Parks, Youngblood Lift Women’s Basketball Past Becker College, 80-72

LEICESTER, Mass. – Elms College junior forwards Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) and Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) registered 21 points each and junior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) netted 19 points and a game-best 14 rebounds to help steer the Blazers to an 80-72 victory over Becker College in Wednesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game in Leicester, Mass.

With the win, Elms improves to 13-9 overall, 12-3 in league action, while Becker slips to 9-15 overall, 9-8 in NECC play.

Elms was impressive from the field hitting 46.0-percent of its shots and even more impressive from the free throw line hitting 32 of 38 from the charity stripe. Youngblood was 5 of 9 from the floor and 9 of 10 from the stripe en route to her 21 points, while Parks was 7 of 12 shooting from the field and 7 of 7 from the stripe.

Pickett swished 8 of 11 field goal attempts and pulled down 12 defensive rebounds to highlight her 19-point, 14-rebound effort, while freshman guard Marissa Merrill (Meredith, N.H.) canned 7 of 8 foul shots and finished with nine points. Parks added 11 rebounds, while Merrill and Youngblood grabbed six boards each in the win.

Becker was led by Haley Ooms' (Valatie, N.Y.) double-double output of 13 points and 14 assists. She also added four steals, while Tatiana Mojica (Worcester, Mass.) tied for the game-high in points with 21 on 9 of 20 shooting from the floor.

Elizabeth McNiff (Leominster, Mass.) and Karena Prescott (New Bedford, Mass.) finished with 13 and 10 points respectively off the bench for the Hawks, while Grabrielle Gallo (Northport, N.Y.) chipped in seven points.

The opening 5:49 featured a 9-0 run by Elms to begin the contest before Becker answered with an explosion of 17-straight points highlighted by Mojica and capped by an Ooms jumper to set the score at 17-9 in favor of the Hawks.

Elms' freshman forward Heather Bailey (Williamstown, Vt.) snapped the run when she hit the front end of two free throws to ignite an 8-0 run by the Blazers to even the game at 17-17 with 7:22 to play in the frame.

Elms closed out the half by scoring 13 of the next 20 points behind a Youngblood swish from three-point range and jumper by Parks with 37 seconds left to give the Blazers a 30-24 cushion at intermission.

In the second half, Elms extended its advantage to nine (43-34) on a Pickett layup with 14:48 to play in regulation. Becker kept the contest close and closed to within two on a bucket underneath by Prescott with 11:18 on the clock. The Hawks later narrowed their deficit to three when Ooms connected on two foul shots with 7:05 remaining, and then again when Ooms delivered a layup with 6:40 to play to set the score at 58-55 in favor of Elms.

Stellar free throw shooting and consistent shooting from the field by Youngblood and Parks ran Elms lead to double-digits (70-59) with 2:54 to play, and from there, the Blazers were able to pull away to an 80-72 victory.  

Elms returns to New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action on Saturday, February 15 when it travels to Daniel Webster College for a 4:00 p.m. contest.