CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Erika Murphy (Torrington, Conn.) recorded a double-double with 18 points and 18 rebounds and completed a three-point play with 19 seconds left in the second half to pull the Blazers to within one, but Mitchell College escaped with a 54-53 lead in Thursday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.
With the loss, Elms falls to 6-11 overall, 4-4 in NECC action, while Mitchell moves to 9-6 on the season, 6-2 in league play.
After Mitchell's Allison Peck (Colchester, Conn.) converted a layup to put the Mariners ahead by seven (50-43) with 5:09 to play, Blazers' freshman guard Taylor Darby (Bristol, Conn.) drained a three-pointer to set the score at 50-46 and spark a 10-4 run by Elms to close out the game.
Junior guard Katie Condon (Sandy Hook, Conn.) stole the ball delivered a pass to Murphy who converted for a fast-break layup to narrow the deficit to two at 50-48 with 2:16 to play.
Alix O'Neil (New London, Conn.) answered with a mid-range jumper with just under two minutes remaining in the game before a Murphy jumper 58 seconds later set the score at 52-50.
Following an Elms timeout, O'Neil delivered a layup underneath on a feed from Kaylee Cerruto (Torrington, Conn.) to give the Mariners a 54-50 edge with 34 ticks on the clock. Murphy hauled in an offensive board on Elms' next possession, converted the put-back and was fouled in the process sending her to the line to complete the three-point play. Murphy capitalized on the opportunity at the charity stripe to pull Elms to within one at 54-53 with 19 seconds to play. The Blazers tried to extend the contest but time expired as Mitchell outlasted Elms' tremendous rally to escape with a 54-53 win.
Mitchell controlled play throughout much of the first half, leading by as many as eight before taking a 26-21 lead into halftime.
Elms scored eight unanswered points when freshman guard Ellen Donohue (Southington, Conn.) hit a jumper 1:19 into the second period and Murphy capped the run with a layup at the 16:43 mark to give the Blazers a 29-26 lead.
Peck responded with a trey and O'Neil and Cerruto added layups to extend Mitchell's lead to four (33-29) with 14:59 to play. Mitchell upped its lead to five twice before Peck's bucket with 5:09 remaining gave the Mariners their largest lead of the half and set the stage for Elms' thrilling comeback attempt.
Murphy tied with Cerruto with a game-high 18 points, while freshman guard Emily Boucher (Ashburnham, Mass.) netted 12 points, eight of which came during the first 20 minutes of play.
Blazers' freshman forward Nicolette Martin (Colchester, Conn.) added eight points and six rebounds off the bench while Boucher added four steals.
O'Neil tallied 14 points for the Mariners and hauled in seven boards, while Peck added eight points. Bianca Young (Bridgeport, Conn.) chipped in with a team-high eight rebounds to help seal the victory.
Elms returns to NECC action on Saturday, Jan. 29 when it travels to Lesley University for a 10:00 a.m. contest with the Lynx.