Women's Basketball Clips Becker

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

LEICESTER, Mass. – The Elms College women's basketball team cruised past host Becker College, 61-39, in a New England Collegiate Conference contest at Leicester Gymnasium Tuesday night. The Blazers improve to 5-7 overall, and 4-1 in conference play, while Becker drops at 1-4 in league play, and 2-10 on the season.

The teams exchanged baskets in the opening minutes with back-to-back layups from senior Mariah Brown (Windsor Locks, Conn.) giving the Blazers a 6-5 lead at the 6:52 mark of the first quarter. The Hawks kept the Blazers within a point, 10-9, on a jumper from freshman Adrianna Dowdy (East Hartford, Conn.), but Elms closed the frame with four straight points from junior Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) to grab a 14-9 lead.

After two minutes of scoreless play, Burr canned a three-pointer to extend the Blazers advantage to 17-9 with 7:40 on the clock. Becker battled back behind a 9-2 run over the next four minutes, powered by four points from freshman Avrie Bassingthwaite (Swanzey, N.H.), to trim the Elms lead to 19-18 with 4:27 remaining in the half. The Blazers regained control by closing the first half on a 13-0 run, featuring four-point efforts by Brown and senior J.C. Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.), to take a 32-18 lead into the intermission.

The Hawks opened the second half scoring on consecutive layups from Gabrielle Gallo (Northport, N.Y.), followed by a three-point play from Dowdy to make it a 34-25 game. Layups from Pickett sandwiched a three-pointer from Burr to rebuild a 41-27 advantage with 4:10 left in the quarter. The Blazers took a 43-30 lead into the fourth quarter.

Gallo netted four of the Hawks opening six points of the quarter, but the Blazer responded with a 9-2 run, capped off by a trey from sophomore Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) at the 2:12 mark. LaRochelle added a late jumper, followed by a pair of free throws from freshman Erin O'Donnell (Glenmont, N.Y.) to secure the 61-39 victory.

"It was a good team win today," said Elms Head Coach Michelle Proulx. "Defensively, it was the best we played all year, from our guards to our post players, they did a good job frustrating [Becker]. Emily [Burr] found her groove offensively, which helped out, and we ran our offense a lot better, which we've been working on in practice. We didn't just settle for jump shots today, we got our post players involved early, and that ended up freeing up some space for our guards to work. I was happy we could get into our bench because everyone, top to bottom, works so hard in practice. [Lesley] will be a tough, scrappy team, so we have a lot of preparation to do in the next day. They have a lot of new kids, and some seniors who are pretty skilled, so we'll prepare with film and practice tomorrow."

The Blazers had three scorers in double figures, led by Burr with a game-high 18 points, four steals, three rebounds and two assists. Brown tallied a season-high 14 points with a team-high six rebounds, while Pickett chipped in 12 points and five rebounds. McAllister added six points and two rebounds off the bench.

Becker was paced by a team-high nine points from Dowdy. Gallo grabbed a game-high 14 rebound with eight points, and freshman Ciara McKissick (Charlton, Mass.) notched eight points, seven rebounds and three steals.

The Blazers edged the Hawks on the glass, 34-31, and bench points, 15-10, during the contest. Elms connected on 46.6% (27-of-58) from the field, including 33.3% (3-of-9) from three-point range, and 66.7% (4-of-6) from the foul line. Becker shot 33.3% (15-of-45) from the floor, 28.6% (2-of-7) from three-point, and 53.8% (7-of-13) from the free throw stripe.

The Blazers will look to maintain their winning ways when they host Lesley University in an NECC matchup at Picknelly Arena Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. Becker travels to Regis for an NECC tilt Thursday at 8:00 p.m.

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