Women's Basketball Routs Becker

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. - The Elms College women's basketball team rolled past visiting Becker College, 69-32, in a New England Collegiate Conference matchup at Picknelly Arena Tuesday night.

The Blazers raced to a 9-0 lead in the opening four minutes of play behind seven straight points from senior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.). Leading 13-6, the Blazers began to pull away from the Hawks with a 10-4 run, spanning eight minutes on the clock, capped of by a jumper from Parks, staking Elms to a 23-10 advantage. The Blazers added a bucket from freshman guard Mackenzie Larochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) in the final minute to take a 25-10 lead into halftime.

Elms maintained a double-digit lead over the Hawks for the entire second half. A free throw from Blazers junior guard Mariah Brown (Windsor Locks, Conn.) at the 17:22 mark doubled up the Becker score, 28-14. The Blazers orchestrated a 15-3 run over the next seven minutes of play to extend their lead to 43-17 with 11:45 to play. The Blazers lead reached the 30-point plateau twice in the second half en route to a 69-32 victory.

"I thought we came out a little slow today,"said Elms Head Coach Michelle Proulx. "But in the second half, we made a huge run, and that helped our defense in the second half. Our second half was a lot stronger that the first half. We need to improve our play against the zone, since most teams in our conference play a zone, so working against that and looking over all our options and not settling for jump shots like we did in the first half. It was good to get the bench involved again today. Our bench players have been getting a lot of minutes, and that should continue and hopefully they can conitinue to step up like they have. We're ready for our first away game of the second half, and that will be good to travel and get off campus for a little bit. Obviously, Regis is a big test for us on Saturday, but we aren't looking past Thursday's game."

Parks led the Blazers with a game-high 23 points, converting 10-of-14 field goals, with seven rebounds. Senior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) tallied her fourth consecutive double-double, grabbing a season-high 15 rebounds with 14 points. Brown and sophomore forward Alexandra Marques (Newington, Conn.) each added seven points in the win, while Larochelle had six points, four rebounds and four assists in the win.

Becker was paced by senior guard Brooke Martel (Griswold, Conn.) with nine points, five steals and two rebounds. Freshman guard Alycia Dery (Millville, Mass.) recorded eight points, four assists and three steals, while freshman guard Alyssa Bond (Thompson, Conn.) had six points and four rebounds.

The Blazers controlled the glass during the contest, outrebounding the Hawks, 42-31. Elms shot 46% (29-of-63) from the field, while connecting on just 1-of-11 three-point attempts, and 71.4% (10-of-14) from the free throw line. Becker was 25% (10-of-40) from the floor, and 57.1% (12-of-21) from the foul line.

With the win, the Blazers improve to 7-5 overall, and remain undefeated (5-0) in NECC play, while Becker dropped to 0-11, and 0-5 on the season. Elms will return to the floor at Lesley University Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. Becker hosts Regis College Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

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