About The Team
The 2011-12 season was a memorable one for the Elms College
women’s basketball team.
The Blazers completed the winningest season in program history notching a 20-9 overall record including a 14-4 record in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action and earned the program’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship.
Under the direction of 10th-yeard head coach Laura Habacker who reached the 100-win milestone during the regular season, Elms won 10 of its final 13 games and earned the second seed in the NECC Championship tournament. The Blazers won an opening round game with No. 7 Bay Path College, 62-51 and bested Newbury College No. 3 Newbury College, 78-65 in the semifinals to set the stage for a matchup with fourth-seeded Daniel Webster College in the championship game. Elms pulled out a 66-64 thriller to advance to its first-ever NCAA postseason appearance.
In a season of records and first for the Blazers, Coach Habacker
was named NECC Coach of the Year, while freshman forward Denisha
Parks (Fall River, Mass.) was named
the NECC Rookie of the Year. Parks, who was also a first team
all-conference selection, averaged 19.7 points and 12.8 rebounds
per conference contest leading the Blazers in scoring in 13 of
18 NECC games and leading the team in rebounding in 15 of 18
games. Parks also set the school record for points in a
single-season with 551. For her efforts, Parks was also named New
England Women’s Basketball Association (NEWBA) Rookie of the
Year and Eastern College Athletics Conference (ECAC) Division III
New England All-Stars Rookie of the Year.
Senior forward Erika Murphy (Torrington, Conn.) joined Parks as Elms’ other First Team All-NECC selection. Murphy earned her second consecutive first-team selection helping Elms to its most wins in conference action (14) averaging 14.4 points per game and 11.0 rebounds per game during league play.
Senior guard Carolyn Talmadge (Wilbraham, Mass.) was named Honorable Mention All-NECC after dishing out 4.5 assists per game against league competition. Talmadge is the program's all-time assists leader.
In addition to competing in the NECC, the Blazers are also members of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).