CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Erika Murphy (Torrington, Conn.) scored a game-high 20 points and hauled in a team-best 13 rebounds but Lesley University's Brianne Caira (Pelham, N.H.) totaled 12 points, amassed a game-high 15 rebounds and swatted nine shots to help pace the Lynx to a hard-fought 51-48 victory over the Blazers in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.
With the loss, Elms falls to 2-6 overall, 0-1 in league play, while Lesley improves to 2-5 on the season, 2-0 in NECC action.
With the score even at 44-44 with 1:33 to play in the game, Lesley's Rachel O'Mara (Levittown, N.Y.) converted a layup to put the Lynx up 46-44. Caira put Lesley ahead by four (48-44) after hitting two free throws with 36 seconds left before Murphy cut Elms' deficit in half by swishing a pair of free throws of her own with 25 ticks remaining to set the score at 48-46.
A pair of Kaitlyn Wechsler (Merrick, N.Y.) foul shots with 23 seconds left pushed the Lynx's lead back to four but Murphy again answered, this time with a bucket underneath with 10 ticks remaining to bring the Blazers to within two at 50-48. Following an Elms foul, Wechsler hit the front end of two free throws to give Lesley a 51-48 advantage. Elms' sophomore guard Jen Normandie (Westford, Mass.) launched a three-pointer as time expired but the Lynx's Cassidy Freed (Brattleboro, Vt.) tallied Lesley's 13th block of the afternoon to preserve the three-point win.
Lesley led for much of the first half building an eight point lead (25-17) with 2:47 to play in the frame before Elms scored seven straight points highlighted by a free throw from junior guard Brooke Miller (West Warwick, R.I.), two foul shots from Murphy and a pair of layups by junior guard Katie Condon (Sandy Hook, Conn.) to pull the Blazers to within one at 25-24 at intermission.
The second half was a game of runs as Elms picked up where it left off to start the final 20 minutes, scoring six consecutive points on baskets by freshman guard Ellen Donohue (Southington, Conn.), Condon and Murphy to stake a 30-25 lead with 17:21 to play.
Lesley responded with a 9-0 run of its own to take a 34-30 lead at the 11:31 mark before a Donohue trey and a layup by Murphy halted the Lynx's scoring stretch and put Elms back in the lead 35-34 with 9:12 remaining in the contest.
The sides then played to four ties and a pair of lead changes before O'Mara's bucket with 1:33 left set up Lesley's victory.
O'Mara finished with a team-high 16 points and added eight rebounds while Freed scored 10 points, dished out five assists and added three steals. Kacie St. Onge (Brattleboro, Vt.) swished eight points in the winning effort.
Condon totaled 10 points while Donohue and Normandie struck for eight points and seven points respectively in the loss.
Elms returns to non-conference action at the Maine Maritime Academy Invitational tournament on Jan. 4-5. The Blazers will take on host Maine Maritime in its first game of the tournament on Jan. 4 at 6:00 p.m.