Women's Basketball Triumphs Over Mount Holyoke

Kaleigh Anderson (@KaleighAnd1)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's basketball team sped past the visiting Mount Holyoke Lyons, 64-48, in non-conference action Tuesday evening at Picknelly Arena. With the win, the Blazers rise to 2-2 on the season, while the Lyons drop to 2-3 overall.

The first quarter saw runs off the hands of both squads as they went back-to-back down the floor with freshmen Molly Moulton (North Adams, Mass.) posting the first basket of the evening thirty three seconds into the contest. From there, Mount Holyoke senior Xajaah Williams- Flores (The Bronx, N.Y.) posted a bullet of her own snagging an offensive rebound and securing the tally for the Lyons. The score continued to waiver throughout the first as senior Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) posted two back-to-back layups for Elms starting at the 7:22 tally to aid in the tied 7-7 scoreboard. Williams-Flores would respond with a jumper of her own to make the score 9-8 in favor of the Lyons who would remain on top heading into the second owning an eventual 12-10 scoreboard.

The second quarter saw a run of Blazer momentum as the team went on a 16-point stint while keeping the Lyons off the scoreboard. The Blazers shot 45.0% from the floor going 9-20 while the Lyons went 2-14 eventually lighting up the scoring column with four minutes remaining off of a sophomore Zahkeyah Allen (Philadelphia, Penn.) free throw attempt from the charity stripe. During the Elms run Alexandra Marques posted six in the effort while capturing six rebounds. Sophomore Kayla Aberdale (Housatonic, Mass.) sank the first Blazer three of the contest at the 8:26 marker to secure the advantage and send Elms into the break owning a 31-17 scoreboard.

Heading into the third, Allen would connect first for the Lyons as she found the backboard inside the paint for the easy two. Junior Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Mass.) would respond with a layup of her own to maintain the Elms advantage. The Lyons continued to rally going on a 13-4 run of their own headed by freshmen Kathryn Violette (Yokosuka, Japan) with seven to keep hope alive with a 39-32 score. Marques and LaRochelle would close out the scoring efforts for the Blazers with Marques netting two layups to LaRochelle's single. Violette ended the quarter on a high note for Mount Holyoke going 2-for-2 at the stripe before adding a buzzer-beating jumper to send the contest into the fourth.

Sophomore Nakia Mabin (Bridgeport, Conn.) started off hot for Elms capturing back-to-back offensive rebounds to post tip in opportunities to lengthen the lead 47-37. The Lyons looked to Allen as she captured five throughout the quarter going 1-2 from the floor while posting a tally from the line. Despite Lyon advances Elms would remain in the winning column with freshmen Samantha Lynes (Berlin, Conn.) closing out the scoring efforts with a far three to send the Blazers away with the 64-48 victory.

Marques delivered a career game, logging her first 20-20 effort with a career-high 22 rebounds and a career-high 20 points, shooting 9-of-14 from the field. Burr tallied 11 points, while Moulton added 10 points and a career-high seven rebounds. Aberdale contributed six points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists in the win.

Violette led the Lyons with a team-high 15 points and five rebounds. Katlyn Grover notched 14 points and four rebounds, while Allen had 11 points. Williams-Flores grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds, eight rebounds and four assists.

The Blazers edged the Lyons in rebounds (63-39) and points in the paint (50-20). The Blazers totaled 34.9% from the field (29-83), including 18.2% from the three-point line (2-11), and 44.4% from the foul line (4-9). Mount Holyoke shot 32.7% from the floor (17-52), 16.7% from three point range (1-6), and 52.0% from the foul line (13-25).

The Blazers will play host to Newbury in their New England Collegiate Conference opener at home November 29^th for a 7 p.m. tip. The Lyons will travel to Clark University November 30^th for a 7 p.m. start time. 

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