ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Freshman Necedah James (Syracuse, N.Y.) paced a balanced attack with 14 points to lead Roberts Wesleyan College to a 60-55 victory over Daemen College here tonight in East Coast Conference women's basketball action.
Daemen dropped to 11-13 overall and 8-10 in the ECC. The host Redhawks ran their winning streak to five-straight games and improved to 19-5 overall and 14-4 in the conference. RWC, which suffered a 70-69 loss to the Wildcats last month at Daemen, entered the game ranked sixth in the most recent D2SIDA East Region poll.
Senior Shy Britton (Rochester, N.Y./Niagara University) turned in a solid game for Daemen in her homecoming. The Greece Arcadia product connected on 7-of-11 shots and totaled 15 points and six rebounds. Freshman Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y.) was the only other player to reach double digits in points for the Wildcats, as she totaled 12 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Sophomore Natalie Galus (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier) added nine points, a team-high nine rebounds and two blocks.
Freshman Brooke Fields (Owings Mills, Md.) helped the RWC cause with 10 points and six rebounds. Senior Marissa Sell (Brockport, N.Y.) contributed nine points and 11 rebounds, while classmate Cameisha Henry (Hilton, N.Y) added nine points and 10 boards.
RWC scored the first seven points of the game and the Redhawks later took an 18-7 lead following a layup by senior Christina Healy (Buffalo, N.Y.) with 13:27 left before halftime. Daemen answered with 10-straight points over the next four minutes and pulled to within a point, 18-17, after freshman Liz Miles (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) scored. Both teams then put together mini runs and the hosts held a 27-26 lead with just over three minutes left in the half. RWC took a 36-31 lead into the break.
Both teams struggled to score at the start of the second half and RWC held a 38-31 lead when the Wildcats took their first lead of the game (39-38) following back-to-back three-pointers by Saba and Galus and a layup by Britton. Daemen held a 43-40 lead when the hosts rattled off seven straight points and took a 47-43 lead after James canned two free throws with 10:52 left. A three-pointer by senior Ashley Smith (Ransomville, N.Y.) with 3:45 left gave the hosts a 54-49 lead, but the Wildcats answered with layups by Saba and Britton to cut the lead to a point, 54-53, with just over two minutes left. Henry made one-of-two free throws with 1:55 left, and Britton was off the mark on two free throws at the other end with 1:42 to play. Sell came up with a big bucket with 1:21 left to give RWC a 57-53 lead, and after Britton was off the mark with a jumper at the other end James made one-of-two from the charity stripe to give the hosts 58-53 lead with :57 seconds left. Britton swished a jumper with :45 seconds left to cut the lead to three points. Daemen had a chance to tie the game after Fields missed a jumper with :13 seconds left, but a triple by Galus with 1.6 seconds left was off the mark.
RWC secured the win despite shooting just 23-percent (7-for-31) from the field in the second half. The Redhawks finished 20-of-60 (33%) from the field overall and 7-for-21 from downtown. Daemen shot just 33-percent (10-for-30) from the field in the second half and finished 24-for-63 (38%) overall. The Wildcats canned just 4-of-20 three-point attempts. Free throws turned out to be a big factor in the result. RWC attempted 21 free throws and made 13, while the Wildcats went 3-for-7 from the charity stripe.
Daemen closes out the regular-season this weekend when it travels to Long Island for ECC games at LIU Post (Feb. 27) and New York Tech (Feb. 28).
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