Women's Basketball Non-League Schedule Announced

Wildcats Open Season With Four-Straight Neutral Site Games

By: Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Women's Basketball | 8/9/2017 12:15:00 PM

2017-18 Non-Conference Schedule
Day	Date	Opponent	Conference	All-Time Series
Fri.	11/10	vs. American International (@ RWC)	NE-10	0-0
Sat.	11/11	vs. Nyack (@ RWC)	CACC	2-3
Fri.	11/17	vs. Lake Erie (@ RWC)	GMAC	3-0
Sat.	11/18	vs. Virginia Union (@ RWC)	CIAA	1-0
Wed.	11/22	vs. Notre Dame (Ohio)	MEC	17-3
Sat.	11/25	vs. Le Moyne	NE-10	2-8
Tue.	11/28	vs. Gannon	PSAC	4-8
Thu.	11/30	@ Mercyhurst	PSAC	3-6
Fri.	12/29	@ St. Anselm	NE-10	0-1
Sat.	12/30	@ St. Michael's	NE-10	1-2

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's basketball team will open the 2017-18 season with four consecutive neutral site games, head coach Jenepher Banker announced today along with the rest of the team's non-conference schedule which includes 10 total contests.

"We are looking forward to getting ready for conference play with an extremely difficult non-conference schedule," said Banker who returns for her second season on the Daemen sidelines, and her seventh as a collegiate head coach overall. "With an early game against a nationally-ranked opponent and five others who qualified for their respective conference tournaments last season, the schedule will be tough, but we're excited for the challenges ahead."

All four neutral site contests to start the year come in Rochester as part of two separate tournaments hosted by Roberts Wesleyan College at the Voller Athletic Center. The Wildcats open the season on Friday, November 10 against an American International College squad that neared the 20-win plateau last season (19-10), including a 14-6 mark in Northeast-10 Conference games which was good for a second-place finish in the NE-10's Southwest Division. The AIC Yellow Jackets are the first of four NE-10 affiliates on the Wildcats' 2017-18 docket, three of which were conference tournament qualifiers last year. AIC returns first-team All-NE-10 selection Dana Watts (Rochester, N.Y.), a 6-1 forward/center who will be playing in her hometown for the first time in her collegiate career.

The following day, Daemen meets Nyack College of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. It will mark the third-straight season that the Wildcats and Warriors have met, with each contest occurring at the Voller Athletic Center. After Nyack scored a 64-56 win on the opening weekend of the 2015-16 season, Daemen rebounded with a 76-54 win last season, placing four players in double figures en route to the decisive victory. Nyack is looking to rebound from a 5-21 campaign last season.

The Redhawk Alumni Classic on November 17 and 18 kicks off with Daemen facing Lake Erie College, an affiliate of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Wildcats and Storm will be meeting for the third consecutive season, and Daemen holds a 3-0 lead in the all-time series. Lake Erie is coming off an 8-18 campaign last season.

Daemen's netural site games will wrap up with a big early season test for the Wildcats as they'll go head-to-head with Virginia Union University, a team which advanced all the way to the NCAA Division II national championship game a season ago, finishing the year ranked No. 2 in the nation. Graduating just three players from their 2016-17 squad, the Panthers figure to once again be one of the top teams in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. They'll return a trio of all-conference players, headlined by the CIAA's leading scorer, senior guard Brittany Jackson (Sebastian, Fla.) who pumped in 18.3 points per game last season.

The Wildcats make their home debut on Wednesday, November 22 as Notre Dame College visits Lumsden Gymnasium for the first time since the 2010-11 season. It'll mark the second-straight season that the former American Mideast Conference rivals have met; Daemen will be looking for redemption after NDC scored an 80-74 home-court win last season, just their third in 20 all-time meetings with the Wildcats. The Falcons went 15-13 last season, advancing to the quarterfinal round of the Mountain East Conference Tournament. In the six season since NDC left the AMC, the team has achieved an overall record of 98-73 (.573 winning percentage).

