CASTLETON, Vt. – Elms College junior forward Erika Murphy (Torrington, Conn.) registered a game-high 17 points but Castleton State College was able to fend off the Blazers and post a 53-46 victory in Saturday afternoon's non-conference women's basketball game in Castleton, Vt.

With the loss, Elms moves to 2-4 on the season while Castleton improves to 2-3 overall.

Castleton got off to a fast start, building a 16-5 lead in the first 7:46 of the contest and extended that lead to 15 points at 26-11 with 4:35 to play in the opening 20 minutes.

Elms roared back as Murphy and freshman guard Mariah Petty (Mastic Beach, N.Y.) each hit a pair of free throws, junior guard Katie Condon (Sandy Hook, Conn.) hit the front end of two free throws, freshman guard Ellen Donohue (Southington, Conn.) swished a three-pointer and Murphy capped scoring span with a bucket underneath to pull the Blazers to within eight at 29-21 with 39 ticks left in the frame. From there, the Spartans' Christine Jacques (Burlington, Vt.) hit her third three-pointer of the opening half to give Castleton an 11-point 32-21 lead at halftime.

After Castleton's Kristie Dunchus (West Rutland, Vt.) drained a pair of free throws at the 18:24 mark of the second half to set the score at 34-21, Elms scored nine unanswered points highlighted by a pair of jumpers from Murphy, a free throw each from Condon and freshman guard Emily Boucher (Ashburnham, Mass.) and a trey from Donohue to cut the Blazers' deficit to four at 34-30 with 15:22 remaining in the game.

An 11-2 run by the Spartans over the next 5:18 gave Castleton a 13-point advantage with just over 10 minutes to play in the contest.

With Castleton leading 51-42 at the 2:21 mark, Donohue and Condon converted buckets underneath for Elms to bring the Blazers to within five at 51-46 with 1:48 to play, but a pair of Tarryn Bolognani (Whitingham, Vt.) free throws with 45 seconds left gave the Spartans a 53-46 victory.

Donohue finished with 12 points, while Condon netted 10 points and added a game-high 10 boards in the losing effort to round out three Blazers starters in double figures. Castleton held Elms' bench to just four points.

Jacques totaled a team-high 13 points while Bolognani added 11 points to lead the Spartans' offense. Dunchus netted nine points, while Alyssa Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) and Vanessa Powers (Marshfield, Vt.) contributed eight points each.

Elms returns to non-conference action on Wednesday, Dec. 8 when it hosts St. Joseph College (Conn.) at 7:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.