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BALTIMORE, MD - Johns Hopkins center Kathy Darling tallied her third double-double of the season with 24 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Blue Jays women's basketball team to a 62-42 win over visiting Franklin & Marshall. The Blue Jays improved to 19-6 overall and 10-4 in the Centennial Conference. The Diplomats, who had their 15-game winning streak snapped, fell to 18-5 overall and 11-3 in CC play. JHU finishes the regular season in a tie for second place in the CC West Division with Western Maryland, which defeated Washington College, 81-60 today in Westminster. The Blue Jays will travel to face the Green Terror on Monday, February 18 at 7:00 p.m. in a tiebreaker game. The winner of that contest will be the second seed in the West Division for the Centennial playoffs and will face Muhlenberg, the top seed in the East Division, on Wednesday, February 20 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. F&M would lead the game for only 4:13 as Amy Kreitz (Sr., Allentown, PA/Salisbury) made one-of-two free throws, and center Amy Abernathy (So., Far Hills, NJ/American School Paris) floated in a lay-up off a Lauren Howanski (Sr., Gap, PA/Pequea Valley) for a 3-0 lead. Hopkins would answer back taking a 4-3 lead before ripping off a 7-2 run to hold a 12-7 lead with 10:38 remaining in the first half. Up 16-13 lead with 5:25 remaining in the first half, the Blue Jays then went on a 13-7 run to take a 29-20 advantage at halftime. The Diplomats opened the second half with an 8-2 run behind a pair of lay-ups by Abernathy to cut the margin to 31-28 at the 17:08 mark. JHU responded with an 8-0 run to take an 11-point lead with 14:37 remaining, and Franklin & Marshall would get no closer than eight points the rest of the contest. Hopkins senior forward Jennifer Butterwei recorded four blocks to become Hopkins' all-time leader in blocked shots with 108, breaking the mark of 105 set by Julie Anderson in 1998. Butterwei also added eight rebounds and two steals. Overall, the Diplomats were led by Kreitz, who totaled 18 points and four steals, while Abernathy added eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Howanski chipped in six points off a two-of-13 performance from the field as the Diplomats shot just 27 percent (18-of-65) from the field, 8.3 percent from the beyond the three-point arch (1-of-12). On the glass, Hopkins outrebounded the Diplomats, 49-42, as the Blue Jays avenged a 71-70 loss in Lancaster on January 23. Franklin & Marshall, the #1 Western Division seed, will return to action on Wednesday versus Eastern Division #2 seeded Swarthmore College in the Mayser Center in the opening game of the 2002 Centennial Conference Championship Playoffs. Opening tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.
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