Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 - 6 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
Live Stats / Live Video

Mercy vs. Daemen
Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014 - 1 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
Live Stats / Live Video

THE MATCHUPS: The Daemen College women's basketball team kicks off a stretch of seven-straight home games by hosting St. Thomas Aquinas (Jan. 24) and Mercy (Jan. 26) in East Coast Conference (ECC) action.

THE COACHES: David Skolen is entering his 22nd season as head women's basketball coach at Daemen and has posted a 440-230 (.657) record during his time with the Wildcats…he has guided the Wildcats to 11-straight 20-win seasons (15 overall), six conference championships, nine appearances in the NAIA Division II National Tournament and one appearance in the USCAA National Tournament…last winter Skolen led the Wildcats to a 26-7 record and a USCAA Division I National Championship…Kim Lusk is in her sixth season as head women's basketball coach at St. Thomas Aquinas…she guided the Spartans to a 74-69 (.517) record over the past five seasons and was named ECC Coach of the Year following the 2010-11 season…she previously spent five season (2002-07) as head coach at New Jersey Institute of Technology and entered the 2013-14 season with a career coaching record of 141-143 (.496)…Rashidi Aiken is in his second season as head women's basketball coach at Mercy…he previously served as assistant head coach at Nyack College.

THE SERIES vs. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Friday's game will mark the second all-time meeting between Daemen and St. Thomas Aquinas…the Spartans own a 2-0 advantage in the series…the Spartans posted a 72-54 win three weeks ago at STAC…STAC held a five-point lead three minutes into the second half and outscored the Wildcats 24-8 over the next 10 minutes to secure the win…Kristen Olsen (14 pts, 4 3pt fgs) and Samantha Burden (14 pts, 5 asts) paced the Spartans…Raeann Stilwell scored a game-high 15 points for Daemen, while Natalie Galus totaled 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.

THE SERIES vs. MERCY: Sunday's game will mark the second all-time meeting between Daemen and Mercy…the Mavericks scored five unanswered points over the final 17 seconds of the game to earn a wild 93-91 victory over the Wildcats three weeks ago at Mercy…Maggie Salomone intercepted a pass near mid-court with five seconds left and went in for an uncontested game-winning layup just before the final buzzer…six players scored in double figures for Mercy, led by Salomone (18 pts, 4 asts) and Alexis Monserrate (14 pts, 4 3pt fgs)…Lindsay Stoddard record a triple-double for the Wildcats (18 pts, 12 rebs, 10 asts) and Stilwell drained six three-pointers and finished with a career-high 36 points.

NCAA DIVISION II: Daemen is in Candidacy Year Two of the NCAA Division II membership process...Daemen has been accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) and will play full regular-season conference schedules beginning this fall...the College will also maintain its affiliation with the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) for postseason opportunities, as it will not be eligible for the ECC or NCAA postseason during Candidacy Year Two.

THE WILDCATS (4-12, 1-9 ECC): Daemen returns just one starter and six players from last year's team that posted a 26-7 record and claimed the USCAA Division I National championship...the Wildcats were voted 10th in the ECC preseason poll…graduation took its toll in the form of 66-percent of the offense from last year…Daemen snapped a three-game losing streak following a non-league win at Dominican (83-64) on Jan. 7 and is coming off ECC losses to 74-63 District of Columbia (74-63), Dowling (68-44) and Bridgeport (73-59)…Daemen's other ECC losses have come against Roberts Wesleyan (79-69), LIU Post (75-56), New York Tech (79-62), Queens (95-86 OT), STAC (72-54) and Mercy (93-91)…DC's ECC win came at Molloy (88-86 OT)…the Wildcats trailed by 24 points with eight minutes to play in regulation against Molloy before rallying for the win…senior guard Lindsay Stoddard is the only returning starter on a roster that includes six freshmen and four sophomores…Stoddard was recently named ECC Co-Player of the Week after recording her first career triple-double (18 pts, 12 rebs, 10 asts) in the loss to Mercy…she is averaging 13.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.6 steals…sophomore Raeann Stilwell has averaged 21.6 points over the past eight games and scored a career-high 36 points in the loss to Mercy…she scored 26 points and tied the school-record for three-pointers made (8) and attempted (20) in a game in the win over Molloy…she is averaging 17.0 points with a team-high 46 three-pointers…sophomore Somara Colon is averaging 15 minutes, 4.6 points and 4.4 rebounds off the bench and contributed a career-high 11 points in the win over Dominican…Daemen's freshman class includes All-Western New York selections Rachel Pawlak (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Niagara-Wheatfield), Taylor Heinold (Hamburg, N.Y./Immaculata), Leah McDonell (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Cardinal O'Hara) and Natalie Galus (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier)…Galus had 15 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in the loss to UDC and is averaging 11.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.7 blocks…Heinold was named ECC Rookie of the Week after totaling 23 points, six rebounds and four assists in the win over Molloy…she is averaging 9.9 points and 7.8 rebounds…McDonell scored a season-high 21 points in the loss to Queens and is averaging 7.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals…Daemen is shooting 35-percent from the field overall, 26-percent from three-point land and 71-percent from the charity stripe…the Wildcats are scoring 68.1 points and allowing 75.3 points per game…Daemen owns a -8.5 rebounding margin (44.4 / 52.9).

HOME COOKING: The Wildcats will be playing just their third home game of the 2013-14 season when they host STAC Friday…Daemen went 11-1 at home last year and is 70-10 at Lumsden Gymnasium over the past six seasons…the Wildcats will play nine of their final 10 games in the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium.

