Parks Notches Double-Double, Women’s Basketball Bests Southern Vermont College, 62-44

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) scored a game-high 29 points and hauled in a game-best 20 rebounds to help the Blazers pull away to a 62-44 victory over Southern Vermont College in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms improves to 2-2 on the season, 1-0 in league action, while Southern Vermont moves to 1-5 overall, 0-1 in conference play.

In the opening period, Elms posted a 20-16 advantage when Parks hit a jump shot at the 8:15 mark before Southern Vermont's sophomore Amber Flagg (Windsor, Conn.) made a layup with 7:10 remaining to pull the Mountaineers to within four at 20-16. Neither side made a shot until Blazers' sophomore guard Jenna Oyler (Metuchen, N.J.) canned a pair of free throws with 3:41 remaining to spark an 8-5 run by Elms to close out the stanza and secure a 28-21 halftime lead.

After Parks netted a layup and junior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) hit the second of two free throws to give the Blazers a 10-point lead at 31-21 with 17:53 to play, Flagg scored the next seven points for Southern Vermont including a trey at the 16:33 mark to narrow Elms' lead to 31-28 with 15:33 on the clock.

Sophomore Sarah McDonald (Cohoes, N.Y.) then hit a jumper with 13:57 remaining to set the score at 34-30 in favor of the Blazers before Elms began to pull away. Elms' junior guard Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) swished a three-pointer and freshman forward Heather Bailey (Williamstown, Vt.) powered in a layup to run the lead to nine at 39-30 with 12:07 to play and the Mountaineers could get no closer than that margin.

Freshman Abbi Molner (Wilmington, Vt.) hit a jumper with 2:17 to play to pull Southern Vermont to within 10 points at 54-44, but the Blazers used an 8-0 run to close out the game which featured four made free throws by freshman guard Marissa Merrill (Meredith, N.H.), a layup from Parks and two made foul shots from freshman guard Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.).

Youngblood drained three from beyond the arc and finished with 15 points for Elms, while Burr added six points and four assists. Pickett had five steals and Parks had four in the winning effort.

Flagg finished with a team-high 19 points for Southern Vermont, while McDonald added 10 points in the losing effort. Sophomore Kala MacKenzie (Fair Haven, Vt.) chipped in seven points and was a force on the glass with a team-best 16 rebounds.  

Elms returns to NECC action on Thursday, November 5 when it welcomes Mitchell College to Picknelly Arena for a 7:00 p.m. contest.