BALTIMORE — The Centennial Conference regular season is in the rearview and the postseason is upon us with Johns Hopkins University the favorites to cut down the nets.
Both the Blue Jays' men’s and women’s basketball teams enter their respective conference tournaments as the No. 1 seed.
The men sit atop the bracket for a second straight year. They received a bye into Friday’s semifinals where they will host four seed Muhlenberg. The Jays enter the game riding a 12-game winning streak. They are 22-3 overall and 16-2 in the conference and are currently ranked seventh in the country.
They know what it takes at tourney time. They are vying for their third straight conference title and fourth in five tourneys.
"You definitely flip that switch when it comes to postseason basketball and it’s the third time you’ve played these teams so at this point you got to really just go out and compete," said guard Carson James.
"We’ve had a successful season," added head coach Josh Loeffler. "I feel like we’ve gotten better as the season has progressed."
As for the women, it’s been one of the best seasons in program history. They are 20-5 overall and 17-3 in the Centennial as they look to bring home a conference championship for the first time in 20 years.
They got a bye into the semifinals as well and will also host the four seed in Haverford. The Jays have a starting five of three sophomores, one freshman and a grad student - leading scorer forward Olivia Parisi. Some people would call them a young team. Head coach Katherine Bixby is not one of those people.
"We’ve got a good rotation. We are no longer what I would consider young," she said. "We started off the season mainly with first-years and sophomores playing. So, I feel like we’ve got a little more experience under our belt and we’re feeling good as we go to the playoffs."
"We’re all ready to go. We know that we’re going to have to have a chip on our shoulder," added Parisi. "But, we’re going to go in there. Were going to fight with everything we have and give it everything we’ve got."
Bixby is finishing up her fifth season leading the Blue Jays. Her next victory will be her 100th at Hopkins.
Friday’s women’s game tips off at 6:00 p.m. The men’s game will follow. Both will be played inside Goldfarb Gym.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
