Castleton Outlasts Women's Basketball, 63-46

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's basketball's winning streak came to a halt as visiting Castleton State defeated the Blazers, 63-46, in a non-conference tilt at Picknelly Arena Thursday night.

Leading 6-4 in the opening minutes of the first half, the Spartans created early space with a 9-0 run, fueled by four points from junior guard Bryanna DuPont (Marshfield, Mass.), to capture a 13-4 lead with 14:49 on the clock. The Blazers trimmed their deficit to two possessions with an 8-4 run over the next eight minutes. With 3:37 to play in the half, Elms freshman guard Mackenzie Larochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) buried an open-floor jumper to cut the Spartans lead to 22-17. The Spartans closed the opening frame on a 5-2 run to take a 27-19 lead into halftime.

The Blazers opened the second half with a jumper from senior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) and a pair of free throws from sophomore guard Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) to cut their deficit to 27-23 with 19:00 remaining. A three-pointer from Castleton senior guard Jade Desroches (Berkshire, Vt.) capped off a 13-2 run, spanning four minutes, which rebuilt a double-digit lead for the Spartans, 40-25. The squads exchanged buckets over the next four minutes with Castleton maintaining a 46-32 advantage with 11:03 to play. Elms rallied back behind a 10-6 run, featuring five consecutive points from Pickett, to make it a 52-43 game. With 3:05 on the clock, Desroches stole the ball and converted a layup to extend the Spartans lead to 61-44, as Castleton secured the 63-46 victory.

"I thought we played them tough for the first 35 minutes, and then we got tired at the end," said Elms Head Coach Michelle Proulx. "We played pretty well defensively. I felt we could've rebounded better tonight, since that's been a strength for us this season. We switched up our defenses a lot tonight, which was new, and we never backed down to [Castleton]. We need to work on getting more defensive stops in transition, and putting those stops together for 40 minutes. We play teams like Castleton to prepare for conference play, and we are excited for the second-half of our conference schedule. We haven't played a conference game for over a month, so we are ready to get back in it. [Wheelock] was a very young team last season, and they've added a couple key pieces, so we have a lot of preparation to get done in just one day. I think [Wheelock] will be a tough matchup, and it will be a good challenge for us on Saturday."

The Blazers were led by a double-double effort from Pickett, her fourth double-double of the season, with a team-high 12 points and a tied game-high 10 rebounds. Senior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) fell a rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine boards, while Burr added seven points and three assists.

Castleton State was paced by Desroches with a game-high 24 points, including 21 second-half points, shooting 9-of-17 from the floor, with five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. O'Sullivan tallied 12 points and eight rebounds, but DuPont grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds with eight points in the win.

The Spartans edged the Blazers on the glass, 42-38, during the contest. Elms connected on 26% (13-of-50) from the field, including 33.3% (4-of-12) from three-point, and 72.7% (16-of-22) from the foul line. Castleton State shot 39.3% (24-of-61) from the floor, 26.7% (4-of-15) from three-point range, and 78.6% (11-of-14) from the foul line.

Elms moves to 5-4 on the season, while Castleton State sits at 8-2 overall. The Blazers return to action in a home conference match against Wheelock College Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. The Spartans will travel to Williams College for a 7:00 p.m. tip on Tuesday, January 13^th.

GAME NOTES: Castleton State extends their series lead over the Blazers to 18-2…In the loss, Parks moved to second all-time in Blazers history in free throws attempted (555), and now trails Kim Fontaine (742).

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