ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Senior Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y.) of the Daemen College women's basketball team has been named to the East Coast Conference 2017-18 all-conference team. Saba was a first-team selection for the third-straight year. The 17-player all-conference team was selected by vote of the league's head coaches, and was unveiled this evening at the ECC Men's & Women's Basketball Championships banquet on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan College. 

Saba, a 6-foot guard, became the first-ever women's basketball player from Daemen to earn first-team All-ECC honors as a sophomore and repeated the honor last year as a junior. Daemen has produced four all-conference selections since joining the league in 2012-13, and the Wildcats have placed at least one player on the all-conference team each of the last four seasons. Additional selections over the years include Lindsay Stoddard (2013-14), Shy Britton (2014-15) and Leah McDonell (2016-17). Stoddard and McDonell were second-team selections, while Britton collected honorable mention honors.

The league also announced its major award winners for the 2017-18 season. Jenna Erickson of St. Thomas Aquinas College was selected the Player of the Year, while her teammate Adiya Henderson earned Defensive Player of the Year honors. University of the District of Columbia freshman guard Daeja Quick took home the Rookie of the Year award. In addition, Deirdre Moore of Long Island University Post was tabbed Coach of the Year by her peers.

Saba led the Wildcats to their first-ever ECC Tournament berth this year and closed out the season as Daemen's leader in minutes played (977), points (517), rebounds (203), steals (52) and blocks (38). She also managed to rank second on the team in assists (74). She becomes the first player in program history to lead the team in total points four-straight years, and also the first player in program history to lead the team in points, rebounds, blocks and steals twice during their career. Saba also accomplished that as a sophomore. She also closed out the regular season as the ECC scoring leader (495 points / 17.7 ppg.)—making her the first women's basketball player from Daemen to claim the ECC regular season scoring title. Not to be overlooked, Saba is the first Daemen women's basketball player to score 500 points in a season since Sarah Soroka scored a program-record 755 in 2010-11.

After scoring just three points in a season-opening win over American International College, Saba scored in double figures in all 28 games after that—the longest streak of double-digit scoring in her career. She scored 20 or more points 11 times during the year, and poured in a career-high 30 points in a loss to nationally-ranked Virginia Union University. She was named ECC Player of the Week after totaling 50 points, 20 rebounds, six blocks and three steals during a pair of non-conference road games at Saint Anselm College and Saint Michael's College. She also totaled 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to their first-ever win over New York Institute of Technology, and registered 24-points and a career-high 15-rebounds in a 55-50 win over Molloy College. She capped her outstanding career by totaling 22 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks in a 76-64 loss to Roberts Wesleyan College in the opening round of the ECC Tournament this past Wednesday.

Among the ECC leaders she currently ranks first in totaled points (517), points per game (17.8) and field goals made (191), fourth in free throws made (101), fifth in minutes per game (33.7) and blocks per game (1.3), ninth in rebounds per game (7.0) and steals per game (1.8) and 11th in assists per game (2.6).

Saba burst onto the collegiate scene four years ago. A six-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection, she led the team and ranked first among ECC freshmen in scoring (14.2 ppg) and also ranked second on the team and led all ECC freshmen in rebounding (7.2 rpg). Her efforts earned her second team All-America honors from the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). As a sophomore she became the first player since former great Sarah Soroka in 2010-11 to lead the team in points, rebounding, blocks and steals and collected first-team All-ECC honors. She repeated as a first-team All-ECC selection as a junior after averaging 15.9 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds.

Saba played in all 110 games over the past four seasons (106 as a starter) and totaled 1,774 points (16.1 ppg), 770 rebounds (7.0 rpg), 234 assist, 157 blocks and 157 steals. She is just the third player in program history to total at least 1,700 points, 700 rebounds and 150 blocks. She ranks fifth in career points, seventh in career scoring average, seventh in career rebounds, tenth in career rebound average and sixth in career blocks among Daemen's all-time leaders. She scored in double figures in 96 of her 110 career games.

Daemen closed out the year with an 12-17 overall record and a 9-9 showing in the ECC under the guidance of second-year head coach Jenepher Banker. The nine conference wins were the most in a season since the Wildcats started playing a full ECC schedule in 2013-14.

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