Box Score AMHERST, NY - The Daemen Wildcats, who came into tonight's game averaging 63.1 points per game, experienced an offensive explosion in a 101-69 beat-down of the visiting Wilberforce Bulldogs tonight at Lumsden Gymnasium. The Wildcats set a team record for field goal percentage in a game as they blistered the nets at a 68% clip (43-for-63) en route to their first 100-point outing since a 100-94 win at Wilberforce back on January 16, 2010. With the win, Daemen, the 24th ranked team in NAIA II, improves to 14-4 overall and 5-0 in American Mideast Conference play while Wilberforce drops to 2-10, 1-2.
Daemen's
Ellie Allen (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home HS) led the way and set a record of her own in the process. The junior guard established a new benchmark for total field goals in a game without a miss as she connected on all 15 of her attempts on her way to a career-best 33 points along with nine rebounds.
Allen was not alone as the Wildcats got great offensive production from nearly everyone on their roster. 6'5" junior
Monica Kosior (Grimsby, ON/Blesses Trinity Catholic SS) reached double figures (12 points) as did sophomore guard
Lindsay Stoddard (Limestone, NY/Allegheny-Limestone HS) who finished with 10.
The Wildcats had a trio of players with nine points as
Chelsea Andorka (Canton, OH/Central Catholic HS),
Lia Zahn (Canadaigua, NY/Canadaigua HS) and
Jillian Fitzner (Hamburg, NY/Immaculata Acad.) all narrowly missed double figures. Andorka added a game-high eight assists as well as a game-high 11 rebounds, narrowly missing a triple-double. Zahn's points came on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range.
After Daemen opened up with a 49-37 first half that saw them shoot an amazing 74% from the field (20-for-27), the Wildcat defense went to work in the second, holding Wilberforce to just 29% (12-for-41) while not dropping off much themselves at 64% (23-for-36). The Wildcats also enjoyed a 44-34 advantage off the backboard.
Angelina Rucker and Danisha Brown split 22 points to lead the Bulldogs.
Next up for Daemen is a key stretch of five consecutive road games, four of which are conference tilts. They open the stretch next Tuesday, January 17 at Walsh. The Wildcats return home on January 31 when they face Roberts Wesleyan.
