DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. - After trailing for more than 12 minutes in the first half, the Daemen College women's basketball team came to life and ran its winning streak to four-straight with a 75-67 defeat of Mercy College in East Coast Conference action today at Mercy Gymnasium.

Today's win moves Daemen to 8-13 overall and 6-9 in ECC play as the Wildcats continue their ascent up the league standings in hopes of gaining a berth to the ECC Tournament at regular-season's end.  Mercy suffers its sixth-straight defeat to fall to 6-17 overall and 3-12 in the league.

Sophomore guard Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) led a trio of double-figure scorers today for the Wildcats, netting 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go with seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal.  Saba has now reached double figures in 18 of the last 19 games, including 14-straight, and today's outing marked her seventh 20-point game of the season.  She's averaging 20.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game over the course of Daemen's four-game winning streak.

She had a lot of help today as well.  Leah McDonell (North Tonawanda, N.Y./Cardinal O'Hara) hit for 17 points and Somara Colon (Bronx, N.Y./Mott Haven Village Prep) posted her third double-double of the season (15 points, 12 rebounds), and her first since mid-November.  Raeann Stilwell (Cheektowaga, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) scored nine points and matched her career-high with nine assists, which was just established last weekend in the Wildcats' 88-70 win over the University of Bridgeport.  McDonell has now reached double-figure scoring in six of the last seven games.  Colon did the majority of her damage in the first half, totaling 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting.  Stilwell also went 1-for-5 from three-point range today, bringing her career three-point field goal total to 239, just three shy of Daemen's all-time record (242) held by Jessica Ruddell.

The Wildcats also got key contributions off the bench from guards Taylor Heinold (Hamburg, N.Y./Immaculata) and Jesse DeWaters (Lockport, N.Y./Niagara County CC) who combined for 11 points and seven rebounds in the game, while paying dividends in a pivotal third-quarter run.

The Mavericks were led by Deasia Goodson who posted game-highs of 23 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks.  Chi-la Bady and Paxton Reddington split 22 points while knocking down a combined five three-pointers in defeat.

Daemen led 12-10 at the 3:58 mark of the opening quarter following a pair of free throws by Saba.  But, Bady cashed in a three-pointer on the ensuing Mercy possession, igniting what would end up being a 15-0 run as play continued into the second quarter.  Mercy led 18-12 after the first, and used the three-ball to continue the run.  They opened the second quarter with consecutive triples by Casey Sullivan, Bady and Cynthia Perez to lead 25-12 at the 7:52 mark.

Finally, Colon stopped the bleeding for Daemen as she made a layup at the 7:03 mark to end a nearly seven-minute scoreless drought, and a more than 11-minute span between field goals.

Later in the quarter, a fastbreak layup by McDonell and back-to-back buckets by Colon sparked a 14-3 run for the Wildcats, turning a 27-16 deficit into a 30-all tie with 2:39 to go before halftime.  McDonell and Colon accounted for 10 points between them in the spurt which was capped by a Natalie Galus (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier) layup.

After Mercy re-estblished a four-point lead (36-32) with 1:09 to go before halftime on two Goodson freebies, it looked as if the Mavericks would certainly lead at the break, but Stilwell scored quickly thereafter and was fouled on the play.  Her free throw was off the mark, but reserve forward Liz Miles (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) hauled in the offensive rebound and Heinold nailed a three-pointer to make it a five-point possession, giving Daemen its first lead (37-36) since early in the game, a lead which they would take into halftime.

The teams traded the lead twice to open the third quarter but the iron was unkind for Daemen early in the period as they converted just one of their first six field goal attempts.  Then, the flood gates opened.  Saba snapped a 40-40 tie with a jumper at the 5:59 mark, igniting the pivotal run in the ballgame, a 14-2 spurt which would include 12-straight points for the Wildcats. McDonell and Heinold hit back-to-back threes in the spurt, the latter giving Daemen its first double-figure lead of the game (52-42).  Stilwell would add a pull-up jumper on the baseline at the 2:09 mark before Goodson's jumper on the other end snapped a three-minute scoreless drought for the hosts.  

DeWaters came off the bench to hit a three-pointer and a layup in the final 37 seconds of the period, giving Daemen a comfortable 14-point cushion (60-46) heading into the fourth.  All told, Daemen outscored Mercy 20-6 over the final six minutes of the period, shooting 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-3 from three-point range.

Mercy opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run, getting five of those points from Goodson, to cut the deficit to eight (62-54) with 7:16 to play.  But, the Wildcats scored the next five points on a Stilwell triple and a Saba layup to push back to a 13-point lead with 5:22 left.  From there, Mercy was never able to get within eight points as Daemen closed out the victory.

The win today moves Daemen to 4-2 in the all-time series with Mercy, avenging a hard-luck 70-69 loss to the Mavericks at Lumsden Gymnasium last month.  It's also got the Wildcats now firmly in the hunt for an ECC Tournament berth which will go to the top six teams in the final regular season standings.  Daemen, which was mired in 10th place just a week ago, could find themselves alone in sixth by day's end, depending on other scores fro around the league this afternoon.

The current four-game winning streak is Daemen's longest since closing last season with three-straight wins in the team's final appearance ever at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Division I National Championships to win the title.  It's the first time that Daemen has won four-straight games since closing the 2012-13 season with six-straight wins, that season also concluding with a USCAA national title.

Daemen will return to action on Tuesday, February 16 when they renew the Thruway Rivalry by hosting Roberts Wesleyan College in a key ECC contest.  The Redhawks scored a tight 73-69 win in Rochester last month.  Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. at Lumsden Gymnasium.