Women's Basketball Claws Past Elms, 75-61

PAXTON, Mass.—The Anna Maria women's basketball team won its third-straight game on Saturday afternoon with a 75-61 victory against Elms College in non-conference action from the Fuller Activities Center.

With the win, the AMCATS improve to 3-1, while the loss drops the Blazers to 0-4.

Anna Maria was led by senior Trafficia Warburton (Worcester, Mass.), who recorded a double-double of 26 points and 11 rebounds. Warburton also added eight steals, two shy of a triple-double, and dished out a team-high four assists. Sophomore guard Deja Taitt (Cambia Heights, N.Y.) tallied 15 points on 7-for-14 shooting with a three-pointer, while freshman Kristina Russo (South Windsor, Conn.) scored 14 points off the bench.

Elms was paced by senior Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) with 18 points, while classmate Gianna Youngblood (Lakeville, Mass.) scored 10 points.

The AMCATS took the lead out of the gate in the first half as Taitt netted a layup on the team's first possession. The team would not trail in the first half, but the Blazers would come within a basket of the lead on two occasions—first at the 12:14 mark when a layup by Parks brought the score to 12-11.

Anna Maria answered Parks' basket with back-to-back layups by Taitt and Lindsay Bond (Webster, Mass.), and the AMCATS used the next two minutes to open an eight-point gap, taking the 21-13 lead on a layup by Russo at the 9:56 mark.  

The Blazers would stage another rally, using the next three minutes to stage a 9-2 run, again cutting the AMCATS' lead to one point, 23-22, with 6:58 still to play in the half. The AMCATS took control from there, wrapping up the half with a 14-3 run to take a 37-25 halftime lead.

Anna Maria held a double-digit lead for the entire second half and took a 21-point lead, the largest of the day, on a layup by Warburton with 6:56 to play in the game.

Both teams had near-identical shooting percentages, as the AMCATS hit 41.3 percent (26-63) from field-goal range and the Blazers connected on 40.4 percent (19-47) of their shots from the floor. Both teams hit three three-pointers, while Anna Maria shot 20-33 (60.6 percent) from the free-throw line and Elms hit 20-28 (71.4 percent) from the charity stripe.

The AMCATS held a 42-30 scoring advantage in the paint and a 22-13 edge in points scored off of turnovers. Anna Maria also held advantages in second-chance points (8-6), fast-break points (10-2), and bench points (19-17).

Anna Maria returns to action on Tuesday, when they travel to Clark University for a 4:00 p.m. non-conference game. Elms is idle until Tuesday, December 2^nd when it opens New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) play at home in a 6:00 p.m. game against Newbury.