On Jan. 20, the Lady Jays took on Dickinson College in another Conference match up. Hopkins entered the game with an overall record of 6-8 and a Conference record of 4-4.
Unfortunately, the Jays lost 48-42 in a very close game. The loss successfully snapped a three-game win streak for the Jays.
In the first quarter Hopkins got on the board first when senior Beatriz Williams was able to put Hopkins up 1-0 with the first of two free throws.
Senior Liz Tommasi, junior Caroline Corcoran and junior Janay Smith all added points to the board. The first quarter ended with the score tied, 12-12.
In the second quarter, Dickinson got on the board within the first seconds. Freshmen Sophia Way and Lillian Scott along with junior Rachel Cook all made their way onto the scorer’s list for the game during this quarter.
Hopkins had the lead going into halftime but with a small margin for error, 22-21. During the first half there was no more than a four-point lead held by either team.
Hopkins came out in the start of the third quarter eager to increase the margin of their lead. However, Dickinson also managed to get substantial points on the board and third quarter ended with the score tied at 36-36.
During the third quarter, Hopkins had 10 turnovers, which kept them from gaining a more substantial lead over their opponent.
The Blue Jays and Dickinson were fighting for the win in the final quarter, both teams making a great effort. The lead shifted back and forth until the last two minutes of the game when Dickinson took a more dominant lead to win the game 48-42.
In the final quarter, Hopkins scored half the number of points as their opponent. It was a tough loss, but the Jays put up an even tougher fight. Williams and Cook led the Jays with eight points each, and Cook also had a career high of 13 rebounds. However, the overall 21 turnovers made it impossible for Hopkins to come out with a win.
“It will never be fun to lose, especially when we had the game in our hands,” Corcoran said. “We just have to take what we learned from that loss and move forward quickly. We don’t have a lot of time left to keep ‘learning.’ We need to, as a team, develop a short term memory and move on. We have the talent to beat these teams, its almost that we get in our own way, and that can’t happen this late in the season.”
The Jays have had a rough season so far, especially with such a young team. Hopkins currently has eight freshmen on the team, who have had to work extremely hard to make up for their lack of experience.
The first half of their season was definitely a hard adjustment phase as the newer members had to learn to mesh with returning players.
However, since returning from break, the Blue Jays were on a three-game winning streak until they lost to Dickinson College this past Wednesday.
Some brief time off seemed to help the Blue Jays collect themselves after a tough start to their season but it is hard to tell if they will be able to come back from such a rocky beginning.
Hopkins has an overall record of 6-9 and a conference record of 4-5. The Jays need to capitalize on every game moving forward if they want to keep their Conference playoff hopes alive.
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