BENNINGTON, Vt. — In a hard-fought New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball contest at Picknelly Arena, Southern Vermont College fell 70-67 at Elms College Tuesday night.

Both teams are now 7-1 in NECC play with the Blazers improving to 9-6 overall on the year with the win. The loss drops SVC to 9-6 this season.

Mountaineer junior captain Amber Flagg (Windsor, Connecticut) was stellar from the free throw line, going 15-18 on the night to finish with a game-best 27 points. Sophomore captain Amber Dow (Panton, Vermont) hit three shots from outside the arc to total 11 points on the night while junior Turquoia Johnson (Montgomery Village, Maryland) added 10 points and eight rebounds. Fellow junior Kala MacKenzie (Fair Haven, Vermont) scored four points to go with a team-high 10 rebounds, and classmate Sarah McDonald (Cohoes, New York) chipped in with eight points and five boards.

Three Blazers recorded double-doubles on the night with senior Denisha Parks (Fall River, Massachusetts) leading her team in points with 23; she added 11 rebounds while classmate JC Pickett (Chicopee, Massachusetts) notched 15 points and 13 boards. Sophomore Alexandra Marques (Newington, Connecticut) got in on the feat with 14 points to go with a game-best 16 rebounds, adding four blocks in the win.

Elms shot from the floor at a 34.2 percent clip (26-76) while the Mountaineers tallied a 30.6 field goal percentage (22-72). EC edged Southern Vermont 59-54 on the boards and had a 17-9 advantage in points off turnovers. The Blazers also outscored SVC 22-4 on second-chance points.

EC took to an early 4-0 lead, but Dow knocked down a three-pointer on the following possession to keep it close. After the Mountaineers tied it at 5-5, the Blazers scored five unanswered points to take another lead, but a Dow trey once again tied the contest as the teams traded scores. A Pickett jumper at the 6:37 mark gave Elms its biggest lead of the half (22-16) before SVC chipped away to go to the locker room down just 29-26.

The second stanza saw more of the same action with neither team able to pull away as they battled through the half. Elms opened the lead back to six, only to have Southern Vermont score five unanswered points to close it to 36-35. But each time the Mountaineers cut their deficit to one possession, EC had an answer to keep its distance. Finally, with just over five minutes to go in the game, Southern Vermont went ahead after forcing a Blazer turnover; Johnson hit a jumper that set the score at 55-54 in favor of the hosts, and Flagg then made a fast-break layup after a steal by freshman Danielle Simmons (Rensselaer, New York) to put her team on top for the first time since the 10:52 mark of the first half.

After Elms used a timeout to slow down the SVC momentum, Marques made a jumper that put her team in front for good. She added another layup a minute later to give her team a slight 59-56 cushion. A Marques tip-in at 2:38 made it a two-possession game (63-58), but Flagg answered with a pair of successful free throws at the other end. The Mountaineer captain would be true on four more occasions at the charity stripe to keep her team close, but time would prove to not be on Southern Vermont's side.

Forced to foul with the score at 69-66, SVC sent Elms junior Mariah Brown (Windsor Locks, Connecticut) to the line with time waning; she would only hit the front-end of her bonus, however, giving SVC one last-ditch attempt to tie. Johnson grabbed the rebound on a missed three-point attempt and was subsequently fouled. After hitting her first free throw to make it a 70-67 Elms lead, Johnson purposely missed her second attempt with the hopes of a Mountaineer getting the rebound. Brown grabbed the carom, however, and the Blazers held on for the win.

The Mountaineers are now off until Saturday when they host Regis College for a 1 p.m. NECC tip-off; that day, SVC will celebrate the American Cancer Society's Coaches Vs. Cancer Suits And Sneakers Weekend to raise money for the battle against cancer. Elms also laces them up next on Saturday, visiting Bay Path University for a 5 p.m. league matchup.