CHICOPEE, Mass. – Mitchell College escaped with a 54-53 victory over Elms College on Thursday night in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

Elms' Erika Murphy recorded a double-double with 18 points and 18 rebounds and completed a three-point play with 19 seconds left in the game to pull the Blazers to within one, but the Mariners held on for the win. Mitchell improved to 9-6 overall (6-2 NECC) while Elms dropped to 6-11 (4-4 NECC).

After senior Allison Peck converted a layup to put the Mariners ahead by seven with 5:09 to play, Elms' Taylor Darby drained a three-pointer to set the score at 50-46 and spark a 10-4 run by the Blazers to close out the game.

Katie Condon stole the ball and 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. Senior Alix O'Neil answered with a mid-range jumper with just under two minutes remaining 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 freshman Kaylee Cerruto to give the Mariners a 54-50 edge with 34 ticks left on the clock. Murphy hauled in an offensive board on Elms' next possession, converted the put-back and was fouled. 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 Ellen Donohue 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 at 33-29 with 14:59 to go. 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 Emily Boucher netted 12 points, eight of which came during the first 20 minutes of play. Nicolette Martin 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. Junior Bianca Young chipped in with a team-high eight rebounds to help seal the victory.

Mitchell returns to action on Saturday, January 29 at Wheelock College. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.