Women's Basketball Rallies Past Newbury

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's basketball team used a strong second half performance to rally past visiting Newbury College, 58-47, in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) contest at Picknelly Arena Thursday night. The Blazers improve to 8-9 overall, and 7-3 in conference play, while Newbury drops to 4-7 in the NECC, and 5-13 on the season.

Back and forth play opened the tilt with the squads as a three-point play from Newbury freshman Savannah Olsen (Battle Creek, Mich.) handed the Nighthawks a 7-5 lead until buckets from Elms seniors Mariah Brown (Windsor Locks, Conn.) and JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) grabbed a 9-7 lead for the Blazers. Tied 9-9, the Blazers closed the first quarter with three unanswered points to take a 12-9 advantage after the first frame.

Trailing 13-9 at the 9:38 mark, the Nighthawks took control of the scoreboard behind a 10-2 run over the next five minutes, fueled by three-point efforts from seniors Jovanna Sandifer (Boston, Mass.) and Katelyn Roeser (Nashua, N.H.), to take a 19-15 lead. A layup from Olsen gave the Nighthawks their largest lead of the contest, 23-17, with 2:24 left in the period. Elms chipped away at their deficit over the final minutes of the period, orchestrating a 6-0 run to knot the contest at 23-23 heading into the intermission.

The Nighthawks pushed their advantage to 28-23 in the opening minutes of the third quarter. The Blazers battled back to even the score at 33-33 behind a 10-5 run, featuring four points from Brown and sophomore Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.). Elms connected on three layups in the final 1:37 of the third to grab a 39-35 lead.

The Blazers saved the best for last, pouring in 19 points during the final 10 minutes of play. Elms kicked off the frame with a 9-3 run to push their lead into double digits, 48-38, with 5:24 on the clock. Pickett knocked down a jumper from the wing to give Elms their largest lead of the contest, 53-38, at the 2:50 mark. The Blazers held off the Nighthawks down the stretch to capture the 58-47 victory.

LaRochelle came off the bench to lead the Blazers in scoring with 14 points, shooting 6-of-10 from the floor, with eight rebounds. Pickett registered her fourth double-double of the season with a game-high 15 rebounds and 12 points, while Brown tallied 11 points and two rebounds. Junior Alexandra Marques (Newington, Conn.) grabbed seven rebounds, while junior Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) had eight points with a game-high four assists.

The Nighthawks were led by a double-double effort from Olsen with a game-high 17 points and ten rebounds. Sophomore Destiny Spears (Arnold, Md.) hauled in 13 rebounds with eight points, while Roeser added 10 points and six rebounds in the loss.

The Nighthawks edged the Blazers on the glass, 48-45, during the contest. Elms connected on 32.8% (19-of-58) from the floor, including 18.2% (2-of-11) from three-point range, and 64.3% (18-of-28) from the foul line. Newbury shot 28.6% (16-of-56) from the field, 25% (2-of-8) from three-point, and 56.5% (13-of-23) from charity stripe.

The Blazers will look to continue their winning way with a conference road trip to Mitchell for a 3:00 p.m. tip on Saturday afternoon. Newbury hosts Becker in NECC action Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

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