AMHERST, N.Y. – Freshman Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) totaled 14 points and 11 rebounds and senior Shy Britton (Rochester, N.Y./Niagara University) added 15 points and five blocks to lead Daemen College to a 67-59 victory over Dowling College here tonight in East Coast Conference women's basketball action.
 
The hosts Wildcats have now won four of their last five games and improved to 5-5 overall and 2-2 in the ECC. Dowling dropped to 2-9 overall and 2-3 in the league.
 
It marked the third double-double of the year for Saba, who also recorded two steals. Junior Raeann Stilwell (Cheektowaga, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) added nine points and four assists and three steals for the Wildcats, while sophomore Natalie Galus (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier) also scored nine points and dished out three assists. Sophomore Leah McDonell (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Cardinal O'Hara) chipped in seven points, five rebounds and two steals.
 
Junior guard Krstina Surlan (Novi Grad, Bosnia) led the Golden Lions with 27 points.
 
A back and forth first half featured six ties and three lead changes, and neither team led by more than five points. Daemen took its largest lead of the half just five minutes into the half when McDonell converted a three-point play to make the score 11-6. Dowling took its first lead of the game, 19-17, following a layup by graduate student Nicole Caggiano (Holtsville, N.Y) with 10:50 left before the break, and the Golden Lions took their largest lead of the half, 31-26, after junior Jessica Kalbfleisch (Ridge, N.Y.) made one of two free throws with 2:20 left before intermission. Dowling took a 32-28 lead into the break.
 
Daemen opened the second half with a 12-6 run and took a 40-38 lead after Stilwell drilled a three-pointer with 15:06 to play. Dowling scored 10 of the next 12 points and took a 48-42 after senior Christine Verrelle (Abington, Pa.) scored with 10:20 left. Back-to-back layups by Britton sparked the Wildcats on a 14-4 run over the next five minutes. The run featured three-pointers by Saba and junior Samantha Wozniak (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster), and a layup by Galus with 5:03 left to play capped the run and gave the hosts a 56-52 lead. Daemen later took a 63-56 lead after Stilwell canned two free throws with just under a minute left.
 
Daemen shot 43-percent (13-30) from the field in the second half and connected on 39-percent (24-62) of its shots overall. Dowling shot 38-percent (22-58) for the game. The Wildcats finished with a 41-38 edge in rebounds, including 16 offensive rebounds which the hosts converted into a 14-2 edge in second-chance points.
 
Daemen returns to action tomorrow (Jan. 10) when it hosts the University of Bridgeport in an ECC game at 2 p.m.
 
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