New York Tech (4-3, 2-2 ECC)  41-38—79

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – Freshman Shannon Duer (Islip, N.Y.) totaled 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead New York Institute of Technology to a 79-62 victory over Daemen College here today in East Coast Conference women's basketball action.

NYIT, which advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament last year and was voted second in this season's ECC preseason poll, has now won three of its last four games and improved to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the ECC. Daemen dropped to 2-6 overall and 0-3 in the league.

Duer connected of 6-of-13 shots and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. Senior Rebecca Romeo (Victoria, Australia) helped the NYIT cause with 13 points, while senior Demitra Apergis (Littleton, Ohio) added eight points, five assists and six steals.

Daemen was once again led by freshman Natalie Galus (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier), who recorded her second double-double of the year and finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. Galus has now totaled a league-high 22 blocks on the year. Senior guard Lindsay Stoddard (Limestone, N.Y./Allegany-Limestone) added 15 points, six rebounds and four assists, while sophomore Raeann Stilwell (Cheektowaga, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) netted 10 points.  Freshman Leah McDonell (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Cardinal O'Hara) pulled down a season-high 11 rebounds.

The teams traded baskets for first nine minutes and the Bears held a 17-14 lead when the hosts put together a 10-2 run. Two free throws by Duer capped the spurt and gave NYIT a 27-16 lead with 8:28 left before halftime. Daemen stemmed the tide with a three-pointer by freshman Taylor Heinold (Hamburg, N.Y./Immaculata) a half minute later, and neither team scored again until the hosts regained a double digit lead following a bucket by junior Monique Walker (Mastic, N.Y.) with 5:29 left in the half. The teams traded baskets the rest of the half and NYIT took a 41-31 lead into the break.

NYIT scored the first four points of the second half and later took an 18-point lead, 51-33, following a steal by Duer and layup by Romeo with 16:51 left to play. A three-pointer by senior Alex Venuto (Ossining, N.Y.) gave the Bears a 62-40 lead with just over 12 minutes remaining, and the Bears later opened up their largest lead of the game, 67-40, following a three-pointer by Walker with 8:50 left. The final margin of 17 points was the closest Daemen would come down the stretch.

Turnovers were the downfall for Daemen, as the Wildcats committed a season-high 26 miscues which led to 22 points for the Bears. The Bears also collected 23 offensive rebounds, which resulted in a 22-4 advantage in second chance points.

All other team statistics were pretty even. Daemen shot 32-percent (20-62) from the field and made 6-of-25 from three-point land. NYIT shot 33-percent (29-89) overall and was 5-for-24 from downtown. Both teams scored 16 points from the charity stripe, and the Bears finished with 54-53 edge in total rebounds.

Daemen is idle until next weekend when it returns to the New York City area for games against Molloy College (Dec. 20) and Queens College (Dec. 22).

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