Women’s Basketball Tops Lesley University 69-53

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) netted a game-high 27 points and a team-best 10 rebounds to help pace the Blazers to a 69-53 victory over Lesley University in Saturday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game.

With the win, Elms improves to 9-8 overall, 8-2 in NECC action and has now won seven of its last eight games. Lesley falls to 2-14 overall, 1-9 in conference play.

In the opening period, Elms fought back from an early six-point deficit using a 13-0 run to post a 17-10 lead with 11:27 to play in the first stanza.

After Lesley's Carrie Fieger (Simsbury, Conn.) hit a jump shot to set the score at 17-14, the Blazers responded by scoring 14 of the next 19 points capped by a Parks layup and free throw to open up a 31-19 lead with 4:01 remaining in the frame.

The Lynx narrowed the gap to 10 twice before Sarah Apgar (Andover, N.J.) swished the front end of two free throws with 20 seconds to pull Lesley to within nine (37-28) at intermission.

Parks connected on 4 of 7 shooting from the floor en route to 12 first half points, and sophomore guard Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) added nine points in the first 20 minutes.

Parks, Youngblood and sophomore forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) grabbed six boards each, while freshman guard Jenna Oyler (Metuchen, Mass.) netted six points off the bench.

In the second stanza, Elms extended its lead to 52-37 in the first 7:06 of the period highlighted by eight points from Parks and a trey by Younblood. The Blazers continued to pull away using a 10-0 run over the next five minutes to post a 62-37 lead before Anthea Rathjens (Sudbury, Mass.) hit the second of two foul shots to halt the run at the 7:21 mark of the half.

The Lynx constructed a run of their own scoring 15 of the final 22 points highlighted by six points from Tori Hoefs (Avalon, Calif.) and four from Ari Dimou (Manchester, N.H.) to set the final score at 69-53.

Parks finished the game 10 of 14 from the floor and led a 19 for 22 effort (86.4-percent) by the Blazers from the charity stripe by hitting on 7 of 9 foul shots en route to her game-best 27 points.

Youngblood added 14 points sparked by a pair of three-pointers, Pickett scored eight points and notched eight rebounds, and Oyler chipped in eight points and four assists off the bench for Elms in the win.

Shannon Baker (Lynnbrook, N.Y.) totaled a team-best 11 points and Rathjens and Hoefs contributed 10 points each to give Lesley three players with double-digit point totals.

Rathjens collected a game-high 11 rebounds and Apgar recorded five steals for the Lynx in the losing effort.

Elms returns to NECC action on Tuesday, January 29 at Bay Path College at 7:00 p.m. in Longmeadow, Mass.