| THE LEAD |
| The Daemen College women's basketball closes out the calendar year by beginning a stretch of four-straight home games in the span of six days…Daemen will close out non-conference play by hosting Saint Michael's College (Dec. 30) and Lake Erie College (Dec. 31) this weekend, before returning to ECC play by hosting Mercy College (Jan. 2) and Saint Thomas Aquinas College (Jan. 4) next week. |
| |
| GAME INFORMATION & LINKS |
 VS  |
Date: Friday, Dec. 30
|
Time: 7 p.m.
|
Location:
Lumsden Gymnasium
Amherst, N.Y. |
| Daemen Roster |
St. Michael's Roster |
|
| Daemen Schedule |
St. Michael's Schedule |
|
| Daemen Stats |
St. Michael's Stats |
|
| ECC Website |
NE-10 Website |
D2 East Hoops Website |
| |
|
|
| LIVE STATS |
LIVE VIDEO |
|
VS  |
Date: Saturday, Dec. 31
|
Time: 2 p.m.
|
Location:
Lumsden Gymnasium
Amherst, N.Y. |
| Daemen Roster |
Lake Erie Roster |
|
| Daemen Schedule |
Lake Erie Schedule |
|
| Daemen Stats |
Lake Erie Stats |
|
| ECC Website |
GLIAC Website |
D2 East Hoops Website |
| |
|
|
| LIVE STATS |
LIVE VIDEO |
|
| |
| SOCIAL MEDIA |
| Daemen Twitter: |
@DaemenAthletics, @DaemenWBB |
| Daemen Hashtags: |
#DCWildcatNation, #WNYsD2Team, #LiveBreatheDaemen, #beFIERCE |
| St. Michael's Twitter: |
@SMCathletics, @SMCWomensHoops |
| Lake Erie Twitter: |
@lecsports |
| ECC Twitter: |
@ECCSports |
| NE-10 Twitter: |
@TheNortheast10 |
| GLIAC Twitter: |
@GLIACsports |
| |
| MEET THE NEW BOSS |
| Jenepher Banker enters her first season as head women's basketball coach at Daemen…Banker comes to Daemen with nearly 30 years of coaching experience at various levels, ranging from Division I to high school…her first collegiate experience came as an assistant coach at Iowa State University (1986-88) and later as an assistant at Canisius College (1993-95)…between assistant coaching stops, Banker served as the head coach at Penn State-Behrend where she led the NCAA Division III program to a 67-61 overall record…her 1991-92 team went 23-4, winning the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) South Region championship…that team garnered Penn State-Behrend's first-ever national ranking in any sport…she was inducted into Penn State-Behrend's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994…Banker ultimately settled at the high school level, coaching the varsity team at Grand Island High School from 1998-2013, building the Lady Vikings into a regional contender with seven Section VI championships, four appearances in the Far West Regional, and one appearance at the New York State final four. |
| |
| DAEMEN SCOUTING REPORT (3-7, 1-3 ECC) |
| Daemen returns three starters and eight players from last year's team that posted a 9-17 overall record and a 7-13 mark in the East Coast Conference…key losses include shooting guard Raeann Stilwell and forward Somara Colon…Stilwell averaged 8.3 points last year and closed out her career with a program-record 243 three-pointers…Colon averaged 7.2 points and 5.9 rebounds…the Wildcats were voted ninth in the 2016-17 ECC preseason poll…junior Sarah Saba tops the list of returning players…she became the first-ever women's basketball player from Daemen to earn first-team All-ECC honors last winter after leading the team in points (432), rebounds (165), blocks (44) and steals (36)…seniors Leah McDonell and Natalie Galus also return…McDonell ranked second on the team in scoring (9.5 ppg) and assists (69) last year while also contributing 4.7 rebounds…Galus averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds and ranked second on the team in three-pointers (35) and blocks (39)…seniors Rachel Pawlak and Jesse DeWaters, juniors Taylor Heinold and Liz Miles and sophomore Erin Egan will provided quality depth…Miles averaged 19 minutes, 5.4 points and 5.7 rebounds last year…five freshmen join the fold, all with impressive credentials…guard Tiara Filbert was expected to make immediate contributions, but a preseason injury will sideline her for the entire season…she collected first-team Class A all-state honors and was named the All-Greater Rochester Player of the Year last winter after leading Batavia High School to its first-ever NYSPHSAA Section V title…the 5-9 guard averaged 19.3 points, 12.1 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 4.6 steals per game last year…Jordan