WBB Eliminated at Elms

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Second-seeded Elms College rolled to a 72-48 victory over seventh-seeded Mitchell College on Tuesday night in the first round of the 2013 New England Collegiate Conference Women's Basketball Championship.

Denisha Parks netted a game-high 21 points and Gianna Youngblood swished four three-pointers to finish with 12 points as the Blazers improved to 16-10 overall and advanced to the tournament semifinals against No. 6 Becker College (10-16). The Hawks defeated No. 3 Newbury College 68-51 in first round action on Tuesday to advance to the semifinals.

With the loss, Mitchell concluded its season with an overall record of 7-18.

In the opening 20 minutes, Elms led for the majority of the period despite a pair of treys from the junior Kate Mulloy and one from senior Kaylee Cerruto. Mulloy hit her first three of the half to pull Mitchell to within three (13-10) at the 16:12 mark, but Elms used a 13-6 run to stake a 26-16 lead with 4:48 to play in the half.

Cerruto swished her trey and then hit a jumper, and freshman Diamond Thomas added a jumper to narrow the Mariners' deficit to three at 26-23 with 3:59 left. But Elms answered back behind threes from Jenna Oyler and Youngblood as the Blazers used a 12-0 run to close out the stanza with a 15-point 38-23 lead.

In the second frame, Cerruto hit two three-pointers to pull Mitchell to within 14, but the Mariners would get no closer. The Blazers limited Mitchell to 31-percent shooting in the second half and mounted a lead of as many as 26 (66-40) on a Parks layup with 5:27 remaining in the contest.

Elms shot 45 percent from the floor as a team and outscored Mitchell 34-10 in the paint. JC Pickett pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds and Parks added 11 boards as the Blazers out-rebounded the Mariners 53-31. Pickett finished with seven points in the winning effort.

Jen Normandie was stellar at both ends of the floor for the Blazers, scoring 11 points on 5-for-12 shooting and adding six rebounds and three assists. Oyler finished with 10 points, five boards and three assists off the bench.

Cerruto finished with a team-high 17 points on the strength of 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Freshman Amanda Garcia added nine points and a team-high seven boards and Mulloy swatted five shots.