Women’s Basketball Battles Past Daniel Webster College, 68-54

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) scored a game-high 30 points and has now totaled 1,391 points in her career which places her third on the program's all-time scorers list as the Blazers downed Daniel Webster College, 68-54 in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms evens its record at 7-7 overall, 6-1 in NECC action, while Daniel Webster moves to 5-8 on the season, 3-4 in conference play.

Parks was sensational hitting on 11 of 19 from the floor and 8 of 9 from the free throw line. Parks also totaled a game-high 12 rebounds while freshman guard Marissa Merrill (Meredith, N.H.) was a catalyst on offense, dishing out four assists and hauling in 10 rebounds.

Junior forward Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) netted 11 points highlighted by two three-pointers and junior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) added eight points and seven rebounds in the winning effort. Freshman guard Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) came off the bench and dished out four assists for the Blazers who shot 40.4-percent from the field.

Daniel Webster was led by Ashley Giampetruzzi (Manchester, N.H.) who totaled a team-high 16 points including a pair of treys, while Katherine Johnson (Manchester, N.H.) was terrific in reserve for the Eagles and finished with 15 points off 6 of 16 shooting.  

Ashley England (Old Town, Maine) added 11 points and Ariel Guzman (Yonkers, N.Y.) netted eight to give Daniel Webster three players in double figures, while Johnson led the Eagles in rebounding with 11 boards.

Elms owned a 34-24 scoring advantage in the key and the Blazers out-rebounded Daniel Webster, 50-31 en route to the 14-point victory.

In the first half, Elms led by as many as 13 after Burr hit the front end of two free throws to set the score at 23-10 at the 10:55 mark, but Daniel Webster rallied scoring nine of the next 10 points capped by a Johnson bucket in the lane with 6:11 to play to pull the Eagles to within five at 24-19.

Elms answered with a 7-3 run of its own to give the Blazers a 31-22 lead following a Parks layup, but the Eagles responded yet again as England capped a late surge with a pair of free throws to set the score at 33-28 in favor of Elms at intermission.

The Blazers began to pull away early in the second frame using a 9-0 run over the first 3:10 to stake a 42-28 lead.

A jumper by Johnson at the 15:59 mark, a layup by Giampetruzzi with 11:54 left, and a basket underneath by England (11:27) pulled the Eagles to within 10, but Elms never let Daniel Webster get closer than that as the Blazers extended its lead to as many 18 (62-45 at the 7:01 mark) to help seal the eventual 68-54 victory.

Elms returns to conference action on Saturday, January 18 when it travels to Mitchell College for a 1:00 p.m. contest.