On Feb. 22, the Hopkins Lady Jays travelled to Chestertown, Md. for their regular season finale against the Washington College Shorewomen. The first half of the basketball game did not go as planned for Hopkins, as the team was behind 27-25 at the half, never once holding the lead. Still, Hopkins fought back in the second half, quickly taking the lead on back-to-back shots by sophomore guards Katie Clark and Liz Tommasi, putting Hopkins up 30-27 with 18:39 left in the game. The lead, however, was short lived as the Shorewomen quickly regained the lead 31-30.
The game followed a back-and-forth pattern throughout the second half, until the Lady Jays took the lead at the 7:26 mark on a layup from junior forward Maggie Fruehan. Hopkins would hold onto the lead until Washington College tied the game at 52 with 2:09 left to play. In the final two minutes, both teams went cold, as neither squad was able to score a point. With one second left, Fruehan was fouled, but was unable to drain the free throws, sending the game into overtime for the first time this season.
In overtime, Hopkins dominated with 5-6 shooting from the field and 3-4 from the line. The Lady Jays outscored the Shorewomen 14-6 in OT, resulting in a 66-58 win to conclude the regular season. Notable performances included Clark, who scored 20 points in the game, and Tommasi who added 15. Junior center Ciara McCullagh led the team with seven rebounds, while also scoring 12 points in the victory. With the win, Hopkins finishes the season with a 14-4 in-conference record, good for third seed in the tournament.
“We knew that Washington College wouldn't be making the playoffs, so they would be trying to make a statement this game. We wanted to make sure that we were the ones making the statement, not them.” Moving into OT, Clark said that she thought “that the OT period was so successful for us because we all remained mentally focused. The successful overtime can be attributed to the fact that going into OT we were the ones with the momentum. Also, being the first to score in the overtime lead to our success, and our great effort and hustle on the opposite end of the court. Going into OT our approach was that it was our game, and every loss ball and rebound was ours,” Tommasi said.
Tommasi and Clark agreed that the greatest in-season improvement was mental, as they both believed the team showed fight and responded well to adversity.
“[We need] to really amp up our communication, especially since the gyms will be more crowded and louder [in order to be successful],” Tommasi said. “Another big component to our success in the postseason will be our ability to start strong, stay strong, and finish strong,” noting that “starting strong has been a struggle for us, but is something that we must do in order to be successful in the post season.”
The Lady Jays will next play McDaniel College in the semifinals of the Centennial Conference championships, with the winner advancing to the finals for the chance to earn a berth in the NCAA Division I tournament in March. The team has been working hard this week to ensure that they continue to find success in the postseason.
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