Regis College Downs Women’s Basketball, 72-56

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior forwards Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) and JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) netted 15 points each but Regis College used a game-high 21 points from Janaya Bradley (New Haven, Conn.) to help the Pride register a 72-56 victory in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the loss, Elms moves to 10-9 on the season, 9-3 in conference play, while Regis improves to 16-4 overall and remains unbeaten in league action at 13-0.

Elms shot 35.3-percent from the floor and 37.5-percent from the three-point line led by Youngblood's five strikes from long distance. Pickett was 6 of 9 from the field en route to her 15 points and both she and Youngblood corralled five rebounds along with freshman forward Alex Marques (Newington, Conn.) who chipped in five boards and eight points off the bench.

Junior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) added 10 points and tied for the game-high in rebounds with nine and added a pair of blocked shots, while freshman guard Marissa Merrill (Meredith, N.H.) dished out three assists in the loss.

Regis hit on 39.4-percent of its shots led by an 8 for 16 effort from Bradley who also went 5 of 8 from three-point range as the sharpshooter netted 21 points. Claire Ramonas (Portland, Maine) drilled 18 points and collected seven rebounds.

Emilee Marro (Bedford, N.H.) netted nine points, while Teresa Busiek (Arlington, Mass.) and Alyssa Vieira-Lanpher (Princeton, Mass.) chipped in eight points each in the winning effort. Bradley pulled down team-best nine boards tying Parks for the game-high in the category.

The Pride outscored Elms, 32-22 in the paint and was able to turn 21 Blazers' turnovers into 10 fast-break points.

In the first half, Bradley led all scorers with 10 points as the sides battled to four lead changes before Regis mounted a 12-point, 30-18 lead on a Bradley trey with 2:52 to play in the period. Elms answered as Youngblood swished a triple and the Blazers hit on three of four free throws in the closing seconds of the first stanza to set the score at 32-24 at intermission.

After the teams exchanged points on a Parks jumper and a pair of free throws by Marro, Youngblood drained another three-pointer before the Pride went on a 16-3 run to push out to its largest lead of the game (18 points) at 50-32 with 14:29 to play in the contest.

From there, the Blazers could get no closer than 14 points as Regis pulled away to its 72-56 victory.

Elms returns to NECC action Tuesday, February 4 when it travels to Holyoke Community College to take on Bay Path College at 8:00 p.m.