CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) notched a game-high 20 points and tied for the game high in rebounds with 10 as the Blazers pulled away to a 79-49 victory over Lesley University in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena. With the win, Elms improves to 12-9 overall, 11-3 in NECC action, while Lesley moves to 2-20 overall, 2-13 in league play.
Parks was 7 of 11 from the field and 6 of 6 from the free throw line en route to her 20 points. Junior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) finished with 13 points and seven boards, freshman guard Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) chipped in 11 points and three assists off the bench and freshman forward Kayla Patrick (Bronx, N.Y.) netted 10 points and five rebounds in reserve for the Blazers.
Junior forward Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) netted a pair of treys and totaled eight points and freshman guard Marissa Merrill (Meredith, N.H.) added seven points and three helpers. Senior guard Ellen Donohue (Southington, Conn.) contributed three assists for Elms which shot 45.3-percent from the field.
Lesley was led by a 14-point, six-steal effort from senior Sarah Apgar (Andover, N.J.). Ari Dimou (Manchester, N.H.) notched 12 points, while Grace Amato (South Royalton, Vt.) added nine points and eight boards. Nicole Mercurio (Wakefield, Mass.) was stellar on the glass tying for the game-high in rebounds with 10.
Early in the first half. Lesley controlled the pace of play and led by as many as six when they held a 9-3 edge at the 15:54 mark. The Blazers would fight back and eventually tie the game when Youngblood knocked down a trey with 10:48 to play to even the game at 13-13. After Parks and Dimou each made a pair of free throws to set the score at 15-15 with 9:18 to play, Elms began to pull away as Parks hit a jumper and sophomore guard Jenna Oyler (Metuchen, N.J.) hit the front end of two foul shots to give the Blazers a lead they would not relinquish.
With 6:49 remaining in the half, Elms went on a 14-4 run that was capped by a jumper from freshman forward Alex Marques (Newington, Conn.) to give the Blazers a 15-point lead with 1:05 to play.
Dimou and Emily Meade (Derry, N.H.) made layups late in the stanza and Marques added a bucket underneath for Elms to set the halftime score at 36-23 at intermission.
In the second frame, the Blazers continued to pull away as the Lynx were limited to just six points through the first 11:47 of the period.
A layup by Patrick at the 7:07 by Patrick gave Elms its largest lead of the game (42 points) and set the score at 72-30.
Lesley's Jackie Ewing (Hong Kong, HK) was able to knock down a three-pointer and Apgar added a strike from beyond the arc late in the game.
Elms returns to NECC action on Wednesday, February 12 when it travels to Becker College for a 6:00 p.m. contest in Leicester, Mass. The Lynx will also return to the floor on Wednesday when they host Wheelock College at 8:00p at Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols.