Wheaton College Tops Women’s Basketball, 65-50

Box Score

NORTON, Mass. – Elms College sophomore point guard Carolyn Talmadge (Wilbraham, Mass.) netted a team-high 14 points, while senior guard Jessica Jurkowski (Belchertown, Mass.) dropped in 13 points and added eight rebounds. Wheaton College however, had three players score in double-digits to help lift the Lyons to a 65-50 victory in Saturday afternoon’s opening game of the 2010 Wheaton College New Year’s women’s basketball tournament at Emerson Gymnasium.

With the loss, Elms falls to 1-7 overall while Wheaton improves to 5-5 on the season. The Blazers will play Husson in the tournament consolation game. Tip-off is slated for 1:00 p.m. on Jan. 3. Wheaton College will play RPI in the tournament's championship contest at 3:00 p.m.

Wheaton roared out to a 13-2 lead in the opening 4:25 of the first period before Elms responded by scoring the next 10 points, highlighted by five points from Jurkowski, three from Talmadge, and capped by a jumper from freshman guard Jen Normandie (Westford, Mass.), pulling the Blazers to within one at 13-12 with 11:58 remaining in the frame.

With the score set at 19-19 at the 7:22 mark, senior forward Amanda Brogna (Oxford, Mass.) gave Elms a 21-19 lead, its first and only lead of the game. The Lyons then used a 17-6 run to close out the half and take a 36-27 lead into the intermission.

Elms scored eight of the first 11 points of the second stanza highlighted by two treys from Jurkowski to pull the Blazers to within four at 39-35 at the 13:38 mark.

The Lyons then extended their lead back to double-digits at 48-37 with an on an 8-2 run and kept at least an 11-point cushion for the remainder of the contest, leading by as many as 18 on two occasions.

After scoring 11 points in the first period, Jenny Champney (Bedford, Mass.) added nine in the second frame to finish with a game-high 20 points on the afternoon for the Lyons. Gabbie DePalo (Rumson, N.J.) was a perfect 6 for 6 from the floor en route to 13 points, while Andrea Bailey (Needham, Mass.) connected on 3 of 6 from beyond the arc and totaled 11 points and handed out six assists to round out Wheaton’s double-digit scorers.

Brogna finished with eight points in the losing effort for the Blazers.