THE LEAD: The Daemen College women's basketball team host St. Thomas Aquinas College (Feb. 20) and Mercy College (Feb. 21) in East Coast Conference games this weekend…it will mark the final two home games of the year for Daemen and the first of five games in the span of nine days for the Wildcats.
Friday, Feb. 20, 2015
St. Thomas Aquinas at Daemen - 6 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO / DAEMEN ROSTER / DAEMEN STATS / STAC ROSTER / STAC STATS
Friday, Feb. 21, 2015
MERCY at Daemen - 2 p.m.
Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium, Bridgeport, Conn.
LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO / MERCY ROSTER / MERCY STATS
SALUTE TO THE SENIORS: Saturday's game will mark the final home game for seniors Shy Britton and Jennifer Mills…their contributions to the program will be recognized during a pre-game Senior Day ceremony.
WOUNDED WARRIOR NIGHT: In collaboration with an initiative set forth by the East Coast Conference, the Daemen College Athletic Department will host Wounded Warrior Night at the men's and women's basketball double-header on Friday vs. St. Thomas Aquinas. The event is being co-sponsored by the Daemen College Student Veterans Alliance and will feature a ceremonial jump ball prior to each game featuring a Daemen student who previously served in the military. Additionally, donations will be accepted with all proceeds benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project.
THE COACHES: David Skolen is in his 23rd season as head women's basketball coach at Daemen and has posted a 454-247 (.648) 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…Kim Lusk is in her seventh season as head women's basketball coach at St. Thomas Aquinas…she guided the Spartans to a 86-82 (.512) record over the past six seasons and was named ECC Coach of the Year following the 2010-11 season…she previously spent five season (2002-07) as head coach at New Jersey Institute of Technology…Rashidi Aiken is in his third season as head women's basketball coach at Mercy…he previously served as assistant head coach at Nyack College.
SKOLEN NOTCHES 450TH CAREER WIN: Daemen's 75-65 victory over the University of Bridgeport on Jan. 10 marked the 450th career win for Daemen head coach David Skolen.
POLL POSITION: Daemen is ranked eighth in the latest United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) poll.
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) in July of 2012 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. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Friday's game will mark the fifth all-time meeting between Daemen and St. Thomas Aquinas…the Spartans own a 3-1 advantage in the series…the Spartans posted a 70-57 win at STAC last month…Jenna Erickson led the way with 23 points…Raeann Stilwell scored 16 points for Daemen…the teams split their two meetings last year…the Spartans posted a 72-54 win at STAC…Kristen Olsen (14 pts, 4 3pt fgs) and Samantha Burden (14 pts, 5 asts) paced the Spartans…Stilwell scored a game-high 15 points for Daemen, while Natalie Galus totaled 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks…Daemen answered with an 88-78 win at Lumsden Gym…Stilwell (22 pts, 7 asts) and Galus (20 pts) led the way once again for the Wildcats, while Briana Cook scored 18 points for STAC.
THE SERIES vs. MERCY: Saturday's game will mark the fourth all-time meeting between Daemen and Mercy…Daemen posted a 70-64 win last month at Mercy…Natalie Galus led a balanced attack with 18 points…Tanayzha Augustine totaled 18 points and 17 rebounds for Mercy…the teams split their two meetings last year…the Mavericks scored five unanswered points over the final 17 seconds of the game to earn a wild 93-91 victory at Mercy in the first ever meeting…six players scored in double figures for Mercy, led by Maggie Salomone (18 pts, 4 asts) and Alexis Monserrate (14 pts, 4 3pt fgs)…Lindsay Stoddard record a triple-double for the Wildcats (18 pts, 12 rebs, 10 asts) and Raeann Stilwell drained six three-pointers and finished with 36 points…Daemen earned the split with a 73-66 win at Lumsden Gym…Stilwell drilled five three-pointers and totaled 25 points, while Galus added 14 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks…Salomone scored 20 points for Mercy.
THE WILDCATS (10-11; 7-8 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…the Wildcats have already bettered the total number of overall and conference wins from last year…Daemen snapped a five-game losing streak following a 72-60 win at Dowling last Friday and are coming off a 68-61 win at Bridgeport on Saturday…Daemen's starting lineup of freshman Sarah Saba, senior transfer Shy Britton, junior Raeann Stilwell and sophomores Natalie Galus and Leah McDonell have accounted for 84-percent of the team's total points…Saba has averaged 18.6 points over the last seven games and has scored in double figures 18 times…she leads the team in scoring (14.0 ppg) and third in both rebounding (6.5 rpg) and blocks (20)…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 in a recent loss to Molloy and is averaging 13.1 points…she leads the team in rebounding (7.4 rpg), blocks (64) and field goal percentage (.469)…Stilwell averaged a team-high 17.0 points with a school-record 77 three-pointers last year…she had five three-pointers and 21 points in a recent loss to Molloy and ranks third on the team in scoring (12.7 ppg)…she leads the team assists (2.9 apg), steals (34) and three-pointers (54)…Galus scored a career-high 22 points in a recent loss to Queens and is averaging 10.4 points and 7.2 rebounds…McDonell has scored in double figures in five of the last nine games and is averaging 7.6 points…junior Samantha Wozniak and freshman Liz Miles have provided solid bench support in recent games…Wozniak drilled three three-pointers and equaled her season-high for points (9) in last weekend's win over Bridgeport…Miles scored a season-high eight points in the win over Dowling and grabbed a season-high eight rebounds in the win over Bridgeport last weekend.