THE SPARTANS (7-6, 3-5 ECC): St. Thomas Aquinas returns nine players and three starters from last year's team that finished 13-16 (9-9 ECC)…STAC was voted sixth in the ECC preseason poll…the Spartans won seven of their first 10 games, but are winless in their last three games…STAC suffered ECC losses to NYIT (86-76) and LIU Post (85-73) last week…additional ECC losses have have come against District of Columbia (76-62), Dowling (57-44) and Queens (65-56)…STAC's three ECC wins have come over Mercy (90-88), Bridgeport (51-47) and Daemen (72-54)…junior forward Sabrina Eggink and freshman guard Kristen Olsen have paced the Spartans thus far…Eggink had 18 points in the loss to LIU Post last week and leads the team in scoring (14.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg)…Olsen is averaging 11.4 points and leads the team in three-pointers (26) and steals (20)…she netted 28 points in the loss to NYIT last week…sophomore Alyson Brennan was named to the ECC All-Rookie team last winter but has played in just eight games this year…she scored 23 points in a season-opening win over Southern Connecticut and is averaging 9.9 points and 6.8 rebounds…senior Briana Cook (9.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 18 stls) and sophomore Alexis Breheny (6.2 ppg, 2.8 apg) have also produced…STAC is shooting 38-percent from the field overall, 31-percent from three-point land and 70-percent from the charity stripe…the Spartans are scoring 66.4 points and allowing 67.4 points per game…STAC owns a -2.4 rebounding margin (37.8 / 40.2).

THE MAVERICKS (2-12, 1-8 ECC): Mercy returns just four players and one starter from last year's team that finished 0-26 (0-18 ECC)…Mercy was voted 11th in the ECC preseason poll…the Mavericks snapped a six-game losing streak following a 93-91 win over Daemen on Jan. 6, but are winless in their last four games…Mercy is coming off losses to LIU Post (98-57) and NYIT (84-66) last week…additional ECC losses have come against STAC (90-88), District of Columbia (98-45), Dowling (81-62), Bridgeport (91-67), Molloy (92-88) and Queens (86-67)…Mercy plays at Roberts Wesleyan Friday before facing Daemen Sunday…newcomers Maggie Salomone, Tanaysha Augustine and Pam Sosa have made immediate contributions…Salomone had six three-pointers and scored 32 points in the loss to Molloy and is averaging 15.9 points with a team-high 31 three-pointers…Augustine had 14 points and 17 rebounds in the loss to Queens and has recorded a league-high eight double-doubles…she is averaging 12.1 points and 11.1 rebounds…Sosa had 11 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Daemen and is averaging 11.5 points and 5.7 rebounds…senior Maria Nardulli, the lone returning starter from last year, is averaging 10.9 points with 18 three-pointers, while sophomore Shayne Ortiz leads the team in assists (3.3 apg) and steals (31)…Mercy is shooting 36-percent from the field overall, 32-percent from three-point land and 72-percent from the charity stripe…the Mavericks are scoring 71.1 points and allowing 84.2 points per game…Mercy owns a -8.3 rebounding margin (40.4 / 48.7).

ECC RANKINGS: Here is how the teams rank among ECC teams in selected statistical categories.

LEAGUE LEADERS: Here is how players from each of the three teams rank among the ECC leaders…Lindsay Stoddard leads the league in assists per game (6.2) and also ranks third in minutes per game (35.0), seventh in rebounding (7.9) and ninth in scoring (13.9)…Raeann Stilwell ranks fourth in points per game (17.0), second in three-point field goals made (46), fifth in minutes (33.2) and 12th in assists (2.7)…Natalie Galus leads the league in blocks per game (2.7) and ranks fourth in rebounds per game (7.8), sixth in three-point field goal percentage (37.2) and 12th in field goal percentage (43.2)…Taylor Heinold ranks eighth in rebounds per game (7.8) and seventh in free throw percentage (79.4)…Sabrina Eggink of STAC ranks seventh in scoring (14.2), 13th in field goal percentage (43.1) and 15th in rebounding (7.2)…also from STAC, Kristen Olsen ranks first in free throw percentage (90.9) and seventh in both three-pointers made (26) and three-point field goal percentage (37.1) and Alexis Breheny ranks ninth in assists (2.8)…Tanayzha Augustine of Mercy ranks first in rebounding (11.1) and double-doubles (8), second in minutes (35.5), sixth in blocks (1.5), ninth in field goal percentage (44.5), 10th in steals (1.7) and 16th in scoring (12.1)…also from Mercy, Maggie Salomone ranks fifth in both scoring (15.9) and three-pointers made (31) and Shayne Ortiz ranks third in steals (2.4) and seventh in assists (3.3).

DID YOU KNOW?: Daemen established a new school-record for three-point field goals made (16) and attempted (47) in a game during its 88-86 OT win at Molloy on Dec. 20…Raeann Stilwell tied the record for three-pointers made (8) and attempted (20) in a game during the win over Molloy…Stilwell led the team in three-pointers last year (60), which ranked as the fifth most in one season by a Daemen player, and already ranks 10th in career three-pointers (106) among Daemen's all-time leaders…Lindsay Stoddard totaled 178 assists last year which ranked as the seventh most in one season by a Daemen player…Stoddard recently recorded her 400th career assist and enters this weekend's action ranked seventh in career assists (419) among Daemen's all-time leaders.

WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen returns to action Tuesday (Jan. 28) when it hosts long-time rival Roberts Wesleyan College in an ECC game at 6 p.m.

FOLLOW THE WILDCATS: Follow Daemen College athletics on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.