BENNINGTON, Vt. – Elms College freshman forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) scored a game-high 21 points and added 12 rebounds as the Blazers topped Southern Vermont College, 76-47 in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game.
With the win, Elms improves to 15-6 overall, 12-2 in league play, while Southern Vermont falls to 7-15 on the season, 6-9 in NECC play.
Elms came out firing in the opening 20 minutes connecting on 19 of 46 shots from the field (41.3-percent) and used a 19-point effort from Parks to post a 43-22 lead at intermission.
Southern Vermont used two early baskets from Kourtney Hewitt (Bennington, Vt.) to help the Mountaineers take a 4-2 lead 59 seconds into the contest, but the lead was short lived as senior guard Carolyn Talmadge (Wilbraham, Mass.) powered in a layup to start a 8-2 run that put Elms ahead for good.
The Blazers put the game out of reach early in the second frame thanks to a 19-4 run over the first 6:36 highlighted by a pair of treys by sophomore guard Emily Boucher (Ashburnham, Mass.) and capped by a free throw by junior guard Jennifer Normandie (Westford, Mass.) to give the Blazers its largest lead of the game, 62-26.
Elms maintained its sizeable lead for the remainder of the contest as Southern Vermont pulled to within 29 points on several occasions before a layup by Shauna Poole (Lyndonville, Vt.) with 1:18 remaining cut Mountaineers' deficit to 27 (73-46) as the Blazers used a three-pointer by sophomore guard Marisabel Santiago (Springfield, Mass.) to finish off a 76-46 victory.
Senior forward Erika Murphy (Torrington, Conn.) added a double-double of 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds in addition to handing out four assists, while sophomore guard Taylor Darby (Bristol, Conn.) hit on 4 of 6 from the floor off the bench en route to 10 points.
Boucher added nine points as she and Darby each connected for a pair of triples, while Talmadge added eight points and four assists. Sophomore guard Ellen Donohue (Southington, Conn.) dished out five helpers while Normandie finished with six points in the win.
Joa Claircius (Clermont, Fla.) scored a team-best 14 points and 12 boards, while Hewitt added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Poole finished with nine points and seven boards off the bench for Southern Vermont, while Tasha Smith (Capital Heights, Md.) hauled in eight rebounds in the loss.
The Mountaineers were held to just 27.9-percent shooting, while Elms outscored Southern Vermont, 26-16 in the paint and scored 18 points on turnovers to help seal the victory.