BALTIMORE - Shannon Smith, Jacquelyne Pizzuto and Nina Voith tallied 11 points apiece but the Haverford College women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season as the Fords fell to Johns Hopkins University, 65-48, in Centennial Conference action on Wednesday night.
Haverford's program-record eight-game win streak came to an end in the matchup between the two top teams in the Centennial.
Playing their first road game in over a month, the Fords (8-1, 4-1 CC) jumped out to an early 15-5 lead with nine minutes to go until intermission as four different players reached the scoring column.
The remainder of the first half saw the hosts go on a run of their own that allowed the Blue Jays (9-3, 7-0) to take a narrow three-point lead into the break (23-20).
Smith registered seven points and five rebounds in the opening 20 minutes as the Fords hung tough with one of the top rebounding teams in all of Division III.
Trailing at the half for the first time this season, Haverford eyed a rally but the Fords' offense went cold after intermission. Haverford entered the contest leading the conference in field-goal percentage, yet the Fords went 1-for-11 from the field over the opening minutes of the second half.
Although Haverford continued to battle, Johns Hopkins pushed out a 16-point lead, with 12:15 left on the clock. Haverford did not go quietly however, as the Fords scored 13 of the next 19 points to cut the Blue Jays' advantage to single digits (47-38) with seven minutes to go in the game. Johns Hopkins then responded with one final surge to keep its perfect conference record intact.
The Blue Jays earned 20 of their points from the free throw line (20-for-26) while Haverford went 7-for-8 from the charity stripe.
Smith finished 5-for-6 from the field on the way to a new career high. Voith reached double digits for the seventh time this season while Pizzuto hit double figures for the second straight game. Elizabeth Lynch added eight points.
Smith and Voith also tied for the team lead in rebounds with seven apiece. Rachel Baskin chipped in with five rebounds and a team-high three assists.
Johns Hopkins' Katie Clark took game-high honors in points and assists with 13 and 4, respectively. Stacy Fairey also tallied double figures with 11 points.
Ciara Mccullagh and Maggie Fruehan grabbed seven rebounds each as the Blue Jays won the battle on the boards, 49-31.
Johns Hopkins has now accounted for the Fords' last two losses as the Blue Jays edged Haverford in the opening round of last season's Centennial playoffs.
The Fords will look to get back to their winning ways on Saturday when they travel to McDaniel College for a Centennial contest beginning at 1 p.m.