Women's Basketball Wins Fifth Straight

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's basketball team battled past visiting Saint Joseph's (CT), 79-69, in a non-conference contest at Picknelly Arena Tuesday evening.

The opening half of play featured six tied scores and 11 lead changes. After six lead changes in the opening seven minutes, the squads found themselves knotted at 11-11 with 13:27 to play in the first. A three-pointer from USJ senior guard Brianna Ferraro (Waterbury, Conn.) gave the Blue Jays their largest lead of the contest, 16-11, with 12:31 on the clock. The Blazers pulled back with a 14-4 run over the next five minutes, powered by eight points from senior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.), to capture a 25-20 advantage. Saint Joseph's rallied back behind a 10-4 run, fueled by five points from senior forward Lindsay Feducia (Beacon Falls, Conn.), to regain a 30-29 lead with 3:53 remaining in the half. The squads traded the lead four times in the final minutes of the half, and the Blue Jays took a 38-35 lead into halftime.

A three-pointer from Elms sophomore guard Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) tied the game at 40-40 at the 18:01 mark. Trailing 44-40, the Blazers captured the lead for good with a 14-2 run over the next four minutes, featuring back-to-back three-pointers from Burr and freshman guard Mackenzie Larochelle (Chicopee, Mass.), to stake Elms to a 54-46 advantage with 13:21 to play. The Blue Jays continued to battle, cutting their deficit to one point, 60-59, with a 14-5 run, eclipsing five minutes of play. The Blazers kept the Blue Jays at bay for the next three minutes, and then pulled away with 9-0 run, paced by six points from senior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.), to take a 76-66 lead with 2:58 on the clock. The Blazers converted their free throws down the stretch to secure the 79-69 non-conference victory.

"It was a great team win for us tonight," said Elms Head Coach Michelle Proulx. "We had a lot of players set up, offensively and defensively. We had a really good second half. WE struggled a little bit defensively in the first half and we turned that around in the second half. We focus on getting back defensively since we knew they liked to run. We are using this tough non-conference schedule to prepare us for conference play coming up. JC [Pickett] can perform like this day in a day out, which helps us out, and Mackenzie [Larochelle] added 13 points off the bench and that was huge for us. We took a big step forward today. Castleton will be a huge test for us, we saw them play earlier this season, and we know they are going to be a tough test, but we'll be ready for them on Thursday."

Elms had two players post double-doubles in the win. Parks registered game-highs in points and rebounds with 25 and 15, respectively. Pickett picked up her third double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Burr tallied a season-high 16 points with four assists, while Larochelle came off the bench with a career-high 13 points and three rebounds.

The Blue Jays were led by Ferraro with a team-high 19 points, shooting 7-of-12 from the field, with six rebounds. Putnam added 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds, and Feducia had 13 points in the loss.

The Blazers dominated the glass during the contest, outrebounding USJ, 48-30. Elms connected on 43.1% (25-of-58) of their field goal attempts, including 75% (6-of-8) from three-point range, and 79.3% (23-of-29) from the foul line. The Blue Jays shot 40% (28-of-70) from the field, 42.9% (6-of-14) from three-point, and 87.5% (7-of-8) from the free throw stripe.

Elms improves to 5-4 on the season, while Saint Joseph's drops at 5-6 overall. The Blazers will return to action when they host Castleton State in a non-conference tilt Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. The Blue Jays host Eastern Connecticut State Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. 

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