University of St. Joseph (Conn.) Nips Women’s Basketball, 74-72 in Overtime Thriller

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) scored a team-high 18 points and hauled in a game-high 16 rebounds, while sophomore guard Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) added 12 boards, but University of St. Joseph's (Conn.) Devon Diliberto (Waterbury, Conn.) swished three three-pointers en route to game-high 20 points to help pace the Blue Jays to an exciting 74-72 win over the Blazers in Friday afternoon's non-conference women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the loss, Elms moves to 2-7 on the season, while St. Joseph improves to 6-2 overall.

In a game that saw at total of 12 tie scores and 11 lead changes, the sides battled to a 68-68 stalemate at the end of regulation.

Thirty seconds into the first overtime period, St. Joseph's Shauna Sullivan (Rocky Hill, Conn.) connected for a jumper to give the Blue Jays a 70-68 lead. Elms' junior guard Ellen Donohue (Southington, Conn.) answered with a jumper to square the contest at 70-70, and Diliberto and Youngblood exchanged baskets to set the score at 72-72 with 1:47 to play in the first frame of overtime.

St. Joseph's Claire Consonni (Bristol, Conn.) then connected for what proved to be the game-winning shot with 1:33 to play with the score set at 74-72 in favor of the Blue Jays.  

Donohue finished with a season-high 12 points and a game-best four assists, while senior guard Jen Normandie (Westford, Mass.) and freshman guard Jenna Oyler (Metuchen, N.J.) added eight points apiece in the loss.

The Blazers shot 41.6-percent from the floor as Youngblood and sophomore forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) finished with seven and six points respectively, and Elms held advantages in points in the paint (38-30), points off turnovers (16-15), fast break points (12-9) and points off the bench (21-17).

Diliberto was 8 of 19 from the field to lead St. Joseph, while Heather Framski (Prospect, Conn.) netted 17 points on 6 of 14 shooting (including a perfect 5 of 5 from the stripe). Consonni added nine points and eight rebounds off the bench, while Sullivan picked up a team-best 13 boards and eight points.

Framski notched a double-double with 10 boards to go along with her 17 points and Mary Hyde (Derby, Conn.) finished with seven points and eight rebounds in the winning effort.

The game was tightly contested throughout with the Blue Jays notching its largest lead (five points) with 5:16 to play in the first half, while Elms notched its largest lead of the game (six points) at the 13:11 mark of the opening stanza.

Following a 38-38 deadlock at intermission, neither team could stake more than a four-point lead and with 1:45 left in regulation, Hyde converted a jump shot for St. Joseph to even the game at 63-63. Parks put the Blazers ahead, 65-63 with a layup before Diliberto canned a trey with 56 ticks left to give the Blue Jays a 66-65 edge.

After a missed layup by Elms, Sullivan took a feed from Hyde and powered in a layup to give St. Joseph a 68-65 advantage with 21 seconds on the clock.

With nine seconds left in the game, Oyler delivered a sensational strike from beyond the arc to knot the score at 68-68 and send the game to an extra frame.

Elms returns to New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action on Tuesday, January 8 when it hosts Lesley University at 5:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.