Women’s Basketball Sets Program Record for Wins With 65-50 Victory Over Wheelock College

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College freshman forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) scored a game-high 20 points and added eight rebounds and the Blazers set a program record for single season wins (17) in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms moves to 17-8 overall, 14-4 in league action, while Wheelock slips to 5-19 on the season, 5-12 in NECC play.

Elms shot 42.6-percent from the field in the game, including a 50.0-percent clip in the second half as senior forward Erika Murphy (Torrington, Conn.) finished with 16 points, while senior guard Carolyn Talmadge (Wilbraham, Mass.) added 12 points to give the Blazers three players in double figures.

Murphy added four steals and eight rebounds, while junior guard Jennifer Normandie (Westford, Mass.) came off the bench to collect six points and dished out six assists.

In the opening three minutes of the contest, Wheelock posted its only lead of the game on buckets by Keneisha Milton (Boston, Mass.) and Kayla Drescher (Wallingford, Conn.) to give the Wildcats an early 4-0 lead.

Murphy then hit the front end of two free throws and then she and Parks converted back-to-back layups to put Elms ahead, 5-4 at the 16:42 mark.

The Wildcats trailed by no more than five through the middle portion of the first half before Jo Gomes (Boston, Mass.) swished a jumper at the 6:44 mark to give Wheelock a 16-15 advantage. Elms responded with a 16-3 run to end the stanza capped by a pair Murphy free throws to set the score at 33-19 at intermission.

With the score set at 35-23 with 16:33 left in the game, the Blazers put the game out of reach with a 14-0 run to over the next 4:10 to give Elms a commanding 26-point advantage with the score set at 49-23.

Wheelock's Taylor Rogers (Essex, Mass.) hit a pair of treys and Gomes and Drescher added a three-pointer each but the Wildcats never got closer than 15 points as Elms finished the regular season with a 65-50 victory.

Drescher led Wheelock with 11 points in defeat, while Milton, Rogers and Maya Spratling (Dorchester, Mass.) each chipped in nine points.

Milton dished out six assists and hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds, while Kailah Simon (Norwalk, Conn.) added seven steals.

Elms now awaits the pairings to be announced for the 2011-12 NECC Championship tournament with the quarterfinal round set to begin on Tuesday, Feb. 21.