February 21, 2009
Shorewomen Have Their Day With Blue Jays, 66-58
O'Donnell Becomes Seventh WC Player To Score 1,000 Points

CHESTERTOWN, MD – Junior Jane O'Donnell (Cape May Court House, NJ/Wildwood Catholic) scored 16 points, including her 1,000th career point, as host Washington College defeated visiting Johns Hopkins for the first-time ever, 66-58, on Saturday afternoon at the Cain Athletic Center in Centennial Conference women's basketball action. The Shorewomen close the season out at 11-14 overall and 6-12 in conference play. The Blue Jays, who won the first 21 meetings in the all-time series, fall to 13-12 overall and 11-7 in the Centennial. Johns Hopkins had clinched a spot in the conference tournament before today's game.

O'Donnell netted the milestone point on a three-pointer with 1:41 left in the contest to put Washington up 60-53 and gave her 1,002 career points at that juncture. She netted a free throw later on to give her 1,003 all-time points and has one more year to add to the total. She is the seventh Shorewomen player to reach the 1,000 point plateau and the first since Karen Simos achieved the feat at Philadelphia Biblical on February 5, 2004.

Johns Hopkins led 53-52 with 4:56 left in the game when Washington made its game closing 14-5 run to secure its first win over the Blue Jays. Senior guard Brianne Slizofski (Collegeville, PA/St. Pius X) hit a pair of free throws with 3:27 to go in the second half to put the hosts up for good at 54-53. Following three missed shots by Hopkins, the hosts finally got control of the ball and O'Donnell canned a trifecta to make it 57-53 with 2:24 left, giving her 999 career points at that moment. Following another miss by the visitors, O'Donnell hit the milestone shot, from three-point range, to put the hosts up 60-53 with 1:41 remaining in the tilt. Washington led 63-55 when Caitlin Sloane drained a triple to cut the Shorewomen's lead to 63-58, but that is as close as the Blue Jays would come the rest of the way. WC would knock down three of four from the charity stripe to provide the final margin and first win of all-time against Johns Hopkins.

Johns Hopkins jumped out to its largest lead of the game at 11 points at 29-18 with 6:19 to go in the first half on a three by Sloane. The Blue Jays still led by 11 at 33-22 when the Shorewomen closed out the first half on a 9-1 run to trim the visitors lead to 34-31 at halftime.

In the second half, following a Hopkins three by Sloane to open the scoring in the stanza, Washington netted six consecutive points to even the game for the first time at 37-37 with 18:10 left in the contest on a jumper in the paint from freshman guard Meghan Tait (Oxford, PA/Oxford Area). The Blue Jays would go on a 10-5 run to take a 47-42 lead with 15:13 to go. Washington then would score six consecutive points to take its first lead of the game on a free throw by freshman forward Meghan Lepley (Baldwin, MD/Baltimore Lutheran) with 9:45 remaining. The Blue Jays scored four straight points to reclaim the lead at 51-48 with just 8:18 to go. The Shorewomen countered with four consecutive points of their own to grab a 52-51 lead with 5:54 to go. Johns Hopkins took its final lead of the game with 4:56 left on a jumper by Jenna Berninger off of a feed from Lyndsay Burton.

For the hosts, junior guard Jessica Jamrogowicz (Marlton, NJ/Bishop Eustace) handed out four assists to close out the season with 155 assists. She is the first player in conference history on the women's side to average six or more assists a game. For the season, she averged 6.2 dimes per game to lead the Centennial. The junior also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in the triumph.

Also for Washington, Tait led all players with 20 points and six assists in the win. Slizofski netted 12 points in her final collegiate game, while sophomore forward Nicole Wojtusik (Washington Boro, PA/Penn Manor) came off the bench to score eight points and chalked up seven rebounds.

For Johns Hopkins, Kristin Phillips racked up a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Sloane chipped in with 12 points, while Anastasia Wynn netted 10 points for the Blue Jays. Burton scored nine points, while grabbing eight rebounds and gathered a game-high four steals.

Washington shot 46% from the field, while holding Johns Hopkins to 33% from the floor. The Shorewomen hit 21-of-29 from the free throw line, including 16-of-20 in the second half, while the Blue Jays were just 10-for-21 from the charity stripe. Both teams grabbed 37 rebounds in the game. Washington held a 34-14 edge in bench points and 26-20 in points in the paint, while Hopkins outscored the hosts in points off turnovers, 27-13.

In addition to Slizofski, senior guard Christie Rogers (Davidsonville, MD/Archbishop Spalding) played in her final game for the Shorewomen this afternoon.

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