Friday, Feb. 14, 2014 - 7 p.m.
UDC Sports Complex, Washington, D.C.
Live Stats / Live Video

THE MATCHUP: The Daemen College women's basketball team travels to our nation's capital to face the University of the District of Columbia in an East Coast Conference matchup.

THE COACHES: David Skolen is entering his 22nd season as head women's basketball coach at Daemen and has posted a 443-234 (.654) 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…Lester Butler, Jr. is in his 10th season as head women's basketball coach UDC…he entered the 2013-14 season with a 131-112 (.539) career record…he guided the Firebirds to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2009 and 2012…he is a 1998 graduate of Virginia Union University and helped the men's basketball team to four-straight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances.

THE SERIES: Friday's game will mark the second all-time meeting between Daemen and UDC…the Firebirds posted a 74-63 victory over the Wildcats earlier this year at Lumsden Gym…UDC was clinging to a four-point lead (56-52) with just over seven minutes to play when the Firebirds secured the win with a 13-3 run…Telisha Turner (19 pts) and Denikka Brent (10 pts, 13 rebs) paced UDC…Raeann Stilwell drained five three-pointers and scored 19 points for Daemen, while Natalie Galus (15 pts, 9 rebs, 5 blks) and Taylor Heinold (14 pts, 9 rebs) also contributed.

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: 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 posted back-to-back wins over STAC (88-78) and Mercy (73-66) three weeks ago and is 3-4 over its last seven games…the Wildcats completed the season-series sweep of Molloy with an 80-59 victory over the Lions last Friday, before suffering an 80-44 loss to Queens Sunday…senior guard Lindsay Stoddard is the only returning starter on a roster that includes six freshmen and four sophomores…Stoddard scored a season-high 24 points and also grabbed eight rebounds in a recent loss to NYIT and is averaging 13.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.5 steals…sophomore Raeann Stilwell has scored in double figures in 21 of 23 games and is averaging 17.0 points with a team-high 65 three-pointers…she scored 22 points (her ninth 20-point effort of the season) during Daemen's win over Molloy this past Friday…junior Jillian Fitzner shot 75-percent (9-for-12) from the field and totaled 18 points and 13 rebounds during losses to LIU Post and NYIT two weeks ago…sophomore Samantha Wozniak played a career-high 26 minutes and scored a career-high 13 points in Sunday's loss to Queens…Somara Colon contributed a career-high 11 points in a non-league win over Dominican…Daemen's freshman class includes All-Western New York selections Natalie Galus (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier), Taylor Heinold (Hamburg, N.Y./Immaculata), Leah McDonell (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Cardinal O'Hara) and Rachel Pawlak (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Niagara-Wheatfield)…Galus had a season-high 20 points in the win over STAC and is averaging 11.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks…Heinold was named ECC Rookie of the Week after totaling 23 points, six rebounds and four assists in a loss to Molloy…she is averaging 9.4 points and 6.9 rebounds…McDonell scored a season-high 21 points in loss at Queens and is averaging 6.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals…Pawlak drilled two three-pointers and scored a season-high 12 points in 16 minutes off the bench in last Friday's win over Molloy.

THE FIREBIRDS: District of Columbia returns seven players and four starters from last year's team that finished 10-18 (5-13 ECC)…UDC was voted seventh in the ECC preseason poll…the Firebirds are receiving votes in the latest WBCA/USA TODAY Division II Top 25…UDC has won eight of its last nine games and is coming off wins over NYIT (96-73) and Bridgeport (87-59)…the Firebirds had a six-game winning streak snapped following a 74-72 loss at LIU Post last week…newcomer Telisha Turner has paced an offense that is averaging a league-high 79.3 points per game…Turner, a transfer from Harcum College, had six three-pointers and 20 points in the win over Bridgeport last week and leads the team in scoring (19.2 ppg) and three-pointers (55)…junior Denikka Brent totaled 24 points in the loss to LIU Post and is averaging 14.8 points and a team-high 7.8 rebounds…sophomore Tatyana Calhoun, who earned ECC All-Rookie team honors last year, is averaging 10.2 points and 7.5 rebounds…senior Teara Shaw (6.0 ppg, 3.2 apg, 37 stls) and junior ShaKena Williams (6.8 ppg) have also produced.

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

LEAGUE LEADERS: Here is how players from the two teams rank among the ECC leaders…Lindsay Stoddard leads the league in assists per game (6.1) and also ranks third in minutes per game (35.3), fourth in rebounding (8.7), sixth in free throw percentage (78.3), ninth in scoring (13.9), 14th in three-point field goals (28) and 16th in steals (1.5)…Raeann Stilwell ranks fourth in points per game (17.0), second in three-point field goals made (65), seventh in minutes (33.0) and eighth in assists (2.8)…Natalie Galus ranks first in blocks per game (2.5), 11th in field goal percentage (43.9), 13th in rebounding (7.1) and 23rd in scoring (11.0)…Taylor Heinold ranks 15th in rebounds per game (6.9) and seventh in free throw percentage (76.4)…Telisha Turner of UDC is tied for the league lead in scoring (19.2)…she also ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (42.3), third in three-pointers (55), fifth in free throw percentage (79.5), sixth in minutes (33.2), seventh in field goal percentage (45.9), eighth in assists (2.8) and ninth in steals (1.6)…Denikka Brent ranks second in field goal percentage (49.2), seventh in scoring (14.8) and ninth in both rebounding (7.8) and steals (1.6)…Tatyana Calhoun ranks fifth in field goal percentage (47.9), 10th in rebounding (7.5) and 13th in free throw percentage (72.0)…Shakena Williams ranks third in three-point field goal percentage (39.0) and 12th in three-pointers made (30)…Teara Shaw ranks fifth in steals (1.8) and sixth in assists (3.2), while Julissa Anderson ranks fifth in blocks (1.4).

STODDARD CLOSE TO MILESTONES: Lindsay Stoddard recorded her 450th career assist last weekend and enters Friday's action ranked sixth in career assists (459) among Daemen's all-time leaders…she stands just five assists shy of moving past Marybeth Nugent and into fifth place in career assists…she has totaled 318 of her 459 career assists over the past two seasons…Stoddard also stands just four points shy of 850 career points, 19 rebounds shy of 500 career rebounds and five steals shy of 150 career steals.

STILWELL ON RECORD PACE: Raeann Stilwell is 11 three-pointers shy of breaking the school-record for three-pointers in a season (75) set by Angela Tylec in 2002-03…she is also just seven three-point attempts shy of breaking the school-record for three-point attempts (226) set by Jessica Ruddell in 2003-04…Stilwell led the team in three-pointers last year (60) and has totaled a team-high 65 triples this season…she has become 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 (125) among Daemen's all-time leaders.

BLOCK PARTY: Natalie Galus leads the ECC in blocks (57) and has become 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 has recorded at least one block in 14-straight games and 21 of 23 games overall.

DID YOU KNOW? Lindsay Stoddard has recorded five or more rebounds in 20 of Daemen's 23 games and has registered double-digit rebounds in eight of the last 15 games…she ranks fourth overall (first among guards) among the ECC rebounding leaders (8.7 per game).

WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen closes out the regular-season when it hosts Dowling College (Feb. 21) and the University of Bridgeport (Feb. 22) next weekend.

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.