THE SPARTANS (11-14; 7-9 ECC): St. Thomas Aquinas returns 10 players and all five starters from last year's team that finished 12-13 overall and 8-12 in the ECC…STAC was voted seventh in the 2014-15 ECC preseason poll…the Spartans have won three of their last five games and are coming off impressive wins over NYIT (85-82) and LIU Post (77-69) last week…freshman guard Jenna Erickson, sophomore Samantha Burden and junior forward Alyson Brennan have paced the Spartans thus far…Erickson is a four-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection and leads the team in scoring (13.4 ppg), assists (3.4 apg) and three-pointers (52)…she had four three-pointers and 24 points in the win over NYIT last week…Burden (8.0 ppg, 43 stls) scored a season-high 25 points in the win over NYIT…Brennan is averaging 7.5 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds…she had 20 points and 12 rebounds in a loss to NYIT last month…additional production has come from sophomore forward Kaitlyn McCue (7.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg) and sophomore guard Kristen Olsen (6.7 ppg, 20 3pt fgs).
THE MAVERICKS (8-15; 2-14 ECC): Mercy returns just two players and one starter from last year's team that finished 2-24 overall and 1-19 in the ECC…Mercy was voted 11th in the 2014-15 ECC preseason poll…the Mavericks won seven of their first nine games, but have dropped 13 of their last 14 contests…Mercy is coming off losses to LIU Post (72-59) and NYIT (103-77) last week…seniors Tanaysha Augustine and Brandone Roberts have led the way…Augustine, the lone returning starter from last year, totaled 22 points and 11 rebounds in a 64-57 loss to Dowling last month and is averaging 14.1 points and 9.2 rebounds…Roberts, a transfer from Nyack College, had 19 points and 13 rebounds in the loss to LIU Post last week and is averaging 11.6 points and 10.7 rebounds with 44 blocks…junior transfers Tatiana Parish (9.8 ppg, 53 3pt fgs), Erin Copeland (6.6 ppg, 6.0 apg, 40 stls) and Deasia Goodson (6.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg) have also produced.
ECC HONOR ROLL: Sarah Saba has been honored as the ECC Rookie of the Week five of the last nine weeks and is also a two-time selection to the weekly ECC honor roll…Shy Britton and Raeann Stilwell are also one-time selections to the weekly ECC honor roll.
STILWELL JOINS 1,000-POINT CLUB: Raeann Stilwell became the 22nd member of the program's 1,000-Point Club during a loss to UDC on Feb. 6…she will be honored for reaching this milestone during a pre-game ceremony on Friday night...she set the school-record for three-pointers made (77) and attempted (252) in a season last winter and 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 moved into second place in career three-pointers during the win over Roberts Wesleyan on Jan. 20 and has totaled 191 three-pointers in 80 career games…Ruddell owns the school-record for career three-pointers made (242).
BLOCK PARTY: Daemen ranks first among all ECC teams in blocks per game (6.3)…senior Shy Britton has registered five or more blocks six times this year and leads the ECC in rejections (64)…sophomore 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…she ranks ninth among the ECC leaders in blocks (30) this season and stands eight blocks shy of becoming the ninth player in program history to reach 100 career rejections…freshman Sarah Saba has recorded at least one block in 11 of DC's 21 games and ranks 14th in the league in total blocks (20).
SUDDEN IMPACT: Transfer Shy Britton and freshman Sarah Saba have wasted no time in contributing to the team…Britton has scored in double figures 15 times and has recorded five double-doubles on the year…she ranks second on the team in scoring (13.1 ppg) and leads the team rebounding (7.4 rpg), blocks (64) and field goal percentage (.469)…Saba is a five-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection…she leads the team and ranks first among ECC freshman in scoring (14.0 ppg)…she also ranks third on the team and leads all ECC freshmen in rebounding (6.5 rpg).
WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen returns to action Tuesday (Feb. 24) when it travels to Roberts Wesleyan College for an ECC game at 6 p.m.
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS: Follow Daemen College women's basketball on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics and @DaemenWBB) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.
