| THE LEAD |
| The Daemen College women's basketball team closes out the 2016-17 regular-season when it travels to long-time rival Roberts Wesleyan College Saturday (Feb. 25) for an East Coast Conference game…RWC has already clinched a berth in the upcoming ECC Championship Tournament…Daemen enters the weekend in seventh place in the ECC standings, a game behind New York Tech and the University of Bridgeport…the top six teams advance to the ECC Championship. |
| Â Â Â Â |
| PLAYOFF PICTURE |
| Daemen can still advance to the ECC Championship Tournament if the following happens Saturday…Daemen needs to defeat Roberts Wesleyan and the University of the District of Columbia needs to defeat Bridgeport…if Daemen and Bridgeport end up tied for sixth in the final standings, Daemen would earn the bid because the Wildcats defeated the Purple Knights twice during the regular season…a loss on Saturday eliminates Daemen from the ECC Tournament. |
| Â Â Â Â |
| GAME INFORMATION & LINKS |
 Â Â Â VS Â Â  Â |
Date:Â Saturday, Feb. 25
 |
Time:Â 2 p.m.
 |
Location:
Voller Athletic Center
Rochester, N.Y. |
| Daemen Roster |
Roberts Wesleyan Roster |
|
| Daemen Schedule |
Roberts Wesleyan Schedule |
ECC Website | ECC Standings |
| Daemen Stats |
Roberts Wesleyan Stats |
D2 East Hoops Website |
| Â Â Â Â |
|
|
| Â Â LIVE STATS |
   LIVE VIDEO |
|
| Â Â Â Â |
| SOCIAL MEDIA |
| Daemen Twitter:Â |
@DaemenAthletics, @DaemenWBB |
| Daemen Hashtags:Â |
#DCWildcatNation, #WNYsD2Team, #LiveBreatheDaemen, #beFIERCE |
| Roberts Wesleyan Twitter: |
@RWCREDHAWKS |
| ECC Twitter: |
@ECCSports |
| D2 East Hoops Twitter: |
@D2EastHoops |
| Â Â Â Â |
| 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. |
| Â Â Â Â |
| DAEMEN SCOUTING REPORT (11-14, 8-9 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…Daemen is 8-6 since Dec. 31 with seven of the eight wins coming on home court…the Wildcats posted a five-game winning streak last month that included wins over Roberts Wesleyan (88-80), District of Columbia (85-56), LIU Post (96-84), Mercy (64-59) and Bridgeport (83-79)…the five-game winning streak was the longest since Daemen joined the ECC in 2013-14…Daemen snapped a two-game losing streak following a 70-50 win over regionally-ranked Molloy last weekend, and is coming off an 84-66 loss to nationally-ranked Queens…Saba and McDonell have paced the Wildcats all season…Saba has scored in double figures in 20 of 25 games and is averaging 15.9 points…she leads the team in rebounding (7.1 rpg) and ranks second in steals (32) and blocks (37)…McDonell has scored in double figures in 12-straight games and 21 of 23 games overall…she registered a career-high 30 points in a loss to NYIT two weeks ago…she is also averaging 15.9 points and leads the team in steals (60) while ranking second in assists (62)…Jordan Heinold has started 20 games and is averaging 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds with a team-high 42 three-pointers…Galus (7.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 38 blks) scored a season-high 15 points in the win over LIU Post…Pringle (6.2 ppg) scored 12 points in the win over RWC and leads the team in assists (64)…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. |
| Â Â Â Â |
| ROBERTS WESLEYANÂ SCOUTINGÂ REPORT (16-11, 10-7 ECC) |
| Roberts Wesleyan returns eight players and four starters from last year's team that finished 29-7 overall (14-6 ECC) and advanced to the championship game of the ECC Tournament…RWC was voted third in the 2016-17 ECC preseason poll…the Redhawks are 5-2 over their last seven games and had a three-game winning streak snapped following a 79-73 loss at Bridgeport this past Monday…the Redhawks lead the ECC in points per game (77.3), three-pointers made per game (9.7) and three-point field goal percentage (.354)…juniors Brooke Fields and Lucy Covley top the list of returning players…Fields averaged 15.6 points with 65 three-pointers last year, while Covley drilled a league-high 97 three-pointers and averaged 9.8 points…Fields scored 33 points in a recent 92-89 win over Bridgeport and is averaging a team-high 16.0 points with 44 three-pointers…Covley leads the league in three-pointers made (87) and is averaging 10.6 points…freshmen Emily Miller and Taya Andrews have both started all 27 games…Miller scored 21 points in a recent 80-75 win over STAC and is averaging 13.2 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds…she also leads the team in steals (41) and blocks (39)…Andrews has drilled 50 three-pointers and is averaging 14.2 points and 5.6 rebounds…additional production has come from freshman Sara Nady (6.7 ppg, 30 3pt fgs) and junior Nacedah James (7.9 ppg, 3.6 apg, 35 stls). |
