THE LEAD: The Daemen College women's basketball team heads to the nation's capital for two games this weekend…the Wildcats will play an East Coast Conference game at the University of District of Columbia Saturday (Jan. 3) and take on Washington Adventist University Monday (Jan. 5) in a non-league tilt.
Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015
Daemen at District of Columbia - 3 p.m.
UDC Sports Complex, Washington, D.C.
LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO / DAEMEN ROSTER / DAEMEN STATS / UDC ROSTER / UDC STATS
Monday, Jan. 5, 2015
Daemen at Washington Adventist - 4 p.m.
WAU Gymnasium, Takoma Park, Md.
WAU ROSTER / WAU STATS
THE COACHES: David Skolen is in his 23rd season as head women's basketball coach at Daemen and has posted a 447-240 (.651) 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…Lester Butler, Jr. is in his 10th season as head women's basketball coach UDC…he entered the 2014-15 season with a 152-120 (.559) career record…he has guided the Firebirds to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2009, 2012 and 2014…he is a 1998 graduate of Virginia Union University and helped the men's basketball team to four-straight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances…Jered Lyons is in his first season as head women's basketball coach at WAU…he spent the 2013-14 season as assistant men's basketball coach at Eastern Mennonite University.
MOVE TO II: Daemen is in Candidacy Year Three of the NCAA Division II membership process…Daemen was accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) and began playing full regular-season conference schedules in the fall of 2013…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 Three.
THE SERIES vs. UDC: Saturday's game will mark the third all-time meeting between Daemen and UDC…the Firebirds swept the season series last year…UDC posted a 74-63 victory over the Wildcats at Lumsden Gym in the first-ever meeting…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…the Firebirds completed the sweep with a 91-73 win at UDC…Milena Bubnievic totaled 18 points and eight rebounds for UDC, while Brent added 16 points and eight boards…Lindsay Stoddard totaled a double-double (26 pts, 11 rebs) for Daemen.
THE SERIES vs. WAU: Monday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Daemen and Washington Adventist.
THE WILDCATS (3-4; 1-1 ECC): 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)…the Wildcats are coming off a 101-83 victory at Briarcliffe College this past Tuesday…it marked the first time the Wildcats have reached the century mark in nearly two years…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…she drained 7-of-10 three-pointers and scored 23 points in the win over Briarclifffe and is averaging 16.4 points with a team-high 22 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 last year…she totaled 10 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four blocks in the win over Briarcliffe and is averaging 9.6 points and a team-high 9.7 rebounds…Heinold averaged 9.2 points and 6.7 rebounds last year, while McDonell averaged 6.0 points and 4.9 rebounds…Heinold returned to the lineup against Briarcliffe after missing five games due to injury and total 15 points in 17 minutes off the bench…McDonell scored a season-high 13 points in a 65-53 win over Goucher…senior Shy Britton and freshmen Sarah Saba and Liz Miles have made 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 totaled 21 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks in a 72-60 win over Molloy and followed up with 20 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks in an 82-67 loss to Queens…she is averaging 14.1 points and 8.9 rebounds with 25 blocks…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…she made her first career start in an 85-72 loss to Point Park and totaled 21 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks…she is averaging 11.9 points and 5.3 rebounds…Miles played at state powerhouse Cicero-North Syracuse and helped the Northstars to three NYSPHSAA regional titles and one (2012) state championship…she is averaging 12 minutes off the bench and totaled seven points and six rebounds in an 85-72 loss to Point Park.
THE FIREBIRDS (9-2; 2-1 ECC): District of Columbia returns nine players and four starters from last year's team that finished 21-8 (15-5 ECC), claimed the ECC Tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament…UDC was voted first in the 2014-15 ECC preseason poll…the Firebirds are receiving votes in the latest WBCA/USA TODAY Division II Top 25 poll and are ranked sixth in the D2SIDA East region poll…seniors Telisha Turner and Denikka Brent both collected first-team All-ECC honors last year…UDC has won six of its last seven games and is playing its first game since posting an 82-70 win over Roberts Wesleyan on Dec. 19…the Firebirds are averaging an ECC-best 77.1 points per game…Brent scored 28 points in a recent 80-68 win over LIU Post and leads the team in scoring (16.3 ppg), rebounding (7.1 rpg), steals (39) and blocks (13)…Turner hit nine three-pointers and totaled 27 points and six assists in an 86-75 win over Shaw…he has made a team-high 27 three-pointers and is averaging 13.5 points and 4.7 assists…junior Tatyana Calhoun, who earned ECC All-Rookie team honors two years ago, is averaging 8.3 points and 7.1 rebounds…junior Taj Baldwin-Killore (7.4 ppg) and senior ShaKena Williams (7.0 ppg, 17 3pt fgs) have also produced.
THE SHOCK (2-8): Washington Adventist is a Division II member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)…the Shock are also affiliated with the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) and the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA)…WAU returns just two players from last year's team that finished 9-18 overall…the Shock have lost five-straight games and will be playing their first game since suffering a 70-41 loss to Point Park on Dec. 4…senior Courtney Cayard has paced the WAU attack thus far…she drilled four three-pointers and totaled 20 points and seven rebounds in the loss to PPU and is averaging 10.7 points and 6.2 rebounds with a team-high 17 three-pointers…freshman Courtney Jenkins (7.6 ppg) and juniors Natalie Harrison (8.2 ppg, 8.8 rpg) and Jerria Brown-McDaniel (6.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg) have also produced.
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 fourth in career three-point field goals made (159) among Daemen's all-time leaders and is just 15 three-pointers shy of moving into second place all-time…Ruddell owns the school-record for career three-pointers made (242).
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 had a streak of 22-straight games with at least one blocked shot snapped during the win over Goucher two weeks ago…she stands 21 blocks shy of becoming the ninth player in program history to reach 100 career rejections.
WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen returns to action next weekend when it hosts Dowling College (Jan. 9) and the University of Bridgeport (Jan. 10) in ECC action…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.
