| THE LEAD |
| The Daemen College women's basketball team begins the final month of the regular-season by hosting the University of Bridgeport in an East Coast Conference game Thursday (Feb. 2)…the Wildcats posted a 72-68 win at Bridgeport last month and will be looking for their third-straight win over the Purple Knights…both teams are in contention for one of six spots in the upcoming ECC Championship Tournament…a look at the ECC standings shows eight teams with at least five league wins. |
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| GAME INFORMATION & LINKS |
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Date:Â Thursday, Feb. 2
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Time:Â 6 p.m.
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Location:
Lumsden Gymnasium
Amherst, N.Y. |
| Daemen Roster |
Bridgeport Roster |
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| Daemen Schedule |
Bridgeport Schedule |
ECC Website | ECC Standings |
| Daemen Stats |
Bridgeport Stats |
D2 East Hoops Website |
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| Â Â LIVE STATS |
   LIVE VIDEO |
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| SOCIAL MEDIA |
| Daemen Twitter:Â |
@DaemenAthletics, @DaemenWBB |
| Daemen Hashtags:Â |
#DCWildcatNation, #WNYsD2Team, #LiveBreatheDaemen, #beFIERCE |
| Bridgeport Twitter: |
@PKnights |
| 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 (9-11, 6-6 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…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…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 fold…Daemen opened the year with wins over Felician (65-54) and Nyack (76-54), before dropping eight of the next nine contests, three of which were decided by two points or less…the Wildcats' lone win in that span came at regionally-ranked Bridgeport on Dec. 10 (72-68)…Daemen is 6-3 since Dec. 31 with five of the six wins coming on home court…the Wildcats enter Wednesday's game riding a four-game winning streak, having posted ECC wins over Roberts Wesleyan (88-80), District of Columbia (85-56), LIU Post (96-84) and Mercy (64-59)…the 29-point defeat of UDC was Daemen's largest margin of victory ever in an ECC contest...Saba and McDonell and have paced the Wildcats thus far…Saba has scored in double figures in 17 of 20 games this season and leads the team in scoring (16.1 ppg), rebounding (7.5 rpg) and blocks (31)…she turned in an outstanding all-around effort in the win over LIU Post last week, as she equaled her career-high for points (28) and also added seven rebounds, five assists, seven blocks and five steals…McDonell has scored in double figures in 16 of 18 games and registered 18 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and five steals in the win over Mercy this past weekend…she ranks second on the team in both scoring average (15.5 ppg) and assists (43) leads the team in steals (46)…Jordan Heinold has started 17 games and is averaging 8.5 points and 5.3 rebounds with a team-high 36 three-pointers…Galus (7.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 31 blks) scored a season-high 15 points in the win over LIU Post…Pringle (6.4 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 on Jan. 2…Egan (13), Miles (11), and Pawlak (10) all contributed double-figure scores in the win over UDC…Egan canned 6-of-8 field goal attempts for a career-high 13 points. |
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| BRIDGEPORTÂ SCOUTINGÂ REPORT (11-9, 5-5 ECC) |
| Bridgeport returns nine players and four starters from last year's team that finished 10-18 overall and 8-12 in the ECC…UB was voted fifth in the 2016-17 ECC preseason poll…UB was ranked regionally earlier this year after winning seven of its first eight games, but is just 4-8 over its last 12…the Purple Knights had a three-game winning streak snapped following a 70-52 loss to New York Tech this past weekend…junior guard Aurelie Leblanc-Florent and senior transfer Camera Miley have paced the Purple Knights thus far…Leblanc-Florent ranks third among ECC players in three-pointers made (58) and is averaging 12.2 points…she drilled five three-pointers and totaled 21 points in a recent loss to nationally-ranked Queens…Miley, who played the last three seasons at the University at Buffalo, totaled a season-high 30 points in a recent loss to nationally-ranked Adelphi and leads the team in scoring (12. ppg), assists (3.9 apg) and steals (40)…additional production has come from senior forward Evelyn Over (8.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg) and transfers Samnell Vonleh (8.5 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 70 blks) and Aaliyah Mercer (9.6 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.9 apg)…the 6-foot-5 Vonleh played at Saint Anselm College last year and was named to the Northeast-10 Conference All-Rookie team…Mercer helped Shaw University to the NCAA Division II Tournament last year. |
