| THE LEAD |
| The Daemen College women's basketball team returns to East Coast Conference play by hosting Mercy College (Jan. 2) and Saint Thomas Aquinas College (Jan. 4). |
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| GAME INFORMATION & LINKS |
 VS  |
Date: Monday, Jan. 1
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Time: 5 p.m.
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Location:
Lumsden Gymnasium
Amherst, N.Y. |
| Daemen Roster |
Mercy Roster |
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| Daemen Schedule |
Mercy Schedule |
ECC Website |
| Daemen Stats |
Mercy Stats |
D2 East Hoops Website |
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| LIVE STATS |
LIVE VIDEO |
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VS  |
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 4
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Time: 5 p.m.
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Location:
Lumsden Gymnasium
Amherst, N.Y. |
| Daemen Roster |
STAC Roster |
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| Daemen Schedule |
STAC Schedule |
ECC Website |
| Daemen Stats |
STAC Stats |
D2 East Hoops Website |
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| LIVE STATS |
LIVE VIDEO |
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| SOCIAL MEDIA |
| Daemen Twitter: |
@DaemenAthletics, @DaemenWBB |
| Daemen Hashtags: |
#DCWildcatNation, #WNYsD2Team, #LiveBreatheDaemen, #beFIERCE |
| Mercy Twitter: |
@MercyMavericks |
| St. Thomas Aquinas Twitter: |
@STACSpartans |
| ECC Twitter: |
@ECCSports |
| D2 East Hoops Twitter: |
@D2EastHoops |
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| 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. |
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| DAEMEN SCOUTING REPORT (4-8, 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…the Wildcats snapped the skid following a 72-68 win at regionally-ranked Bridgeport on Dec. 10, and are coming off a 59-58 loss to Saint Michael's and a 73-59 win over Lake Erie this past weekend…Saba (16.2 ppg) and McDonell (15.7 ppg) and have paced the Wildcats thus far…Saba scored a career-high 28 points in a loss to NYIT and is averaging a team-high 6.8 rebounds…McDonell equaled her career-high for points (23) in a loss to Saint Anselm and netted 22 points in the win over Bridgeport…she leads the team in assists (2.7 apg) and steals (30)…Jordan Heinold has started 10 games and is averaging 9.5 points and 5.3 rebounds with a team-high 26 three-pointers…she drilled five three-pointers and scored 21 points in a loss to UDC and also drained five triples and scored 18 points in the win over Lake Erie…she has made at least one triple in all 12 games…Galus (7.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg) totaled 13 points in the loss to Saint Michael's, while Pringle (5.7 ppg) stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals against Nyack. |
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| MERCY SCOUTING REPORT (1-10, 0-4 ECC) |
| Mercy returns seven players and four starters from last year's team that finished 6-22 overall and 3-17 in the ECC…Mercy was voted 10th in the 2016-17 ECC preseason poll…first-year head coach Jim Harter must overcome the graduation of forward Deasia Goodson who led the team in scoring (13.1 ppg), rebounding (11.3 rpg) and blocks (76) last year and earned third-team All-ECC honors…the Mavericks have lost six-straight games and are coming off a 66-56 loss to Felician on Friday…sophomore transfer Destinee Hall and junior forward Monet Keane-Dawes have paced a balanced attack thus far…Hall, who averaged 17.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.8 steals at Division III Keystone College last year, scored 19 points in a recent 78-64 loss to LIU Post and leads the team in scoring (10.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.0 rpg)…Keane-Dawes registered a double-double (16 pts, 12 rebs) in a 65-60 win over Mansfield and is averaging 8.5 points and 6.8 boards…junior Latisha Clark (7.1 ppg) and freshman Caralie Wilson (6.6 ppg, 20 3pt fgs) have also produced…Wilson made seven three-pointers and totaled 22 points in a 98-63 loss to Bridgeport. |
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| THE HISTORY vs. MERCY |
| All-Time: Daemen leads 4-2. |
| Streak: Won 1 |
| Previous Meetings: CLICK HERE |
| Last Meeting: Daemen 75, Mercy 67 | Feb. 13, 2016 | Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. |
| Last Meeting Highlights: The Wildcats won their fourth-straight game, as Sarah Saba led a trio of double-figure scorers with 21 points. Saba also totaled seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Leah McDonell added 17 points, while Somara Colon registered a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Deasia Goodson paced the Mavericks with 23 points and 16 boards. |
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| ST. THOMAS AQUINAS SCOUTING REPORT (11-3, 5-1 ECC) |
| St. Thomas Aquinas returns 10 players and three starters from last year's team that finished 18-11 overall (11-9 in the ECC) and earned a bid to the ECC Tournament…STAC was voted fourth in the 2016-17 ECC preseason poll…the Spartans are ranked sixth in the most recent D2SIDA East Region poll…STAC has won four-straight games and is coming off wins over Pace (62-48) and Nyack (92-49) this past weekend…the Spartans feature one of the top defenses in the region and rank first among all ECC teams in scoring defense (57.3 papg)…junior guard Jenna Erickson, the ECC Rookie of the Year two years ago and a second-team All-ECC pick last year, tops the list of returning players…he drilled five three-pointers and scored a season-high 27 points in the win over Pace…she is averaging a team-high 14.8 points and ranks second in the ECC in three-pointers made (42)…junior forward Adiya Henderson scored 15 points in a recent win over District of Columbia and is averaging 11.4 points and a team-high 8.4 rebounds…junior guard Alex Bertolini (7.6 ppg), senior forward Kaitlyn McCue (7.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and senior guard Samantha Burden (7.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 25 stls) have also produced. |
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| THE HISTORY vs. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS |
| All-Time: STAC leads 5-2 |
| Streak: Won 1 |
| Previous Meetings: CLICK HERE |
| Last Meeting: Daemen 79, STAC 73 OT | Feb. 11, 2016 | Sparkill, N.Y. |
| Last Meeting Highlights: Leah McDonell scored 19 points and Raeann Stilwell added 14 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and six assists to lead Daemen. Ruth Adams totaled 28 points and eight rebounds for STAC. |
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| 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. |
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| CLOSE CALLS |
| Eight of Daemen's last nine games have been decided by 10 points or less, and four of the last six games have been decided by four points or less…the Wildcats are just 1-7 in games decided by 10 points or less this year. |
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| 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 93 games over the past four seasons and has totaled 865 points, 588 rebounds and 169 blocks over her career…she ranks fifth among Daemen's all-time leaders in career blocks…McDonell has started all 93 games and has racked up 810 points, 433 rebounds, 223 assists and 89 steals…she established career-highs for points (248), assists (69) and steals (34) in a season last year. |
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| 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 67 games over the past three seasons (63 as a starter) and has totaled 1,037 points (15.5 ppg) and 457 rebounds (6.8 rpg)…she has scored in double figures in 58 of her 67 career games. |
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| ON THE HORIZON |
| The Wildcats are idle until Wednesday, Jan. 11 when they travel to regionally-ranked Queens College for a league game. |
