Women’s Basketball Tames Wheelock, 62-54

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. - Elms College senior forward Jessica Jurkowski (Belchertown, Mass.) and senior guard Annie Dunnack (Mansfield Center, Conn.) netted a game-high 16 points each and the Blazers shot a near perfect 93.8-percent from the stripe to help secure a 62-54 victory over Wheelock College in Thursday evening’s New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women’s basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms improves to 9-15 on the season, 8-7 in NECC action, while Wheelock falls to 4-20 overall, 3-12 in league play.

With the score locked at 37-37 with 12:58 to go in the contest, Dunnack and sophomore guard Katie Condon (Sandy Hook, Conn.) bookended a 10-2 run for the Blazers with three-pointers, and sophomore forward Kelly Callahan (Monson, Mass.) delivered two layups to give Elms an eight-point lead at the 10:49 mark of the second period.

Sophomore point guard Carolyn Talmadge (Wilbraham, Mass.) netted a bucket in the paint with 5:17 remaining to give the Blazers a 53-41 advantage, their largest of the game (12 points).

Wheelock answered with an 11-4 run, highlighted by two Sarah Brown (Plainville, Conn.) treys to bring the Wildcats to within five at 57-52 with 2:16 to play. Dunnack responded with a jumper on a nice feed from Condon to put Elms back up seven, and five seconds later, Keneisha Milton (Randolph, Mass.) answered for Wheelock to cut the Wildcats’ deficit back to five at 59-54. From there, Jurkowski connected on a pair from the charity stripe, and Condon hit the front end of two from the line to help Elms secure the 62-54 victory.

The Blazers finished the game an impressive 15 of 16 from the free throw line including a perfect 10 for 10 in the first frame.

The opening 20 minutes saw six ties and four lead changes of evenly contested basketball, with neither team gaining more than a five-point advantage.

After Condon converted a layup to knot the game at 14-14 with 7:32 to play in the frame, Wheelock scored seven of the next nine points on jumpers by Kerry Casey (Medford, Mass.) and Caitlin Kerr (Attleboro, Mass.), a layup by Kayla Drescher (Wallingford, Conn.) and a Kerr free throw to give the Wildcats their largest lead of the half at 21-16 at the 5:22 mark.

Elms used baskets underneath from Talmadge, Jurkowski and Dunnack to spark a 6-0 run that saw the Blazers claim a 22-21 lead with 2:57 remaining in the period.

From there, Condon and Talmadge each hit a pair of free throws as the sides exchanged four points to give the Blazers a slim 26-25 edge at intermission.

Jurkowski and Talmadge combined for 20 of the squad’s 26 points in the first stanza as Elms was held to just 28.6-percent shooting from the field.

Talmadge finished with 12 points and five assists, while Condon netted 10 points to round out four Blazers in double figures. Senior forward Erin Hutchinson (Groton, Mass.) grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds and notched six steals, while Jurkowski added nine boards in the winning effort.

Milton led the way for Wheelock, pouring in a team-best 14 points while Brown and Elise Ordile (Waltham, Mass.) chipped in 13 and 10 points respectively. Milton also hauled in a game-high 15 rebounds while Drescher finished with seven in the loss.

Elms concludes regular season action on Saturday, Feb. 20 with an NECC contest against Bay Path. The game will be played at Picknelly Arena at 1:00 p.m.