eight rebounds in a well-rounded effort.
It wasn't the start the Fords were hoping for on Saturday as Johns Hopkins brought out the full-court press early and it was effective. The Blue Jays got off to a 6-0 start forcing Haverford into a timeout to regroup. Things slowed down significantly following that fast start from Hopkins.
The Fords continued to struggle from the field until Robinson finally got her team on the board, rebounding her miss for a putback layup. The baskets eventually started to fall for Haverford as Landau and Erin Albright scored on back-to-back possessions but it was clear the Fords needed to lock down defensively. However, the Blue Jays ran their offense to perfection to knock down wide-open looks to finish the quarter with a 14-8 lead. Haverford was going to have to improve on their 23.5 percent shooting to work their way back into the game.
Landau opened the second quarter with a pull-up jumper from 15 feet to get the Fords on the board first. She then followed it up with another from the left side to cut the lead to just two with Hopkins calling a timeout immediately after the made basket. After a few trips down both ends of the floor, the Fords evened the score at 16 with a Robinson layup after a sweet dime from Landau for her second assist of the game.
The teams traded baskets again after Olivia Parisi put the Blue Jays up before Flamini answered with a jump shot. Haverford's first lead of the game came at the 3:20 mark when Albright buried a corner jumper after Landau's aggressive drive to the basket forced Albright's defender into the paint, leaving her wide open.
Neither team could get a significant run going, and that left Hopkins holding onto a two-point lead at halftime. Haverford led the rebounding battle 24-20 but was 0-9 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes. If Haverford could get anything going from distance in the second half, they'd have an opportunity to earn another tough road victory.
The third quarter would be much the same as the first 20 minutes. The Blue Jays still held on to a two-point lead before Parisi pushed the lead to four with a bucket that came with 2:18 on the clock. Landau and Abby Ryan were the only scorers for the Fords in the third quarter. Ryan's timely bucket added her fourth point of the game with Landau registering her fourth assist with the pass into the post.
With a minute remaining in the quarter, Cortlyn Morris made both of her free throw attempts to get within two but Parisi again poured in a much-needed basket for Hopkins. Robinson then made a basket and got fouled but failed to make her one attempt at the line, keeping the lead at two. The quarter ended with Hopkins beating the buzzer with a driving layup to go into the final quarter with a 34-30 lead.
Hopkins jumped out to a 39-34 lead in the fourth quarter with just over six minutes remaining in the game. With the lead still at five with under three minutes left, Hopkins missed multiple shots but Haverford just couldn't reel in a rebound to get the ball back. Hopkins called a timeout with 2:41 left in the game to get another attempt but couldn't convert. Landau drove the ball down the other end of the court for a layup to get the Fords within three. Robinson then secured her double-double with a putback layup from Landau's miss to make the score 44-42 with a minute and a half remaining.
With 40 seconds remaining, Hopkins held the ball and Jayden Murray made a desperation layup as the shot clock wound down to give the Blue Jays a four-point lead with only 17 seconds left. With the game in the balance, Robinson knocked down a mid-range jumper to get back within two points as the clock read 6.9 seconds.
With fouls to give, Haverford was left to play the quick foul game twice before putting Hopkins on the free throw line. Zoe Soule made both of her shots, almost putting the game out of reach with 4.9 seconds on the clock. Left with a desperate attempt from three that wouldn't fall, the Fords win streak came to an end.
Saturday wasn't the greatest shooting afternoon for the Fords, as they went the entire game without making a three-pointer. Haverford also uncharacteristically lost the rebounding battle 43-40 and turned the ball over 12 times.
Morris had a solid day in the box scores scoring eight points, grabbing eight rebounds, and blocking four shots.
Haverford will have an immediate opportunity to bounce back with a home contest against McDaniel on Tuesday, January 10. The game is scheduled for tip-off at 5 p.m. inside Gooding '84 Arena.