THE LEAD: The Daemen College women's basketball team opens the 2014-15 season Saturday (Nov. 22) when it plays a non-conference game at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, Pa.
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014
Daemen at Holy Family - 2 p.m.
Campus Center Gymnasium, Philadelphia, Pa.
LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO / DAEMEN ROSTER / DAEMEN STATS / HFU ROSTER / HFU STATS
THE COACHES: David Skolen is entering his 23rd season as head women's basketball coach at Daemen and has posted a 444-236 (.653) record during his time with the Wildcats…he has guided the Wildcats to fifteen 20-win seasons, six conference championships, nine appearances in the NAIA Division II National Tournament and one appearance in the USCAA National Tournament…in 2012-13 Skolen led the Wildcats to a 26-7 record and a USCAA Division I National Championship…Mark Miller is in his sixth season as head women's basketball coach at Holy Family…over the past five seasons he has led the Tigers to a 126-29 record (.813), two CACC Tournament championships and four appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament…he came to HFU after five seasons as head coach at NCAA Division III Norwich University and entered the 2014-15 season with a career coaching record of 180-54 (.769).
MOVE TO II: Daemen is in Candidacy Year Three of the NCAA Division II membership process...Daemen has been accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) and began playing full regular-season conference schedules last fall...he 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 Three.
THE HISTORY: Saturday's game will mark the fourth all-time meeting between Daemen and Holy Family…HFU has prevailed in each of the previous three meetings…the teams met for the first time since the 1999-00 season last year and the Tigers escaped with a 70-68 victory at Lumsden Gymnasium…HFU entered the game ranked 12th nationally among NCAA Division II schools…Mary Ellen McCollum led a balanced HFU attack with 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists…Lindsay Stoddard paced the Wildcats with 22 points.
THE WILDCATS (0-0): Daemen returns four starters and 10 players from last year's team that posted an 8-18 overall record and a 5-15 mark in its first season as a member of the East Coast Conference...the Wildcats were voted 10th in the 2014-15 ECC preseason poll…veteran head coach David Skolen must overcome the graduation of point guard Lindsay Stoddard, who collected second team All-ECC honors after ranking second on the team in scoring (14.9 ppg) and leading he team in rebounding (8.8 rpg) and assists (6.1 apg)…junior Raeann Stilwell and sophomores Natalie Galus, Taylor Heinold and Leah McDonell top the list of returning players…Stilwell scored in double figures in 24 of 26 games last year and averaged a team-high 17.0 points with a school-record 77 three-pointers…Galus, Heinold and McDonell each started all 26 games as rookies…Galus led the ECC in blocked shots (62) and averaged 11.2 points and 7.0 rebounds…Heinold averaged 9.2 points and 6.7 rebounds, while McDonell averaged 6.0 points and 4.9 rebounds…senior Shy Britton and freshmen Sarah Saba and Liz Miles are expected to make immediate impacts…Britton played in 85 games during her three years (2010-13) at Division I Niagara University and averaged 5.8 points and 3.2 rebounds over her career…she scored over 1,000 points during her career at Greece Arcadia High School and was named first team Class A all-state as a senior…Saba played four years of varsity basketball at Lancaster High School and scored a school-record 1,176 career points…she earned first-team All-Western New York and eighth team Class AA all-state honors as a senior…Miles played at state powerhouse Cicero-North Syracuse and helped the Northstars to three NYSPHSAA regional titles and one (2012) state championship…she was named to the state tournament all-tournament team last winter after leading the Northstars to an appearance in the Class AA state championship game…she also collected All-Central New York and first-team all-league honors as a senior.
THE TIGERS (0-3): Holy Family is a member of the NCAA Division II Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC)…HFU failed to earn a bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in 10 years last winter after posting an 18-10 overall record and a 15-4 mark in the CACC…the Tigers return nine players and just two starters from last year's team…HFU was voted second in the 2014-15 CACC South Division preseason poll…the Tigers opened the year with non-league losses to Franklin Pierce (53-48), Saint Michael's (68-63) and New York Tech (53-46)…junior guard Erin Fenningham and sophomore guard Jill Conroy top the list of returning players…Fenningham collected third-team All-CACC honors last year after averaging a team-high 11.4 points and 3.0 asists…she netted 13 points in the loss to Saint Michael's…Conroy drilled a team-high 40 three-pointers and averaged 9.3 points as a rookie…junior center Kasey Woetzel has averaged a team-high 12.7 points over the first three games and totaled 14 points and six rebounds in the loss to FPU…senior forward Sarah Pawlak has averaged 8.3 points and a team-high 10.3 rebounds over the first three games…she totaled 10 points and nine boards in the loss to FPU…freshman guard Kylie Giedemann has averaged 14 minutes off the bench thus far and netted 12 points in 21 minutes in the loss to SMC…HFU is shooting 27-percent (58-213) from the field overall, 12-percent (7-60) from three-point land and 65-percent (34-52) from the charity stripe…the Tigers are scoring 52.3 points and allowing 58.0 points per game.
SISTER ACT: Sisters Sarah and Rachel Pawlak will square off against each other Saturday…Sarah is in her senior year at Holy Family, while Rachel is a sophomore at Daemen…Sarah enjoyed an outstanding high school career at Sacred Heart and was named first-team All-WNY and second-team Class A all-state following her senior year…Rachel starred at Niagara-Wheatfield and was a third-team All-WNY and 10th-team Class AA all-state selection as a senior…Sarah totaled nine points and seven rebounds in HFU's 70-68 win at Daemen last year, while Rachel contributed five points in nine minutes off the bench.
RECORD-BREAKING SEASON FOR STILWELL: Raeann Stilwell set the school-record for three-pointers made (77) and attempted (252) in a season last winter…she also became the first Daemen player to record back-to-back seasons with 60 or more three-pointers since Jessica Ruddell turned the trick in 2003-04 and 2004-05…she already ranks eighth in career three-point field goals made (137) among Daemen's all-time leaders.
BLOCK PARTY: Natalie Galus led the ECC in blocks (62) last year and became the first Daemen freshman to record 50 or more blocks in a season since Sarah Sokora registered 100 blocks as a freshman in 2007-08…Galus enters the 2014-15 season with a streak of 17-straight games with at least one blocked shot.
WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen is idle until Saturday, Dec. 6 when it hosts long-time rival Point Park University in a non-league game…Daemen's complete 2014-15 schedule can be accessed HERE.
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.
