Women's Basketball Hits Century Mark Against Lesley

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's basketball squad throttled visiting Lesley University, 103-38, in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) matchup at Picknelly Arena Wednesday night. The Blazers set their season-high mark in scoring during the win over the Lynx.

The Blazers stormed in front early in the contest with Elms taking a 14-4 lead on an offensive rebound and put back from senior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) at the 14:33 mark. The Blazers continued to pad their lead behind a 9-5 run, capped off by a three-point play from sophomore guard Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) to give Elms a 23-9 advantage. Back-to-back three-pointers from Burr put the up 20 points, 33-13, with 7:32 on the clock. The Blazers outscored Lesley, 24-10, fueled by nine points from Parks, to close the frame with a 57-23 lead.

Elms continued their offensive surge heading into the second half, and a steal and fast break layup from Parks staked the Blazers to a 71-25 lead with 16:29 remaining. With 12:01 on the clock, Elms senior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) rattled off eight consecutive points to extend the Blazers lead to 84-32 with 10:34 to play. A layup from freshman forward Alli Dabek (Easthampton, Mass.) broke the Blazers season-high scoring mark as Elms pushed their lead to 96-34 with 6:02 on the clock. At the 1:23 mark, junior guard Lyndsey Oppenheimer (Easthampton, Mass.) knocked down a jumper from the wing to hit the century mark, en route to the 103-38 victory.

Parks led all scorers with 28 points, shooting 13-of-21 from the floor, with a game-high 11 rebounds. Pickett registered her ninth double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Burr netted a season-high 18 points. Brown dished out a game-high seven assists with eight points and six rebounds in the win.

The Lynx were paced by junior guard Jackie Ewing (Hong Kong, HK) with a team-best 12 points. Freshman Kerry Flaherty (Woburn, Mass.) had six points and six rebounds. Junior guard Ari Dimou (Manchester, N.H.)  and senior forward Anthea Rathjens (Sudbury, Mass.) each added six points and four rebounds.

With the win, the Blazers improve to 14-7 on the season, and 12-2 in NECC play, while Lesley drops to 1-19, and 1-12 overall. Elms returns to action when they face off with Bay Path at Picknelly Arena tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. The Lynx host Mitchell Saturday night at 6:00 p.m.

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