Parks Pours in 26 as Women’s Basketball Downs Wheelock College, 67-45

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) scored a game-high 26 points and secured a game-best 16 rebounds as the Blazers topped Wheelock College, 67-45 in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms improves to 5-6 overall, 4-0 in NECC action, while Wheelock falls to 1-9 on the season, 0-4 in conference play.

In the opening period, Elms built a 17-10 lead when junior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) powered in a layup at the 8:25 mark. Wheelock answered with a 10-3 run highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from Katie Alsip (Quincy, Mass.) and a basket each from Shannon Garvey (Clarksburg, Mass.) and Jaime Grzych (Columbia, Conn.) to knot the game at 20-20 with 3:53 to play in the half.

The Blazers responded by scoring 10 of the final 12 points to end the half on the strength of a strike from beyond the arc from freshman guard Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) and a 4 for 4 effort from the free throw line by Parks to give Elms a 30-22 edge at intermission.

Alsip led all scorers at the break with eight points, while Grzych added seven points in the first 20 minutes of play. Parks, Pickett and Burr each totaled seven points for Elms, while Parks and Pickett each claimed 11 rebounds in the first stanza.

Early in the second frame, Michelle Woods (Wilmington, Mass.) converted back-to-back layups to pull the Wildcats to within six (32-26) with 18:34 to play in the game, and an Alsip jumper set the score at 34-28 at the 17:44 mark. A layup by Pickett and four consecutive made free throws by Parks ran Elms' lead back double digits at 40-28 with 15:24 on the clock.

A bucket underneath by Kelsey Becker (Hanover, Mass.) narrowed the Blazers' lead to eight (40-32) with just over 14 minutes remaining but Wheelock could get no closer as junior forward Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) and Parks provided layups to again give Elms a double-figure lead.

From there, Elms maintained its double digit advantage and led by as many as 24 (67-43) following a Youngblood mid-range jumper at the 1:19 mark.

Pickett finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds behind Parks' 26-point, 16-rebound effort to lead the Blazers in victory. Burr scored all nine of Elms' points off the bench, while Youngblood chipped in seven points in the winning effort. Youngblood also dished out a game-high six assists and recorded four steals.  

Woods netted a team-high 13 points for Wheelock and pulled in a team-high eight rebounds, while Alsip chipped in 10 points and seven boards in the loss. Grzych and Amber Tudor (Bronx, N.Y.) combined for seven of the Wildcats' nine steals in the contest.

Elms shot 41.9-percent from the field and the Blazers' defense limited Wheelock to just 25.3-percent shooting from the floor. The Blazers were also stellar from the charity stripe, hitting 81.2-percent of their free throw attempts.  

Elms is back in action on Thursday, January 9 when it travels to NECC foe Regis College at 6:00 p.m. in Weston, Mass.