CHICOPEE, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College basketball team ran out to an 8-0 lead and never trailed, leading by as much as 19 on the way to a 55-46 win at Elms College on Tuesday night, in the Lyons' last game of the fall semester.
Mount Holyoke (2-8) attempted only five 3-pointers in the game and made none, but the Lyons' .349 field goal percentage was their second highest of the season, their 17 turnovers tied for their season low, and they outscored the Blazers 36-20 in the paint and 11-2 in fast-break points.
The Lyons broke the Blazers' eight-game winning streak in the local non-conference rivalry, and rose their all-time record in the series to 19-16. Mount Holyoke's last win against Elms was in the 2007-08 season.
Junior Hannah Goen (New London, N.H.) scored a game-high 14 points to go with three assists, and first-year Justine Dessureault (Trois-Rivieres, Quebec) scored a season-high 12 points off the bench, shooting 4-14 from the field and 4-4 from the free-throw line.
Junior Sofia Francisco (Boston, Mass.) had nine points, 11 rebounds, and two blocked shots. Senior Alex Twomey (Nutley, N.J.) contributed five points, eight rebounds, three steals and a block.
Sophomore Ania McMichael (Glastonbury, Conn.) played a big role off the bench in her second game of the season, scoring seven points on 3-4 shooting to go with five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 25 minutes of action. Mount Holyoke is 1-1 this season and 4-4 overall when McMichael has played.
Elms (2-7) was held to its third-lowest field goal percentage of the season (.305) and only got to the foul line for eight shots, making five. The Blazers averaged 22.3 free throw attempts entering the game.
Mary Turco had 12 points, 16 rebounds, three steals and two blocks for Elms, while Gabby Wasiewicz scored 11 points off the bench.
Mount Holyoke led 8-0 halfway through the first period with baskets by four different players, until Malinna Figueroa's 3-pointer got Elms on the board with 4:47 to go. But Mount Holyoke took a 15-10 lead into the second quarter, then took a 33-22 lead at the half, ending the quarter with a 7-2 run including an assist and a basket by McMichael.
A three-point play by Twomey with 3:28 left in the third quarter capped an 11-1 run and opened up a game-high 19-point lead for Mount Holyoke at 44-25. Goen had two baskets and an assist in the Lyons' decisive run.
Mount Holyoke led 49-34 in the fourth quarter before Elms made an 8-0 run, with a pair of threes by Wasiewicz, to make it a seven-point game (49-42) with 4:38 to go.
Back-to-back jump shots by Goen and McMichael returned a double-digit cushion to the Lyons (55-44) with 1:59 to go, and Elms was held to a jumper by Piper Graham the rest of the way to ice the win.
Mount Holyoke is off until Jan. 6 at 6:30pm, when the Lyons will host the Blazers in a rematch to kick off the spring semester.
