Women's Basketball Dismantles Daniel Webster

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. - The Elms College women's basketball team dismantled visiting Daniel Webster College, 74-43, in a New England Collegiate Conference contest at Picknelly Arena Thursday night.

The two squads battled back-and-forth over the opening nine minutes of play, exchanging the lead six times with four tied scores. Knotted at 16-16 with 11:43 left in the first half, the Blazers began to build their lead over the Eagles with a 17-7 run in six-minute window, fueled by six points from senior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.), to take a 33-23 advantage. Sloppy play mared the final five minutes of the half with Elms adding a pair of buckets to extend their lead to 37-23 at the half.

The Blazers continued their offensive onslaught in the second half, opening the period on a 16-2 run, capped by a layup from Parks at the 14:22 mark, giving Elms a 53-25 lead. The closest the Eagles would come to Elms would be a 24-point margin, 55-31, after a three-pointer from DWC junior guard Ashley England with 10:49 to play. The Blazers outscored the Eagles, 19-12, over the final 10 minutes of action, securing the 74-43 conference victory.

"I think we played really hard from the opening tip tonight," said Elms Head Coach Michelle Proulx. "We also had a strong start to the second half, which propelled us and helped build our lead. It allowed us to play a lot of players, and have our younger players get experience in conference play. All in all, it was a great team effort, and our scoring was really balanced. It was frustrating in the beginning of the season to play teams close and not get those early wins, but it helped toughen us up at the start of the season, and prepare us for our conference schedule. We are excited to face Mitchell, and we have a lot of work to do in one day. We've breweed up a rivalry with Mitchell over the last few seasons and we'll come out ready to play on Saturday."

Parks led all scorers with a game-high 24 points for the Blazers. Parks connected on 10-of-16 attempts from the field with seven rebounds and two steals. Senior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) chipped in nine points and seven rebounds, while junior guard Mariah Brown (Windsor Locks, Conn.) and sophomore guard Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) each added eight points. Brown dished out a game-high six assists with seven rebounds, while sophomore forward Alexandra Marques (Newington, Conn.) grabbed a game-high eight rebounds with five points off the bench.

The Eagles were paced by sophomore guard Kayla Free (Quincy, Mass.), posting team-high in points (11) and rebounds (6). Freshman guard Amanda Gendron (Mont Vernon, N.H.) had seven points, four rebounds and four steals, while junior guard Ashley England (Old Town, Maine) tallied seven points with four assists and three boards.

The Blazers controlled the glass during the contest, outrebounding the Eagles, 55-38, and dominating points in the paint, 54-10. Elms connected on 47.1% (32-of-68) of their attempts from the field, 12.5% (1-of-8) of their three-point attempts, and 42.9% (9-of-21) from the free throw line. Daniel Webster shot 24.6% (15-of-61) from the floor, including 22.7% (5-of-22) from three-point, and 57.1% (8-of-14) from the foul line.

Elms will look to continue their win streak when they travel to Mitchell College for an NECC tilt Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. Daniel Webster returns to the floor at New Hampshire on Sunday December 7th at 1:00 p.m.

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