UNIONTOWN, Pa. – All five starters scored in double figures, as the Daemen College women's basketball team opened play at the 2015 United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Division 1 Tournament with an 82-72 victory over The Apprentice School here today.
Daemen, the tournament's No. 5 seed, improved to 12-15 on the year and advances to face top-seeded Concordia College-Alabama in the tournament semifinals Friday (Mar. 6) at 11 a.m. Apprentice, the No. 4 seed, dropped to 14-11 and will play eighth-seeded St. Joseph's College-Brooklyn in a consolation game tomorrow. The tournament is being hosted by Penn State Fayette.
Concordia-Alabama (24-3) posted an 83-63 victory over St. Joseph's in its quarterfinal game. Concordia is the defending tournament champion. Complete quarterfinal round results can be found HERE.
Daemen, which claimed the 2013 USCAA championship but did not qualify for last year's tournament, is now a perfect 14-0 against USCAA teams since joining the association three years ago.
Senior Shy Britton (Rochester, N.Y./Niagara University) paced Daemen's balanced attack with 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and six blocks. It marked the 10th time Britton has registered five or more blocks in a game this season. A second-team USCAA All-America selection, she has now totaled 89 blocks on the year and is just one block shy of becoming just the fifth player in program history to record 90 or more blocks in a season. Junior Raeann Stilwell (Cheektowaga, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) drained two three-pointers and scored 19 points. The two triples give her exactly 200 career three-pointers, making her just the second player in program history to total 200 or more career three-pointers. Sophomore Leah McDonell (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Cardinal O'Hara) added 14 points, a career-high 17 rebounds and four assists. The 17 rebounds are the most by a Daemen player this season, and the most since classmate Natalie Galus (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier) grabbed 18 boards during the 2013-14 season opener. Galus finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Freshman Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) played just 24 minutes due to foul trouble, but still finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Four starters scored in double figures for Apprentice. Senior Shanae Hilliard (Alamogordo, N.M.) canned three three-pointers and finished with a game-high 22 points, while freshman Ylexzis Traeger (Newport News, Va.) added 13 points and nine rebounds.
Both teams put together several runs during the first half. Daemen trailed 4-3 when the Wildcats ran off 14 unanswered points and took a 17-4 lead after Stilwell canned two free throws with 14:05 left in the half. Apprentice answered with a 10-0 spurt over the next two minutes that cut the lead to three points, 17-14. Daemen outscored the Lady Builders 13-4 over the next six minutes and took a 30-18 lead following a jumper by Galus with 6:38 left in the half, but the Lady Builders answered once again and pulled to within five points, 30-25, after Traeger made one-of-two free throws with just over two minutes left before intermission. Daemen closed out the half with an 8-2 run and the Wildcats took a 38-27 lead into the break.
Daemen stormed out the locker room and scored 11 unanswered points over the first two minutes of the second half. A three-pointer by Stilwell capped the spurt and gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game, 48-27. Apprentice quickly cut the lead to 14 points, 50-36, and the teams traded baskets for the next seven minutes. Daemen took a 13-point lead, 65-52, following a three-pointer by Stilwell with 7:59 left, but the Lady Builders rallied with an 11-2 run over the next 2:36. Two free throws by Traeger with 5:23 left capped the run and made the score 67-63 Daemen. The Wildcats got a layup from Britton and two free throws by McDonell to take an eight-point lead, 71-63, with 3:14 to play, and the Lady Builders came no closer than six points over the final three minutes.
Daemen shot 52-percent (16-for-31) in the second half and finished 32-for-68 (47%) from the field overall. Apprentice connected on just 11-of-42 shots (26%) in the first half and went 28-for-87 (32%) from the field overall. Both teams struggled from downtown. Daemen finished 5-of-15 from long range, while the Lady Builders went 4-for-19. The Wildcats finished with a commanding 59-44 edge in total rebounds and Daemen also posted a 46-34 edge in points in the paint. Apprentice forced 25 Daemen turnovers and the Lady Builders took advantage with a 25-13 edge in points off turnovers.
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