Women's Basketball Dismantles Lesley

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's basketball blasted visiting Lesley University, 85-32, in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) contest at Picknelly Arena Thursday night. With the win, the Blazers improve to 6-7 on the season, and 4-1 in the NECC, while Lesley drops to 1-11 and 0-6 in conference action.

The Lynx took their one and only lead of the game after a bucket from senior Ari Dimou (Manchester, N.H.) in the opening minute of play. Elms held the Lynx to just three points in the first quarter as Elms junior Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) and sophomore Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) combined for 13 first half points to give the Blazers a 19-3 lead after the first quarter.

Elms continued the onslaught in the second quarter, opening the frame on a 12-0 run to extend their advantage to 31-3 with 6:55 remaining in the quarter. A layup by Lesley senior Hayley Wirth (Escondido, Calif.) ended the Lynx nearly 13-minute scoring drought at the 6:07 mark. The Blazers closed the first half on a 10-4 run to grab a 41-9 lead heading into halftime.

Lesley kicked off the second-half scoring with a three-pointer from sophomore Courtney Goggin (Cheshire, Conn.), but the Blazers sandwiched layups from senior JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) around a three-pointer from Burr to put Elms up 52-14. The Lynx tried to chip away at the deficit with a 7-2 run, but the Blazers stifled Lesley's hopes by responding with an 8-2 run to close the third quarter with a 62-23 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Elms used a 13-1 run in the opening four minutes to extend their advantage to 75-24 with 6:20 remaining. A layup from freshman Erin O'Donnell (Glenmont, N.Y.) gave the Blazers their largest lead of the contest, 85-30, with 1:36 to play en route to the 85-32 victory.

All the Blazers players that suited up for the game registered points, led by a tied game-high 16 points by Burr. LaRochelle registered her first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds and four assists. Pickett tallied 10 points and eight rebounds, while O'Donnell netted a career-high nine points with a career-high five rebounds.

Lesley sophomore Theresa Pereira (Hopedale, Mass.) had a tied game-high 16 points with two steals. Dimou grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds with nine points, while Wirth had four points and Goggin added three points to round out the Lynx scoring.

The Blazers dominated the rebounding category (59-31), points in the paint (58-10), points off turnovers (21-13), fast break points (18-2), and bench points (42-4). Elms converted 47.9% (35-of-73) from the field, including 25% (3-of-12) from three-point range, and 54.5% (12-of-22) from the foul line. Lesley shot 21.1% (12-of-57) from the floor, 15.4% (2-of-13) from three-point, and 42.9% (6-of-14) on free throws.

The Blazers will look to push their win streak to three games as they take on Regis (Mass.) in NECC action at Picknelly Arena Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Lesley travels to Mitchell for an NECC contest Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

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