| Â Â Â Â |
| THE HISTORY vs. ROBERTS WESLEYAN |
| All-Time: Daemen leads 33-20 |
| Streak:Â Won 1 |
| Previous Meetings: CLICK HERE |
| Last Meeting: Daemen 88, Roberts Wesleyan 80 | Jan. 18, 2017 | Amherst, N.Y. |
| Last Meeting Highlights: Five players scored in double figures to lead Daemen to an 88-80 victory over Roberts Wesleyan last month…Sarah Saba paced the balanced attack, as she tied her career-high for points (28) and also grabbed six rebounds…Leah McDonell added 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists and three steals…four players scored in double figures for RWC…freshman Taya Andrews drilled five thee-pointers and totaled 23 points, while fellow rookie Emily Miller posted a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds. |
| Â Â Â Â |
| 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 defeated a regionally-ranked team…Bridgeport entered the game riding a seven-game winning streak and ranked fourth in the East region…the 70-50 win over Molloy this past weekend marked Daemen's second victory over a regionally-ranked opponent…Molloy entered the game ranked fifth in the East region. |
| Â Â Â Â |
| THREE'S A CHARM |
| Daemen ranks second among ECC teams in three-pointers made per game (7.2) and three-point field goal percentage (.326)…eight different players on the team have made at least 10 three-pointers this season…RWC leads the ECC in three-pointers made per game (9.7) and three-point field goal percentage (.354). |
| Â Â Â Â |
| CAREER YEAR |
| Senior Leah McDonell is enjoying the most productive season of her four-year career…she has established career-highs for points, three-pointers made, three-point field goal percentage, free throws made, free throws attempted, rebounds per game and total steals…she ranks fifth among the ECC leaders in both scoring average (15.9) and field goal percentage (.498) and second in steals per game (2.6)…she had started 93-straight games before sitting out two games due to injury earlier this year…she has started 104 of a possible 106 games over her career and has racked up 987 points, 496 rebounds, 253 assists and 119 steals…she is just 13 points shy of becoming the 24th player in program history to score 1,000 points. |
| Â Â Â Â |
| SENIOR STALWART |
| Senior Natalie Galus has been a steady contributor since her freshman season…Galus has played in 105 of a possible 106 games (88 starts) over the past four seasons and has totaled 960 points, 639 rebounds and 197 blocks over her career…she ranks fifth among Daemen's all-time leaders in career blocks and eighth in career three-point field goals made (143). |
| Â Â Â Â |
| 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 80 games over the past three seasons (76 as a starter) and has totaled 1,240 points (15.5 ppg), 553 rebounds (6.9 rpg), 118 blocks and 103 steals…she has scored in double figures in 67 of her 80 career games and is just the 13th player in program history to score 1,200 points. |
| Â Â Â Â |
| HEY ROOKIE |
| Freshmen Jordan Heinold, Carina Pringle and Sydney Jones have played significant minutes this season…Heinold has started 20 games and is averaging 26.2 minutes, 8.9 points and 5.3 rebounds with a team-high 42 three-pointers…she has scored in double figures in five of the last eight games and had four three-pointers and 21 points in the win over LIU Post…Pringle has started 19 games and is averaging 27.5 minutes, 6.2 points and a team-high 2.7 assists…she totaled 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals in a 79-66 win over Mercy…Jones has played in all 25 games (5 starts) and is averaging 14.5 minutes and 4.8 points with 21 three-pointers…she contributed three three-pointers and 11 points in just 14 minutes off the bench in a 64-59 win at Mercy. |
| Â Â Â Â |
| ON THE HORIZONÂ |
| If the Wildcats earn a berth in the ECC Championship Tournament they will travel to either Molloy College or St. Thomas Aquinas College for a quarterfinal round game Wednesday (Mar. 1). |