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| THE HISTORY vs. BRIDGEPORT |
| All-Time: Daemen leads 5-2 |
| Streak:Â Won 2 |
| Previous Meetings: CLICK HERE |
| Last Meeting: Daemen 72, Bridgeport 68 | Dec. 10, 2016 | Bridgeport, Conn. |
| Last Meeting Highlights: Daemen survived a crazy final minute of play and escaped with a 72-68 win over Bridgeport in Connecticut on Dec. 10…Leah McDonell played all 40 minutes for the Wildcats and totaled 22 points, five rebounds, six assists and four steals…Aurelie Leblanc-Florent led the Purple Knights with 18 points…Daemen appeared to be in control after Sarah Saba gave the Wildcats a 70-61 lead with 1:49 left to play, but Bridgeport scored seven-straight points in the span of just 20 seconds to cut the lead to two…Bridgeport had two chances to tie or take the lead in the final minute, but came up empty each time…McDonell was fouled with 11 seconds left and drained both free throws to secure the win for the Wildcats. |
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| THAT'SÂ A FIRST |
| Daemen's 72-68 win at Bridgeport earlier this year 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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| HOME COOKING |
| After losing their first three homes games by a total of 10 points, the Wildcats have won five of their last six games in the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium…Daemen is undefeated (3-0) against Bridgeport at home since beginning ECC play in 2013-14. |
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| GETTING OFFENSIVE |
| Daemen has averaged 83.2 points over the past four games and scored over 90 points in a game for the first time since the 2014-15 season during the 96-84 win over LIU Post last week…Daemen is shooting 46-percent (118-257) from the field overall and 42-percent (40-96) from three-point land over the past four games…the Wildcats made a season-high 12 three-pointers in the win over Roberts Wesleyan two weeks ago. |
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| THREE'S A CHARM |
| Daemen ranks second among ECC teams in three-pointers made (146), three-pointers attempted (440) and three-point field goal percentage (.332)…six different players on the team have made at least 10 three-pointers this season. |
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| SENIOR STALWARTS |
| Seniors Natalie Galus and Leah McDonell have been steady contributors since their freshman season…Galus has played in 100 of a possible 101 games (87 starts) over the past four seasons and has totaled 923 points, 617 rebounds and 190 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 99 of a possible 101 games and has racked up 901 points, 464 rebounds, 234 assists and 105 steals. |
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| SABA JOINS 1,000-POINT CLUB |
| Sarah Saba scored 17 points in a loss to Saint Anselm on Dec. 19 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 was named the East Coast Conference Player of the Week for games held December 12-19 after averaging 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists over two games…Saba has played in all 75 games over the past three seasons (71 as a starter) and has totaled 1,165 points (15.5 ppg), 524 rebounds (7.0 rpg), 112 blocks and 102 steals…she has scored in double figures in 64 of her 75 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 17 games and is averaging 25.8 minutes, 8.5 points and 5.3 rebounds with a team-high 36 three-pointers…she had four three-pointers and equaled her season-high for points (21) in the win over LIU Post last Wednesday…Pringle has started 15 games and is averaging 27.8 minutes, 6.4 points and a team-high 2.8 assists…she totaled 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals in a 79-66 win over Mercy…Jones has played in all 20 games (5 starts) and is averaging 15.9 minutes and 5.2 points with 19 three-pointers…she contributed three three-pointers and 11 points in just 14 minutes off the bench in the win at Mercy this past weekend. |
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| ON THE HORIZONÂ |
| The Wildcats are off this weekend and return to action next Wednesday (Feb. 8) when they travel to Long Island to face New York Institute of Technology in a league game…a last-second three-pointer lifted the Bears to a 64-63 win over Daemen earlier this year at Lumsden Gym. |
