Women’s Basketball Tops Southern Vermont College, 71-57 Behind Parks’ Double-Double

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) netted a collegiate career-high and game-best 39 points and totaled game-high 20 rebounds to help lift the Blazers to a 71-57 victory over Southern Vermont College in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game in Bennington, Vt.

With the win, Elms improves to 10-8 on the season, 9-2 in league play, while Southern Vermont falls to 4-15 overall, 2-10 in NECC action.

Parks' 39 points against Southern Vermont ties the program's single-game record with Tenielle Hill who accomplished the feat against Johnson State College during the 2002-03 season. 

Elms shot 34.8-percent from the field and used a 14 of 25 effort from Parks from the field and an 11 of 16 output from the charity stripe en route to 39 points. Parks led all players in rebounds with 20, while junior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) added 13 boards.

Junior forward Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) chipped in eight points and freshman guard Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) added seven points off the bench in the winning effort. Senior guard Ellen Donohue (Southington, Conn.) dished out a game-high seven assists and finished with six points.

Southern Vermont was led by Amber Flagg (Windsor, Conn.) who had 19 points while Mariah Anthony (Northfield, Mass.) notched a season-high 10 points off the Mountaineers' bench.

Through the first seven minutes, Southern Vermont remained close as a layup by Kala MacKenzie (Fair Haven, Vt.) tied the game at 11-11 with 14:09 to play in the half. Elms answered with a 10-0 run capped by a Parks free throw that put the Blazers ahead, 21-11 with 11:16 left to play in the opening frame. The next nine points of the game came from the free throw line as Elms was able to keep its advantage at 10 as the Blazers were 15 of 18 from the charity stripe in the first half.

Parks notched the double-double in the stanza with 16 points and 10 boards. Flagg led the Mountaineers with nine points, and MacKenzie tabbed four blocks.

Elms quickly extended its lead early in the second half scoring six unanswered points to push its lead out to 43-27. Southern Vermont's Sarah McDonald (Cohoes, N.Y.) got the Mountaineers going with a layup which was soon followed by a Flagg three and an Amber Dow (Panton, Vt.) jumper to narrow the lead to 45-34.

With 5:38 to play, Flagg connected on a pair of free throws to pull the Mountaineers to within nine (61-52), but Parks scored seven straight points on her own to make it 68-52 and put the game out of reach.

MacKenzie and Javasha White (Schenectady, N.Y.) each had a team-high eight rebounds for the Mountaineers; MacKenzie finished with a career-high seven blocks, and White added eight points and a team-best four assists to her night. Dow ended with nine points, five rebounds and three steals in the losing effort.

Elms returns to NECC action on Saturday, February 1 when it hosts Regis College at 2:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.