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LANCASTER, PA - Ashley Shepler converted two-of-two at the foul line with 12 seconds remaining for insurance as part of a team high 16 point performance as the Johns Hopkins University Bluejays survived a 63-60 scare at Franklin & Marshall College in both team's Centennial Conference regular season finale. The loss eliminates F&M (13-10, 7-7 CC) from Centennial Conference playoff consideration as a win and a McDaniel College loss would have forced a playoff game on Monday night. McDaniel fell 84-80 to Washington College, but the Diplomats could not capitalize with a 36-25 advantage over Hopkins in the second half. Trailing 38-24 at halftime, Franklin & Marshall used 13 of a game high 22 point performance from center Amy Abernathy (Jr., Far Hills, NJ/American School Paris) to take a 55-54 lead in the second half. The margin grew to 57-54 as guard Kelly Witkowski (Sr., Colts Neck, NJ/Marlboro) dropped in a lay-up with 5:47 to go, but Hopkins scored five of the next seven points to regain the lead at 59-57. With 2:17 left on the clock, Abernathy put F&M ahead 60-59 with a bucket and free throw off a foul by Ashanna Randall. However, the Bluejays won the game at the free-throw line as Hopkins made four-of-five down the stretch and F&M missed two for the 63-60 victory. Abernathy finished with her Conference leading 15th double-double of the year as she added 10 boards, while guard Courtney Tierney (Jr., Princeton, NJ/Hun School) chipped in 13 points and four steals. Hopkins controlled the pace of the game in the first half as the Bluejays built an 11-6 lead in the first seven minutes of the game. The Diplomats failed to move within five the rest of the half, trailing by as many as 17 to enter the locker-room down 38-24. In the second half, down 45-27 with 17:32 left on the clock, F&M began to chip away at JHU's lead as Jessie Adkins (Sr., Baltimore, MD/Friends School) and Abernathy put in lay-ups to cut the lead to 14. Following a free-throw by Fran DiFazio (Sr., Clinton, NJ/Pennington) and a bucket by Randall for a 47-32 deficit, F&M scored the next six points in 90 seconds to trail by nine (47-38) with 12 minutes to play. Behind 52-42 with 11 minutes to go, F&M engineered a 15-2 run capped by Witkowski's lay-up to take a three-point lead at 57-54. For the Bluejays, Randall added 16 points and center Kathy Darling chipped in 14 points and 11 boards as Hopkins (19-5, 13-1 CC) will host Swarthmore on Wednesday, February 26 in the opening round of the Centennial Conference playoffs. The contest was a game of halves as Hopkins drained 16-of-31 from the field (51.6%) in the first half, but made only 8-of-24 in the second (33.3%) half, while the Diplomats converted nine-of-34 in the first half (26.5%) and 13-of-27 in the last 20 minutes (48.1%). Franklin & Marshall will now await word from the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III South Region Committee on March 3 regarding a bid to the ECAC Playoffs. In 2001 and 2002, F&M received bids to the ECAC Playoffs, including a run to the 2002 title game before falling to DeSales University 79-68 in overtime.
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