Women’s Basketball Soars Past Daniel Webster College, 67-53

NASHUA, N.H. – Elms College junior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) led four Blazers in double figures with a double-double of 18 points and game-high 13 rebounds to help lift Elms to a 67-53 victory over Daniel Webster College in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game at Mario Vagge Gymnasium.

With the win, Elms improves to 14-9 overall, 13-3 in conference action, while Daniel Webster moves to 10-14 on the season, 8-9 in league play.

Parks led all Elms scorers with 18 points, followed by junior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) who added 17 points, freshman guard Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) who notched 15 points off the bench and junior forward Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) who delivered a double-double effort of  10 points and 10 boards.

Parks now has 1,597 points and is now just 15 points shy of tying the program's all-time record for points set by Tenielle Hill from 1999-2003.

Ashley England (Old Town, Maine) registered a game-high 24 points adding three assists for the Eagles while Katherine Johnson (Manchester, N.H.) added a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds. Ashley Giampetruzzi (Manchester, N.H.) posted eight points and six boards while Ariel Guzman (Yonkers, N.Y.) chipped in with six points.

Elms finished with an important advantage in total rebounding (60-40) including a decisive 27-15 total on the offensive glass. The Blazers added a 28-18 scoring advantage in the paint and an 18-7 finish in second chance points.

The teams traded leads over the opening 12 minutes of the first period and a Giampetruzzi bucket gave Daniel Webster a 17-14 lead with 8:01 remaining. Elms followed with a 12-2 run keyed by a pair of inside baskets from Parks and the Blazers closed the half on a 16-7 run to post a 30-24 at the break.

The Eagles kept it close over the opening five minutes of the second, pulling within four on a Johnson jumper to make it a 36-32 game. The Blazers answered with a steady 15-5 run over the next seven minutes ending with two straight inside shots from Pickett to open a 14 point lead (51-37) with 8:24 to play as Daniel Webster pulled no closer than 13 down the stretch.

Elms shot 35.1-percent from the field and 31.6-percent from three-point range led by Burr's three makes from beyond the arc. The Eagles were limited to just 29.4-percent shooting from the floor.

Elms returns to NECC action on Wednesday, February 19 when it hosts Bay Path College at 6:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.