| THE LEAD |
| The Daemen College women's basketball begins the second half of its East Coast Conference schedule by hosting the University of the District of Columbia on Saturday. |
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| GAME INFORMATION & LINKS |
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Date:Â Saturday, Jan. 21
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Time:Â 1 p.m.
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Location:
Lumsden Gymnasium
Amherst, N.Y. |
| Daemen Roster |
UDCÂ Roster |
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| Daemen Schedule |
UDCÂ Schedule |
ECC Website | ECC Standings |
| Daemen Stats |
UDCÂ Stats |
D2 East Hoops Website |
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| Â Â Â LIVEÂ STATS |
   LIVE VIDEO |
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| SOCIAL MEDIA |
| Daemen Twitter:Â |
@DaemenAthletics, @DaemenWBB |
| Daemen Hashtags:Â |
#DCWildcatNation, #WNYsD2Team, #LiveBreatheDaemen, #beFIERCE |
| UDCÂ Twitter:Â |
@UDCAthletics |
| 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 (6-11, 3-6 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…Jordan Heinold joins her sister Taylor following an outstanding career at Immaculata Academy…guards Carina Pringle, Alexis Perdue and Sydney Jones also join the mix…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…Daemen is 3-6 since the win over Bridgeport…the Wildcats snapped a three-game losing streak following an 88-80 win over rival Roberts Wesleyan this past Wednesday…Saba and McDonell and have paced the Wildcats thus far…Saba has scored in double figures in 15 of 17 games this season and leads the team in scoring (16.1 ppg), and rebounding (7.2 rpg)…she equaled her career-high with 28 points in the win over RWC…McDonell equaled her career-high for points (23) in a loss to Saint Anselm and netted 22 points in the win over Bridgeport…she ranks second on the team in both scoring average (15.4 ppg) and assists (31) leads the team in steals (37)…Jordan Heinold has started 14 games and is averaging 8.1 points and 5.4 rebounds with a team-high 30 three-pointers…Galus (7.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 23 blks) totaled 13 points and five blocks in a loss to St. Thomas Aquinas…Pringle (6.9 ppg) scored 12 points in the win over RWC and leads the team in assists (2.8 apg)…DeWaters (18) and Jones (15) both established career-highs for points during a win over Mercy. |
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| DISTRICT OF COLUMBIAÂ SCOUTING REPORT (2-17, 1-8 ECC) |
| District of Columbia returns just four players and no starters from last year's team that finished 21-9 (15-5 ECC) and advanced to the semifinals of the ECC Tournament…UDC named former University of Maryland standout and NBA veteran Juan Dixon as head women's basketball coach prior to the season…all-conference selections Taj Baldwin-Kollore and Iman Scott were lost to graduation…UDC was voted eighth in the 2016-17 ECC preseason poll…the Firebirds dropped their first four games of the season before posting a 65-63 win over Lincoln (Pa.) on Nov. 22…the Firebirds opened ECC play with a 56-54 win over Daemen on Dec. 3, but have lost 11-straight games since then…senior guard Shantrel Oliver and freshman guard Bianca White have paced the Firebirds thus far…Oliver had five three-pointers and scored a conference-best 36 points in a recent 84-83 OT loss to LIU Post…she is averaging 12.3 points and 2.5 assists with 23 three-pointers…White had 14 points and eight rebounds in a 66-50 loss to Mercy last weekend and is averaging 9.1 points with a team-high 34 three-pointers and 23 steals…additional production has come from junior guard junior guard Kaiya Coleman (7.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg) and freshman guard Bailee White (4.9 ppg)…White scored 21 points in a 76-56 loss to Bridgeport the other night. |
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| THE HISTORY vs. UDC |
| All-Time:Â UDCÂ leads 7-0 |
| Streak:Â Lost 7 |
| Previous Meetings: CLICK HERE |
| Last Meeting: UDC 56, Daemen 54 | Dec. 3, 2016 | Washington, D.C. |
| Last Meeting Highlights: Shantrel Oliver scored 17 points to lead UDC to a 56-54 victory over Daemen in Wasgington, D.C…the win remains the lone league win over the Firebirds this season…Daemen, which held a 35-25 lead midway through the third quarter, was led by freshman Jordan Heinold who drilled five three-pointers and scored a season-high 21 points…UDC forced 23 Daemen turnovers and the hosts converted the miscues into 18 points. |
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| CLOSE CALLS |
| 11Â of Daemen's last 14 games have been decided by 10 points or less...the Wildcats are just 2-9 in games decided by 10 points or less this year. |
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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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| SENIOR STALWARTS |
| Seniors Natalie Galus and Leah McDonell have been steady contributors since their freshman season…Galus has started 87 of a possible 98 games over the past four seasons and has totaled 900 points, 606 rebounds and 182 blocks over her career…she ranks fifth among Daemen's all-time leaders in career blocks…McDonell had started 93-straight games before sitting out two games due to injury…she has started 96 of a possible 98 games and has racked up 850 points, 445 rebounds, 228 assists and 96 steals. |
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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 72 games over the past three seasons (68 as a starter) and has totaled 1,117 points (15.5 ppg) and 497 rebounds (6.9 rpg)…she has scored in double figures in 62 of her 72 career games. |
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| HEY ROOKIE |
| Freshmen Jordan Heinold, Carina Pringle and Sydney Jones have played significant minutes this season…Heinold has started 14 games and is averaging 25.7 minutes, 8.1 points and 5.4 rebounds with a team-high 30 three-pointers…she drilled five triples and scored 18 points in the recent win over Lake Erie…Pringle has started 12 games and is averaging 28.9 minutes, 6.9 points and a team-high 2.8 assists…she totaled 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals in a win over Mercy…Jones has played in all 17 games (5 starts) and is averaging 16.2 minutes and 4.9 points with 15 three-pointers…she played a season-high 32 minutes in the win over Mercy and scored a season-high 15 points. |
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| ON THE HORIZON |
| The Wildcats close out their three-game home stand on Wednesday (Jan. 25) when they host Long Island University Post in an ECC game…the Pioneers posted a 69-59 win over the Wildcats earlier this year on Long Island. |
