Women's Basketball Storms Back to Beat Johns Hopkins in OT, 67-60

Megan Furch
Megan Furch
Play Video

HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College women's basketball team (9-2, 6-0 CC) won a second straight overtime contest Tuesday evening inside the Gooding '84 Arena, erasing a 14-point Johns Hopkins (6-4, 3-2 CC) lead before prevailing 67-60 in the extra period. The Fords are off to their best six-game start to Centennial Conference play in program history. Megan Furch hit a layup with less than a second remaining in regulation to knot the score at 58-58, and the Fords then outscored the Blue Jays 9-2 in the extra frame to secure the momentous victory. 

Furch matched a career best with 17 points, pacing four Fords in double figures. Anna-Sophia Capizzi had 16 points, also chipping in a career-best four blocks, while Julianna Clark added 14 and Cortlyn Morris poured in 11 to go with a career-best three blocks on the defensive end.  Nyla Robinson matched her career high with eight rebounds, dishing out five assists. Raina Gully established a new career high with five points. 

The Fords held a slim 11-10 lead midway through the first quarter, as Capizzi gave Haverford a three-point edge before a layup from Lyndsey Hoyd cut that advantage back down to just one. A 6-0 Johns Hopkins run gave the visitors a 19-13 lead before Morris connected on a layup to trim the lead to just four. Haverford tied the score at 21 with just over three minutes remaining in the first half, but after Gully put Haverford ahead 26-24, back-to-back three pointers from Emily Howie and Aleah Spruell gave the visitors a four-point cushion entering halftime. 

After the intermission, it was the Blue Jays who put their foot on the pedal, eventually stretching their scoring run to 16-0 as Haverford found itself down by 14 with 3:59 to go. From that point, fortunes began to shift for the hosts, with an 11-2 Haverford run keyed by Capizzi and Clark cutting the lead to just five with 1:30 left in the third. 

The Blue Jays went back to work, seemingly in a comfortable spot up 10 with 7:32 to go in regulation following a Halie Egan jumper. Haverford stormed back yet again, this time using a 7-0 run to pull to within three at 51-48. Johns Hopkins worked its way back to a seven-point lead at 55-48, but another 6-0 Haverford spurt cut the lead to just one with 37 seconds remaining. 

With just five seconds to go, Furch cut to the basket for a layup that gave Haverford a slim 56-55 lead. On the ensuing Johns Hopkins possession, Hoyd was fouled on a three-point attempt, giving the Blue Jays a great opportunity from the charity stripe. Hoyd hit all three shots, prompting a Haverford timeout. Haverford advanced the ball to half-court and on the inbounds, Nyla Robinson found a cutting Furch under the basket to send the game to overtime at 58-58. 

After Erin Walsh scored the opening bucket of the fifth stanza, Morris connected to tie the score with 2:12 remaining. Furch then hit a pair of free throws and later connected on a jumper with under a minute left in the contest. With Johns Hopkins left with no choice but to foul down four, Nyla Robinson and Morris both connected from the free-throw line to help Haverford close out a seven-point triumph. 

Howie paced Johns Hopkins with 15 points, adding eight rebounds to the effort. Hoyd and Diarra Oden both tallied 11 for the visitors. 

A busy week of Centennial Conference action continues on Thursday, January 9 as Haverford heads into a matchup with Washington College. Tip-off at Gooding '84 Arena is slated for 6 p.m.