No. 4 Women’s Basketball Downs No. 5 Becker College, 65-40
No. 4 Women’s Basketball Downs No. 5 Becker College, 65-40
Box
Score
CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior guard
Annie Dunnack (Mansfield Center, Conn.) poured in
a game-best 20 points to help pace the fourth-seeded Blazers to a
65-40 victory over No. 5 Becker College in the Tuesday
evening’s New England Collegiate Conference (NECC)
Championship tournament quarterfinal women’s basketball
contest at Picknelly Arena.
With the win, Elms improves to 11-15 overall and advances to the
semifinal round where it will face top-seeded Daniel Webster
College (20-5) on Friday, Feb. 26 at 6:00 p.m. in Nashua, N.H. With
the loss, Becker concludes its season 8-18 overall.
Trailing 9-8 at the 12:46 mark of the opening period, Elms’
freshman guard Jen Normandie (Westford, Mass.)
found sophomore point guard Carolyn Talmadge (Wilbraham,
Mass.) for a three-pointer that sparked a 16-5 run that
gave the Blazers a 24-14 advantage with 4:03 remaining in the
frame. The stretched was capped by a three-pointer from
Dunnack.
Becker’s Katelyn Cavanaugh (Belchertown,
Mass.) nailed a jumper with 3:44 to go to stop the run,
but Elms used a 6-0 run to close out the stanza, thanks to a jumper
and two free throws by Dunnack, and a bucket underneath from senior
forward Amanda Brogna (Oxford, Mass.) to give the
Blazers a 30-16 cushion at intermission.
Dunnack was 4 of 8 from the floor and 2 of 3 from beyond the arc en
route to 12 first half points, while senior forward Erin
Hutchinson (Groton, Mass.) hauled in nine rebounds in the
opening 20 minutes.
The Hawks were led by Heidi Miller’s (Sanbornton,
N.H.) eight points and seven rebounds in the period.
Elms came out in the second half on a 9-4 run on the strength of a
Talmadge layup, a trio of free throws from sophomore guard
Katie Condon (Sandy Hook, Conn.), and a jumper
each from Dunnack and senior forward Jessica Jurkowski
(Belchertown, Mass.) to extend the Blazers’ lead to
19 at 39-20 with 16:38 to play in the contest.
The Hawks responded with eight unanswered points thanks to a trey
and a mid-range jumper from Courtney Fiske (Westfield,
Mass.) and three points from Nicole Morse (Alton,
N.H.) to pull Becker to within 11 at 39-28 at the 12:31
mark.
Trailing 45-30 with 8:58 to go, Cavanaugh converted a layup down
low to cut the Hawks’ gap to 13, but that’s as close as
Becker would come as Elms used a 13-2 run over the next 6:04 to
stake a 24-point lead (58-34) at the 2:54 mark.
Blazers’ sophomore forward Kelly Callahan (Monson,
Mass.) netted the final bucket of the game to give Elms a
25-point 65-40 victory.
Dunnack was 7 of 14 from the field for the game and 4 of 6 from
three-point range in addition to hauling in 11 boards.
Condon added 12 points, while Normandie chipped in nine off the
bench for the Blazers.
Hutchinson finished with a game-high 12 rebounds, while Jurkowski
and Talmadge pulled down 11 and 10 respectively.
Talmadge and Jurkowski each added seven points in the winning
effort, while Talmadge dished out five assists.
Fiske paced the Becker offense with 10 points, while Cavanaugh
added nine. Miller dropped in the eight points and secured a
team-high 10 rebounds in the losing effort.
Elms held the Hawks to just 22.1-percent shooting from the floor
for the game, and out-rebounded Becker 70-39.
