BROOKLINE, Mass. – The Newbury College women's basketball team fell to Elms College, 67-43, in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action, Saturday afternoon. Junior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) recorded her third consecutive double-double of the season, tallying 17 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Blazers to their third conference victory of the year.
Newbury came out of the gate strong and, defensively, was able to hold Parks to just two points throughout the entire first half. In the opening minutes, senior forward Katie Haney(Winchendon, Mass.) founded a wide open sophomore guard Katelyn Roeser (Nashua, N.H.) at the top of the key to give the Nighthawks the 3-2 advantage. Moments later, Haney added to lead with jumper however the lead was short lived.
First year guard Marissa Merrill (Meredith, N.H.) ignited a nearly eight-minute, 19-3 run as the Blazers took a commanding 21-8 lead and never looked back. Merrill was flawless from the floor in the first half, converting on all six of her field goal attempts – including a perfect three-for-three from beyond the arc – to record 16 points and lead Elms into the locker room with an eight-point, 33-24 lead.
When the teams returned to the court at the start of the second, Parks extended the Blazer lead to 11 but Roeser responded and trimmed the deficit to six two minutes later. Netting eight points in the second half, Roeser finished the game wit ha team-high 12 points along with fellow sophomore guard Alex Pezzella (Rockland, Mass.) however it was not enough to overcome the potent Blazer offense.
After scoring just two points in the first half, Parks went off in the second, netting 15 of her 17 points while Merrill finished with a game-high 20-points. Junior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) rounded out the Blazers in double figures tallying 12 points on the afternoon.
Newbury falls to 1-2 in the conference and 1-7 overall while Elms remains undefeated in NECC action, improving to 3-0 and 4-0 overall. The Nighthawks will break for the winter before returning to action in the new year on Sunday January 5th when they tip-off against non-conference Pine Manor College on the road at 1:00 p.m. The Blazers will be back in action next Saturday when hosting non-conference Anna Maria College at 1:00 p.m.