AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's basketball team will look to return to its winning ways this weekend when Laurentian University visits Lumsden Gymnasium for a pair of games.  The Wildcats and Voyageurs tipoff at 7 p.m. on Friday night before conducting a 2 p.m. matinee affair on Saturday.
 
Daemen has been ranked No. 1 in the last three United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Division I polls. The new USCAA poll is unveiled Friday, Dec. 21.
 
Daemen is 8-1 in home games and 11-4 overall after dropping two games last weekend at the Shawnee State Tournament.  Daemen fell to the host Bears – the #15 ranked team in NAIA Division I – by eight points (65-57) on Dec. 14.  The next day, the Wildcats dropped a 61-60 decision to NAIA Division I #21 Gerogetown College.  After falling behind by as many as 11 points in the second half to Georgetown, Daemen tied the score at 58-58 on a basket by Lindsay Stoddard (Limestone, N.Y./Allegany Limestone) and then took a 60-58 lead on an acrobatic lay-up by Ellie Allen (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home) with 33 seconds left.  But, Georgetown's Andrea Howard nailed a three-pointer with six seconds remaining to deliver the win for the Tigers.
 
Daemen has been led by the senior trio of Chelsea Andorka (Canton, Ohio/Notre Dame College), Monica Kosior (Grimsby, Ont./Canisius College) and Allen all season long.
 
Andorka has scored in double figures 13 times already this season, including 11 straight to start the year.  She is averaging a team-high 14.3 points per game and also ranks second on the team in rebounding (7.3 rpg), assists (65), steals (39) and blocks (19).  She recorded her 1,000th career point during a loss to Muskingum and her 500th rebound in the win over UMFK.
 
Kosior, who was named the USCAA Player of the Week earlier this year, is averaging 11.9 points and leads the team in rebounding (7.6 rpg) and blocks (34).  She had a string of four consecutive double-doubles earlier this season, including a 24-point, 10-rebound performance in Daemen's 86-83 double overtime victory over Ryerson University back on Nov. 3.
 
Allen comes in third on the team in scoring (11.2 ppg) and assists (52) while also ranking fourth in rebounding (6.3 rpg).
 
Stoddard, a junior point guard, has been impressive of late for the Wildcats.  She's averaging 17.0 points in her last four games, raising her season average from 7.8 points per game to 10.3 in the process.  She leads the team in assists (69) and is second in three-point baskets (21).  Nearly half of her three-pointers have come in the last four games as she's hit 10-of-21 (48%) from behind the arc in that span.  That stretch included an incredible 24-point, 12-assist performance in which shit connected on 5-of-8 from deep during Daemen's 99-50 rout of Maine-Fort Kent in the team's last home outing on Dec. 2.
 
5-foot-5 inch senior guard Samantha Stanfield (Brooklyn, N.Y./James Madison) has also produced by averaging 7.0 points and an impressive 6.7 rebounds per game (third on the team), while also leading the team in steals (54). She had 12 points, six rebounds and a career-high nine steals in the loss to Georgetown.
 
Senior Lia Zahn (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) and freshman Raeann Stilwell (Cheektowaga, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) have been consistent contributors off the bench. Zahn has 18 three-pointers and is averaging 5.7 points.  Stilwell equaled her season-high for points (16) in the win over UMFK.  She is averaging 8.5 points and has drained a team-high 24 three-pointers.
 
Daemen holds a 3-0 lead in the all-time series against Laurentian.  The teams last met on Dec. 22, 2011 when the Wildcats scored a 75-53 victory.  Kosior led the way in that one with 15 points and eight boards while Allen and Andorka split 24 points and combined for 15 rebounds.
 
Laurentian comes into this week's games having won three of their eight games within the Ontario University Athletic Association – one of the premier conferences in all of Canada.  The Voyageurs, or Lady Vees as they're known by, have lost two straight and haven't played since Dec. 1.
 
The Lady Vees feature 5'6” guard Sasha Polishchuk who currently leads the OUA in scoring (19.4 ppg) while playing over 36 minutes per contest.  She adds 6.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.8 steals per game as well.
 
Daemen is 125-12 (.912) in its last 137 home games dating back to the 2002-03 season.  The Wildcats are scoring 75.8 points per game while allowing just 56.4 points to their opponents.  In home games those numbers jump to 80.6 points-for and 54.8 points-against.
 
The Wildcats are 6-0 against Canadian teams so far this season and 22-0 in such games dating back to 2005-06.