COLCHESTER, Vt. - A nine-point third quarter spelled doom for the Daemen College women's basketball team today which suffered a 75-58 defeat in non-conference action versus Saint Michael's College at Ross Sports Center.

The loss, Daemen's sixth-straight, sends the Wildcats to 2-7 overall this season as they conlcude the non-conference portion of their 2015-16 schedule.  All 17 remaining regular season contests are against East Coast Conference opponents.

The host SMC Purple Knights, playing their first game since a Northeast-10 Conference loss to Bentley University on December 12, essentially led from pillar to post today, improving to 4-6 overall with the victory, including 3-1 in non-league action.

SMC was sparked today by senior guard Makenzie Burud who came off the bench to notch her fifth double-double of the season (22 points, 12 rebounds).  Burud, a second-team All-NE-10 pick last season, also recorded the 1,000th point of her career on a layup with 7:21 to go in the fourth quarter.  Burud's performance helped the Purple Knights gain a 31-2 advantage in points off the bench today.

Samantha Delaney added 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting for SMC, while Indira Evora went 3-for-5 from three-point range as part of her 13-point outing.  The Purple Knights also got a nice floor game from Leah Spencer (eight points, six rebounds, six assists).

Natalie Galus (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier) scored a season-high 19 points in defeat for Daemen.  The 5-foot-11 junior forward now has three-straight games of double-figure scoring, and four in the team's last five games.

Raeann Stilwell (Cheektowaga, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) and Leah McDonell (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Cardinal O'Hara) split 26 points, and sophomore guard Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) also reached double figures with 11 points.  Saba added team-highs of 10 boards and four assists, posting her first double-double of the year after doubling up seven times as a rookie in 2014-15.  The quartet of Galus, Stilwell, McDonell and Saba accounted for all but two of Daemen's 58 points today.

SMC used an 18-9 third quarter to break this one open, turning a manageable six-point halftime deficit for the Wildcats (38-32) into an insurmountable 56-41 edge after 30 minutes of play.  The pivotal run came after Daemen scored the first four points of the period, getting a layup from Stilwell and a pair of free throws from Saba to trim the hosts' lead to just two (38-36) less than two minutes in.  But, SMC went on a 10-2 spurt to establish their first double-figure lead of the game (48-38).  Evora and Burud knocked down back-to-back triples in the run which was capped by a Delaney layup at the 6:12 mark.

Daemen would temporarily stem the tide when a fastbreak layup by McDonell cut the deficit to seven (48-41), but the Wildcats went scoreless in the final 5:30 of the period, allowing SMC to extend its lead back to double figures.

Stilwell finally ended the drought on Daemen's first possession of the fourth quarter when she connected on a three-pointer.  She would hit another at the 8:42 mark to bring Daemen within 11 points (58-47), but that's as close as they would get.  SMC scored six-straight points, including four from Burud to quell any thoughts of a Wildcat comeback.  The Purple Knights would go on to lead by as many at 18 points in the period.

Daemen's only leads in the ballgame came in the first quarter.  Galus scored the game's opening bucket to put the Wildcats ahead 2-0, and later, a Saba layup at the 5:19 mark put Daemen ahead 12-11.  Burud's jumper in the paint on SMC's next possession gave the Purple Knights a lead that they would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest.

The hosts enjoyed 45-percent shooting for the game (30-for-67) while Daemen made good on just 34-percent of their attempts (23-for-67).  The iron was especially unkind on Daemen three-point attempts as the Wildcats shot just 7-for-34 (21-percent) from long range.

With Daemen's long range attempts not finding the mark, SMC used a 40-24 advantage in points in the paint to establish control, while also turning 22 Daemen turnovers into 16 points.

Today's game was just the second all-time meeting between Daemen and SMC, and the first since a 79-75 Daemen win on November 30, 1997.

Daemen gets back to ECC play on Thursday, January 7 when the Wildcats play host to Saint Thomas Aquinas College for a 6 p.m. tip-off at Lumsden Gymnasium.

NOTES: Raeann Stilwell's 13 points today give her 1,227 for her career, placing her three points back of Joanna Daugenti for 11th place all-time...Stilwell's three made three-pointers today give her 224 for her career, as she continues to chase Jessica Ruddell's all-time mark of 242...Natalie Galus established new career-highs today for field goals attempted (20) and three-point field goals attempted (11)...she has now made multiple three-point shots in three-straight games...Leah McDonell has now scored in double figures in four-straight games matching her career-best streak which she established last season...Sarah Saba has now scored in double figures 31 times in 38 career games...senior guard Samantha Wozniak missed her sixth-straight game as she continues to recover from an injury...Wozniak last played in Daemen's 69-65 win at Lake Erie College on November 21.