BALTIMORE, Md. – The Ursinus College women's basketball team made history Saturday afternoon, riding the combined efforts of freshman Lydia Konstanzer and senior Libby Lannon and a dominant defensive performance to a 50-41 Centennial Conference road victory over Johns Hopkins, polishing off the first regular-season sweep of the Blue Jays in program history.
Konstanzer registered 17 points and 11 rebounds and Lannon collected 15 points as Ursinus (10-10, 8-7) picked up a massive result in the race for a CC playoff spot. With the hard-earned win, the Bears now trail McDaniel by just a half-game for fifth place and gained a big leg up on Johns Hopkins (8-10, 7-7).
The Bears got plenty of contributions from their five starters, all of whom played at least 35 minutes, in putting a brief end to a long history of struggles in Baltimore. Ursinus had not won in Goldfarb Gym since 2011 and was just 2-20 all-time there before Saturday's impressive performance, a dominant defensive effort that gave the Bears a two-game winning streak for only the second time this season.
Lannon had four of the six blocks for Ursinus, which suffocated the Blue Jays into a 24.2-percent shooting performance. Johns Hopkins was just 3 for 23 (13.0 percent) from downtown and committed 13 turnovers.
The lead changed hands six times in the first quarter, the last on a 3-pointer by sophomore Brielle Clarke that made it 11-9 Ursinus at the 2:25 mark. The Bears took control from there, scoring 12 consecutive points bridging the end of the period and dialing up a 19-4 run that expanded the lead to 27-13 late in the second quarter. Konstanzer had 10 points during the spurt as Ursinus appeared to be rolling toward a rout.
The Blue Jays had other plans, rattling off the last eight points of the first half and pulling into a 29-all tie on a basket by Lillian Scott with 6:48 left in the third quarter, capping a 16-2 burst. Ursinus scored the next seven points, all by Konstanzer and Lannon, and junior Rachel Guy's buzzer-beating jumper gave the visitors a 38-33 edge heading into the fourth.
Johns Hopkins made one last push, getting within 42-41 on Scott's lay-up with 5:04 on the clock. The Bears survived three Blue Jay chances to take the lead and gained some much-needed separation on a jumper by Konstanzer and a spinning drive by Lannon that resulted in a three-point play and a 47-41 advantage at 1:36. After cutting the deficit to one, Johns Hopkins never scored again.
Guy scored 10 points for Ursinus, which gave up 22 offensive rebounds and a 48-39 rebounding deficit but used its dominating defense to make its lead stand up. Lannon added five rebounds, two assists, and a steal to her strong offensive output, and Konstanzer went 7 for 9 at the line on the way to her sixth double-double. Fellow freshman Toni Suler hauled in nine rebounds, sophomore Kaci McNeave dished out three assists without a turnover, and Clarke chipped in five points off the bench.
Scott led the Blue Jays with 15 points and Scholtz netted 11, but no other Johns Hopkins player had more than four, and all others were 3 for 33 from the field.
Ursinus shot 35.4 percent (17 for 48) and committed only 10 turnovers, its second-lowest total of the year.
The Bears go for a third straight win at Franklin & Marshall on Wednesday, February 1.