Murphy, Parks Garner NECC/NEWBA Weekly Honors

Elms College senior forward Erika Murphy (Torrington, Conn.) was named New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Player of the Week and was selected to the New England Women's Basketball Association (NEWBA) Honor Roll, and freshman forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) was named the NECC and NEWBA Rookie of the Week as announced by each office on Monday.

Following a 14-4 NECC record during the regular season, the Blazers clinched the second-seed in the 2011-12 NECC Championship tournament and earned three victories over No. 7 Bay Path College (62-51), No. 3 Newbury College (78-65) and No. 4 Daniel Webster College (66-64) to win the NECC title and earn the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Championship – the first appearance in NCAA postseason play in program history.

During the NECC tournament, Murphy scored 14 points against Bay Path, 25 points against Newbury and 11 against Daniel Webster, but scored three points with just six seconds left to help pace the Blazers to a thrilling championship victory. Murphy added 33 rebounds to go along with her 50 points during the three-game stretch and as a result was named to the all-tournament team. This is Murphy's first NECC and NEWBA weekly accolade of the season.

Parks continued her stellar performance during tournament action, highlighted by a 27-point, 27-rebound effort against Newbury to lift Elms to the tournament title game. Her 27 rebounds ties the single-game program high as Angel Esposito '95 accomplished the feat against Mount Saint Mary's College during the 1993-94 season. Parks collected 67 points during the week and was Elms' leading scorer in all three contests, and hauled in 56 rebounds. This is her ninth NECC weekly honor of the season and seventh NEWBA weekly award.