CASTLETON, Vt. – The Lyons earned their first victory of the season behind some stingy defense and timely shooting, beating Elms 65-63 in the Rutland Herald Tip-Off Classic at Glenbrook Gym on Sunday afternoon.
Mount Holyoke shot 48.4 percent in the first half as they scored 38 points and finished the game at 36.8 percent from the floor while holding the Blazers to just 26.6 percent shooting overall. Elms did outrebound the Lyons 57-42 but turned the ball over 17 times in the loss.
Denisha Parks led the Blazers with 22 points, 11 rebounds and four steals but shot just 7-for-25 from the floor. All-Tournament selection Gianna Youngblood contributed 18 points and ten rebounds off the bench while Mariah Brown was solid with six points, seven assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Three different Lyons surpassed double figures in Kate Karraker, Amber Legare and Nicole DeMarchena. Karraker had 25 points, including four triples while Legare added 14 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks. DeMarchena did a bit of everything with 12 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks, three steals and two assists to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
Mount Holyoke came out firing as the team took a 6-0 lead in the opening three minutes and pushed it to 12-2 just a minute later. Karraker extended the advantage to 17-6 with 14:18 left and the Lyons continued to lock down on defense. A layup by Legare make it 23-9, but Elms countered with eight consecutive points to pull within six.
The Blazers cut it to 25-21 on a jumper by Parks at 7:28 but over the next two and a half minutes Mount Holyoke extended its leads to 33-23. The teams traded baskets over the final five minutes of the half and the Lyons went into the break up 38-27.
Mount Holyoke pushed its lead to 41-27 five minutes into the second half and a three from Legare made it 48-36 at 12:23. The Blazers responded with a 10-3 run to close the gap to 54-46 with 7:34 remaining. However, the Lyons built their lead back up to eight with four minutes left, 59-51.
The teams continued to trade points, though Mount Holyoke was hurt by poor free throw shooting, and a pair of free throws with 51 seconds left by Parks trimmed the lead to 62-58. Both teams went 2-for-4 on their next two trips at the charity stripe and Karraker then made one of two with just 18 seconds left to go ahead 65-60. Mariah Brown tried to get Elms closer but was blocked with just one second left. Parks did connect on a three as time expired for the 2-point margin.
Elms drops to 0-2 with the loss while the Lyons improve to 1-1.
Story courtesy of Ben Stockwell, Castleton State Sports Information Director.