Heinold joins her sister Taylor following an outstanding career at Immaculata Academy…the 6-foot G/F closed out her career as the school's all-time leading scorer and collected second-team Class B all-state and second-team All-Western New York honors last year…guards Carina Pringle, Alexis Perdue and Sydney Jones also join the fold…Pringle earned five varsity letters at Greece Athena High School, picking up two first-team All-Monroe County selections…Perdue comes to Daemen from Lindenhurst High School on Long Island..a ninth-team Class AA all-state selection last year, she was named the Suffolk County League Rookie of the Year after her freshman season and went on to add three all-league and all-county selections…Jones played five varsity seasons at Midlakes High School…she was a sixth-team Class B all-state pick last winter after averaging 19.6 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists…the 2015-16 Finger Lakes East Player of the Year, she was also a first-team All-Greater Rochester selection...Daemen opened the year with wins over Felician (65-54) and Nyack (76-54), before suffering five-straight losses to Edinboro (90-59), Notre Dame College (80-74), Le Moyne (77-68), LIU Post (69-59) and District of Columbia (56-54)…the Wildcats snapped the skid following a 72-68 win at regionally-ranked Bridgeport, and are coming off losses to New York Tech (64-63) and Saint Anselm (77-69)…McDonell (16.7 ppg) and Saba (16.4 ppg) and have paced the Wildcats thus far…McDonell equaled her career-high for points (23) in the loss to Saint Anselm and netted 22 points in the win over Bridgeport…she leads the team in scoring average (16.7 ppg), assists (2.8 apg) and steals (25)…Saba scored a career-high 28 points in the loss to NYIT and is averaging a team-high 7.0 rebounds…Jordan Heinold has started eight games and is averaging 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds with a team-high 20 three-pointers…she drilled five three-pointers and scored 21 points in the loss to UDC and has made at least one triple in all 10 games…Galus (6.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg) totaled 14 points and eight boards against Nyack, while Pringle (5.6 ppg) stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals against Nyack. |
| |
| SAINT MICHAEL'S SCOUTING REPORT (5-5, 4-3 NE-10) |
| Saint Michael's is located in Colchester, Vt. and the Purple Knights are long-time members of the Northeast-10 Conference...SMC is led by fourth-year head coach Shannon Kynoch...SMC was picked eighth in Northeast Division of the 2016-17 NE-10 preseason poll…eight players and three starters return from last year when the Purple Knights went 9-17 overall and 5-16 in the NE-10…two-time All-NE-10 selection Makenzie Burud and shooting guard Megan Gaudreau were lost to graduation…Burud led the team in scoring and rebounding last year, while Gaudreau ranked third in the league in three-pointers made (61)…the Purple Knights dropped their first two games of the season, but are 5-3 over their last eight…SMC will be playing its first game since posting a 58-51 victory over Felician on Dec. 17…junior guard Leah Spencer and senior guard Indira Evora top the list of returning players….Spencer ranked second on the team in scoring (12.4 ppg) last year and is averaging a team-high 13.8 points this year…she scored a season-high 23 points in an 81-78 OT win over Assumption College…Evora has made a team-high 17 three-pointers and is averaging 10.3 points…she posted a double-double (16 pts, 11 rebs) in a 77-72 win over Southern New Hampshire on Dec. 10…sophomore Samantha Delaney has also produced…the 6-foot-2 forward has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games and is averaging 12.5 points…she leads the team in rebounding (7.7 rpg) and blocks (16)…sophomore guard Emily Ferreri is averaging 9.4 points and leads the team in assists (3.8 apg) and steals (18). |
| |
| THE HISTORY vs. SAINT MICHAEL'S |
| Friday's game will mark the third all-time meeting between Daemen and Saint Michael's…the Purple Knights posted a 75-58 win in Vermont last year in the first meeting between the teams since the 1997-98 season…they first met on Nov. 30, 1997 at the Fighting Scots Invitational hosted by Edinboro University with Daemen scoring a 79-75 win. |
| Previous Results: |