On Saturday, November 25, the Wildcats renew their regional rivalry with NE-10 affiliate Le Moyne College which makes the short trek to Amherst from Syracuse. Le Moyne features sophomore guard McKayla Roberts (North Syracuse, N.Y.), the 2016-17 NE-10 Rookie of the Year, who led the Dolphins to a 15-13 record and an appearance in the semifinal round of the NE-10 Conference Tournament last season. The Wildcats and Dolphins will be meeting for the fourth time in five seasons with the Wildcats seeking their first win in the series since the 2004-05 campaign.

Daemen wraps up a three-game home-stand on Tuesday, November 28 when Gannon University comes to town for the first meeting between the two teams since the 2007-08 season. Traditionally one of the top programs in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, Gannon is coming off a 9-19 season; it was their first without double-figure wins since 1995-96, and just the second time in the last 20 seasons that the Golden Knights failed to qualify for postseason play. GU returns senior guard Maggie Mitchell (Newark, Ohio) who led the team in scoring (17.3 ppg) en route to second-team All-PSAC Western Division honors last season.

The Wildcats face their second PSAC opponent in as many games, playing their first true road game at Mercyhurst University on Thursday, November 30. It'll mark the first meeting between DC and MU since the 2005-06 season. A senior-laden Mercyhurst team rattled off a 24-8 record last season, marking the program's most successful campaign since going 17-9 in 1996-97. The Lakers' success included a 17-5 mark in PSAC play which was good for a third-place finish in the PSAC Western Division. After being upset in the quarterfinal round of the PSAC Tournament, the Lakeres earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the second round of the Atlantic Regional.

Daemen returns from the NCAA-mandated holiday break with back-to-back contests vs. NE-10 opponents. First, on Friday, December 29, the Wildcats face St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. The Wildcats and Hawks met for the first time last season with the latter scoring a 77-69 win at Lumsden Gymnasium en route to a 19-10 campaign which included an appearance in the NE-10 Conference Tournament semifinals.

The Wildcats' non-league schedule concludes on Saturday, December 30 at St. Michael's College in Colchester, Vt. The Purple Knights have scored wins over Daemen in each of the last two seasons, including a gut-wrenching 59-58 decision at Lumsden Gymnasium last December. SMC's leading scorer (15.0 ppg), senior guard Leah Spencer (Brockton, Mass.), returns after leading the Purple Knights to a 12-14 record last season.

Daemen is coming off an 11-15 season in Banker's first year on the bench. The team's 8-10 mark in East Coast Conference games matched the program's highest win total since joining the ECC in 2013-14, finishing seventh in the final league standings, just one win shy of a conference tournament berth. Although leading scorer Leah McDonell (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Cardinal O'Hara) has exhausted her eligibility, the Wildcats return senior guard Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster), the first two-time first-team All-ECC selection in team history. Saba finished fourth in the league in scoring (15.9 ppg) and 12th in rebounding (7.4 rpg) last season, and she enters her final campaign already ranking 12th on Daemen's all-time scoring list with 1,257 points in her career. Also back are sophomores Jordan Heinold (Hamburg, N.Y./Nardin) and Carina Pringle (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) who combined to make 41 starts as true freshmen last season. Heinold (9.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg) led the team with 44 three-point field goals while Pringle (6.3 ppg) notched 65 assists, second to only McDonell's 67.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's basketball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenWBB on Twitter.

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Players Mentioned

#25 Leah McDonell: G; 5' 6"; Senior

#2 Jordan Heinold: G/F; 6' 0"; Sophomore

#12 Carina Pringle: G; 5' 6"; Sophomore

#11 Sarah Saba: G; 6' 0"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#25 Leah McDonell
: 5' 6"; Senior
: G

#2 Jordan Heinold
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: G/F

#12 Carina Pringle
: 5' 6"; Sophomore
: G

#11 Sarah Saba
: 6' 0"; Senior
: G