THE LEAD: The Daemen College women's basketball team hosts the University of the District of Columbia in an East Conference game Friday (Feb. 6)…for Daemen, it will mark the fifth time in six games it has faced one of the top-five teams in the league…UDC is currently in second place in the ECC standings.
Friday, Feb. 6, 2015
District of columbia at Daemen - 6 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO / DAEMEN ROSTER / DAEMEN STATS / UDC ROSTER / UDC STATS
WEAR RED DAY: The Daemen College Diversity Action Committee is celebrating National Wear Red Day on campus this Friday, Feb. 6 to bring awareness to the fact that one in three women die of heart disease and stroke each year...all those visiting campus on Friday, including those planning to attend the home basketball doubleheader vs. District of Columbia, are encouraged to wear red in support of this worthy cause.
THE COACHES: David Skolen is in his 23rd season as head women's basketball coach at Daemen and has posted a 452-246 (.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…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.
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 third 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. UDC: Friday's game will mark the fourth all-time meeting between Daemen and UDC…the Firebirds swept the season series last year and have prevailed in each of the previous three meetings…the Firebirds posted a 72-60 win over the Wildcats last month at UDC…Telisha Turner led the way with 25 points…Sarah Saba totaled 16 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks for Daemen…UDC posted a 74-63 victory over the Wildcats at Lumsden Gym last year 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…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 WILDCATS (8-10; 5-7 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 equaled the total number of overall and conference wins from last year…Daemen has dropped four-straight games and is coming off losses at Molloy (83-81) and Queens (68-61) last weekend…Daemen's starting lineup of senior transfer Shy Britton, junior Raeann Stilwell, sophomores Natalie Galus and Leah McDonell and freshman Sarah Saba have accounted for 85-percent of the team's total points…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 the loss to Molloy last weekend and leads the team in scoring (13.8 ppg), rebounding (7.7 rpg), blocks (61) and field goal percentage (.489)…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 the loss to Molloy and ranks second on the team in scoring (13.3 ppg)…she leads the team assists (3.1 apg), steals (31) and three-pointers (48)…Galus scored a career-high 22 points in the loss to Queens last weekend and is averaging 10.6 points and 7.2 rebounds…McDonell has scored in double figures in four of the last six games and scored a season-high 14 points in a recent loss to NYIT…she is averaging 7.9 points…Saba has averaged 17.5 points over the last four games and has scored in double figures 15 times…she is averaging 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds.
THE FIREBIRDS (17-3; 10-2 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 fourth 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-straight games and is coming off a 98-95 triple OT win over New York Tech this past Saturday…the Firebirds are averaging an ECC-best 76.8 points per game…Brent totaled 31 points, 12 rebounds, five steals and three blocks in the win over NYIT and leads the team in scoring (16.3 ppg), steals (58) and blocks (25)…she also ranks second in rebounding (7.5 rpg)…Turner scored 25 points in the win over Daemen last month…he has made a team-high 35 three-pointers and is averaging 13.2 points and 4.1 assists…junior Tatyana Calhoun, who earned ECC All-Rookie team honors two years ago, is averaging 8.4 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds…junior Taj Baldwin-Killore (10.7 ppg) and senior ShaKena Williams (6.8 ppg, 33 3pt fgs) have also produced.
ECC HONOR ROLL: Sarah Saba has been honored as the ECC Rookie of the Week three times this season 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 SET TO JOIN 1,000-POINT CLUB: Raeann Stilwell enters Friday's action just five points shy of becoming the 22nd player in program history to score 1,000 points…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 185 three-pointers in 77 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 (6.9)…senior Shy Britton has registered five or more blocks six times this year and leads the ECC in rejections (61)…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 eighth among the ECC leaders in blocks (27) this season and stands 11 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 10 of DC's 18 games and ranks 14th in the league in total blocks (17).
SUDDEN IMPACT: Transfer Shy Britton and freshman Sarah Saba have wasted no time in contributing to the team…Britton has scored in double figures 13 times and has recorded five double-doubles on the year…she leads the team in scoring (13.8 ppg), rebounding (7.7 rpg), blocks (61) and field goal percentage (.489)…Saba is a three-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection and ranks third on the team in scoring (13.1 ppg), rebounding (6.3 rpg) and blocks (17)…she ranks second among ECC freshmen in scoring and blocks and leads all ECC freshmen in rebounding.
WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen is idle until next weekend when it travels to Dowling College (Feb. 13) and the University of Bridgeport (Feb. 14) for ECC games…Daemen's complete 2014-15 schedule can be accessed HERE.
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.
