Women's Basketball Falls to Johns Hopkins in NCAA Tournament First Round

BALTIMORE – The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) women's basketball team saw its historic 2024-25 season come to a close, falling in the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament First Round to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), 75-50, Friday night inside Goldfarb Gymnasium in Baltimore, Md. With the result, the USJ Blue Jays concluded the 2024-25 season 19-10 overall, while the JHU Blue Jays moved to 23-4 overall.

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The two teams traded buckets to start the game, as graduate student forward Jordan Ouellette (Bristol, Conn.) knocked down a tough jumper at the 7:49 mark, tying the game at 4-4.
• JHU scored three unanswered points, holding a 7-4 lead as the game reached a media timeout with 4:53 left on the first-quarter clock.
• USJ fired back with a 4-0 stretch, capped off by a driving senior guard Maya Slisz (New Britain, Conn.) layup, to retake the lead, 8-7, with 2:47 left in the first period.
• Slisz would then make history at the 2:10 mark, as a long-range full-court pass to Ouellette for a layup saw the senior guard become the all-time program leader for assists in a career.
• The two teams continued to battle back-and-forth, as Slisz sank a pair of free throws to close out the quarter to keep the game deadlocked, 14-14.
• JHU opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run, establishing a 19-14 edge at the 8:44 mark on the timer.
• Johns Hopkins began to pull away, utilizing a 10-2 stretch to break open a 10-point lead, 32-22, with 3:26 left on the clock before halftime.
• JHU maintained its advantage entering the halftime break, holding a 36-25 lead.
• The two teams traded buckets to start the third quarter, as graduate student guard Taylor Verboven (Columbia, Conn.) knocked down a turnaround jumper, cutting the gap to 42-31 at the 5:17 mark.
• Ouellette would then make history, draining a driving layup at the 4:15 mark of the third period to eclipse Stacy Manfredi and become the all-time leading scorer in USJ women's basketball history.
• However, JHU closed the quarter on an 11-2 run, extending the gap to 55-37 entering the fourth and final quarter.
• USJ would outscore JHU to open the fourth, as senior forward Janai Oliver (Hartford, Conn.) launched a perfect full-court pass to Ouellette, who finished the easy layup to close the deficit to 58-41 with 7:26 remaining in regulation.
• The two teams continued to trade buckets back and forth, as JHU increased its gap to 23, 68-45, with 3:12 left to play.
• The deficit proved too much to overcome as Johns Hopkins secured the victory, 75-50.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE 

• Verboven and Slisz finished with a team-high 16 points each.
• Ouellette joined them in double figures, dropping 14 points.
• Graduate student forward Olivia Heslin (Plainville, Conn.) hauled in a team-best nine rebounds.
• Slisz dished out a team-high four assists.

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