Baltimore, MD - The Blue Jays improved to 2-0 in the young 2019-20 season with a 74-65 victory over Susquehanna on Wednesday night. Diarra Oden was the leading scorer in the victory, dropping 21 points. Emily Howie stuffed the stat sheet scoring 13 points, grabbing eight rebounds and assisting on six buckets.
Balance was the name of the game for Johns Hopkins in the first half on Wednesday night. Taking an 11-point lead into the break, the Blue Jays had five separate players with at least five points in the first 20 minutes. Oden and Howie had nine each in the first half, followed by eight from Erin Walsh and six from Maggie Wodicka.
The River Hawks led early, grabbing a quick 2-0 lead and then led 6-5 after an Amanda Lemire jumper at the 7:30 mark of the first quarter. Hopkins took the lead as Maggie Wodicka found Erin Walsh in the post for a layup and the lead. The Blue Jays would not relinquish the lead for the rest of the first half. A Wodicka three made it 10-6 before Oden converted a three-point play with 6:22 remaining in the first quarter, giving the Blue Jays a 13-6 lead. Hoenninger hit a three, but Howie responded on the other end for Hopkins, making it 16-9 with just over five minutes left in the first quarter. Olivia Brandt knocked down a three-pointer to cut the deficit to four with 2:43 remaining, but Howie responded once again, knocking down a three-pointer to extend the lead to 21-14, the final bucket of the period.
The Blue Jays quickly extended the lead to double figures, getting buckets from Oden and Walsh in the first 75 seconds of the second period. Susquehanna bounced back with a mini 4-0 run, but Howie hit another triple and the lead was right back to 11 for Johns Hopkins. The lead fluctuated between six and eight points for Johns Hopkins before back-to-back layups from Walsh and Oden extended the lead to 12 with 3:22 remaining in the half. Elise Moore gave JHU their biggest lead of the night, knocking down her first shot of the night from distance to make it 39-26. Rachel Sweger made a layup with two seconds left in the half to send it to the break a 39-28 game.
The Blue Jays had 13 assists on 15 made field goals in the first half, getting a team-best four from Oden. Howie grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in the first half, playing nearly 19 of the 20 minutes. The Blue Jays led for nearly 18 minutes in the first half.
Nevin Hoenninger led the way for Susquehanna, scoring a team-best 13 points on five of eight shooting, while adding a team-best six rebounds.
Susquehanna scored the first two buckets of the second half, as Brandt and Alanna Connolly hit their first shots of the quarter, cutting the deficit to seven. Oden's second three-point play of the game extended the lead right back to ten at the 8:44 mark. The Hopkins lead remained between five and eight points before Aleah Spruell sandwiched a three-pointer and a long two-point jumper around a pair of Susquehanna free throws to make it a 49-41 game with 4:34 to play in the third. Oden scored four points in a one-minute span, extending the lead to 53-41.
Leading by 11 to start the fourth quarter, the Blue Jays quickly went on a 6-0 run, getting back-to-back three-point baskets from Spruell and Moore. Howie picked up her fifth and sixth assists of the game on the buckets. After two McQuillen free throws, Moore scored again, followed by a Hoyd three-pointer to give JHU their largest lead of the game at 66-46 just over two minutes into the fourth. Not ready to give up, the River Hawks completed an 11-0 run spanning more than four minutes as the Blue Jays shooting slowed down. Hoyd, however, knocked down another three with 2:55 remaining to put the game away for Johns Hopkins.
The Blue Jays shot 41 percent from the field for the contest, shooting a scorching 44 percent from distance. Johns Hopkins mad six threes in each half, shooting 12-27 overall from behind the arc. Seven players scored for Hopkins, all seven scoring at least six points. The Blue Jay bench chipped in 24 points, getting contributions from starters and reserves alike.
Susquehanna shot 43 percent from the field in the game, but 16 turnovers and the three-point differential proved to be costly for the River Hawks. Amanda scored 15 of her team-high 19 points in the second half. Hoenninger finished with 16 points and seven rebounds after finding herself in foul trouble in the second half.
Johns Hopkins will remain at home, hosting Messiah College on Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m. inside Goldfarb Gymnasium.