WESTON, Mass. — No. 3 Southern Vermont College upset No. 2 Elms College 70-65 in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's basketball semifinal game Friday night on the campus of Regis College.
The Mountaineers improve to 17-10 overall and will make their first NECC Championship game appearance on Saturday afternoon when they take on top-seeded Regis College which won 64-31 in the other semifinal over Mitchell College. Elms currently sits at 18-9 overall and awaits word on a possible postseason bid next week. Friday's win is just SVC's second in 15 all-time meetings with the Blazers.
Junior captain Amber Flagg (Windsor, Connecticut) knocked down 13-of-15 free-throws and 7-of-14 field goal attempts en route to a game-high 29 points. Classmate Sarah McDonald (Cohoes, New York) added a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds while fellow junior Turquoia Johnson (Montgomery Village, Maryland) added 12 points and nine rebounds in the win. Sophomore captain Amber Dow (Panton, Vermont) also had a good day at the charity stripe, knocking down 7-of-8 attempts on the way to nine points. Junior Javasha White (Schenectady, New York) grabbed 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers.
Elms was paced by senior Denisha Parks' (Fall River, Massachusetts) 25 points. Emily Burr (East Hartford, Connecticut) connected on three three-pointers and scored 11 points to go with four steals in the setback. Mariah Brown (Windsor Locks, Connecticut) added eight points, 10 rebounds, and six steals.
Southern Vermont jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game, and it held an 18-13 lead following a Danielle Simmons (Rensselaer, New York) layup with 8:07 to play. Parks answered with a layup for the Blazers, and Mackenzie LaRochelle (Chicopee, Massachusetts) followed with a triple to tie the game at 18-all. Burr hit a three on the next Elms possession to give the Blazers their first lead of the contest, 21-18.
Elms was able to build a four-point lead at 24-20, but a 12-3 run by the Mountaineers put SVC on top by five with a pair of Johnson free-throws. The difference in the game would remain five points headed into halftime with Southern Vermont hanging on to a 39-34 advantage.
Out of the break, SVC quickly built an 11-point lead at 49-38 after McDonald scored inside. A quick 8-0 spurt by Elms cut the deficit to 49-46, and a Gianna Youngblood (Lakeville, Mass.) layup at the 10:59 mark tied the game at 50-50. Southern Vermont answered with five-straight points, but the Blazers chipped away and eventually took a 57-56 lead on a Brown layup.
Flagg put SVC back on top with two free-throws, and McDonald extended the lead to 61-58 with a jumper. On the next Elms possession, Parks was fouled inside, and she knocked down a pair to make it a one-point game. Dow then hit two huge free-throws the next time down the floor for SVC, and McDonald later connected on another layup inside to stake the Mountaineers to a 65-60 lead.
Parks made it a one-possession game with a jumper with 51 seconds remaining, and the Blazers were forced to foul trailing by three. Johnson connected on 1-of-2 free-throws, which proved important as Parks buried a triple on the other end to make it a 66-65 Southern Vermont lead with 16 seconds left. Dow was fouled and calmly sunk two free-throws to put SVC in front by three. After an SVC stop, Flagg was fouled and knocked down a pair, sealing the 70-65 win for Southern Vermont.
The Mountaineers shot 40 percent (22-of-55) from the field from the game and hit 24-of-33 free-throws. Southern Vermont won the rebounding battle 54-43 but committed 29 turnovers to just 17 for the Blazers. Elms connected on 25-of-81 shots (30.9 percent) on the night.