|
| Dec. 30, 2015 - SMC 75, Daemen 58 |
@ St. Michael's | BOX SCORE | RECAP |
| Nov. 30, 1997 - Daemen 79, SMC 75 |
@ Edinboro, Pa. |
| |
| LAKE ERIE SCOUTING REPORT (4-7, 2-4 GLIAC) |
| Lake Erie is located in Painsville, Ohio and is a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference…the Storm was voted seventh in the 2016-17 GLIAC South Division preseason poll…veteran head coach Bob Booher returns nine players and just one starter from last year's team that finished 8-20 overall and 5-17 in the GLIAC…the Storm snapped a seven-game losing streak following an 81-62 win over Lake Superior State on Dec. 15 and is coming off an 80-78 OT win over Northwood on Dec. 17…junior guard Kayla Gabor and junior forward Christine Dawson have paced LEC thus far…Gabor has led the team in scoring each of the two previous seasons and enters Saturday's game just 14 points shy of 1,000…she has scored in double figures in every game this season and netted a season-high 30 points in the win over Lake Superior State…she leads the GLAC in scoring average (20.0 ppg) and leads the team in three-pointers (25), rebounding (6.8 rpg), assists (3.5 apg) and steals (25)…Dawson ranks second in scoring (15.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.6 rpg) and leads the team in blocks (17)…additional productions has come from freshman guard Josie Chaddock (7.1 ppg) and senior guard Daija Jones (5.4 ppg, 21 stls)…Chaddock scored a season-high 16 points in the OT win over Northwood. |
| |
| THE HISTORY vs. LAKE ERIE |
| Saturday's game will mark the third all-time meeting between Daemen and Lake Erie…Daemen has prevailed in each of the previous two meetings…the Wildcats posted a 69-65 victory in Ohio last year…the first-ever meeting came during the 1989-90 season when the Wildcats posted a 90-55 victory over the Storm in Amherst. |
| Previous Results |
|
| Nov. 21, 2015 - Daemen 69, LEC 65 |
@ Lake Erie | BOX SCORE | RECAP |
| 1989-90 - Daemen 90, LEC 55 |
@ Daemen |
| |
| THAT'S A FIRST |
| Daemen's 72-68 win at Bridgeport marked the first time since the Wildcats started playing a predominantly NCAA Division II schedule in 2013-14 that they have defeated a team ranked in the D2SIDA East Region poll…Bridgeport entered the game riding a seven-game winning streak and ranked fourth in the region. |
| |
| CLOSE CALLS |
| Daemen's last seven games have been decided by 10 points or less, and three of the last four games have been decided by four points or less…the Wildcats are just 1-6 in games decided by 10 points or less this year. |
| |
| DID YOU KNOW? |
| Seniors Natalie Galus and Leah McDonell have been a constants in the starting lineup since their freshman season…Galus has started 86 of a possible 91 games over the past four seasons and has totaled 844 points, 583 rebounds and 166 blocks over her career…she ranks fifth among Daemen's all-time leaders in career blocks…McDonell has started all 91 games and has racked up 789 points, 421 rebounds, 219 assists and 84 steals…she established career-highs for points (248), assists (69) and steals (34) in a season last year. |
| |
| SABA SELECTED |
| Sarah Saba was named the East Coast Conference Player of the Week for games held December 12-19…she averaged 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists over two games, including a career-high 28 points in a one-point loss to New York Institute of Technology…she scored 17 points in a loss to Saint Anselm and in the process registered her 1,000th career point—making her the 23rd player in program history to reach the 1,000 point plateau…last year she became the first-ever women's basketball player from Daemen to earn first-team All-ECC honors…Saba closed out the 2015-16 season as Daemen's leader in points (432), rebounds (165), blocks (44) and steals (36), and became the first player since former great Sarah Soroka in 2010-11 to lead the team in points, rebounding, blocks and steals…Saba has played in all 65 games over the past three seasons (61 as a starter) and has totaled 1,007 points (15.5 ppg) and 445 rebounds (6.8 rpg)…she has scored in double figures in 56 of her 65 career games. |
| |
| ON THE HORIZON |
| The Wildcats close out their six-game home stand by hosting Mercy College (Jan. 2) and Saint Thomas Aquinas College (Jan. 4) next week. |
