GAME INFORMATION
Game No. 25 (Presented by WNY Imaging Systems)
Daemen Wildcats (10-14, 7-7 ECC) vs. Molloy Lions (8-16, 3-11 ECC)
Friday, Feb. 16 | 6 p.m.
Amherst, N.Y. | Lumsden Gymnasium

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Live Stats
Watch Live on ECC Network
Game Day

Game No. 26 (Presented by UNYTS)
Daemen Wildcats (10-14, 7-7 ECC) vs. Queens Knights (10-12, 6-8 ECC)
Sunday, Feb. 18 | 1 p.m.
Amherst, N.Y. | Lumsden Gymnasium

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Live Stats
Watch Live on ECC Network
Game Day

THE LEAD
The Daemen College women's basketball team closes out its 2017-18 home schedule this weekend by hosting Molloy College (Feb. 16) and Queens College (Feb. 18) in East Coast Conference games. Daemen has won five of its last eight games and enters the weekend in fifth place in the ECC standings with four games remaining in the regular-season.

POST-SEASON PICTURE
The top six teams in the final regular-season standings earn a bid to the upcoming ECC Championship Tournament. The top two seeds earn a bye into the semifinals. Seeds three and four will host quarterfinal round games on Feb. 28. The tournament semifinals and championship will be hosted by Roberts Wesleyan College on March 3 and 4. If Daemen wins both games this weekend it would clinch one of the six spots. Daemen is looking to make its first-ever appearance in the ECC Tournament since joining the league in 2013-14.

SALUTE TO THE SENIORS
Seniors Taylor Heinold, Liz Miles and Sarah Saba will be honored in a pregame ceremony Sunday afternoon in recognition of their dedication and commitment to the Daemen women's basketball program.

BANKER'S BACK
Jenepher Banker enters her second season as head women's basketball coach at Daemen after leading the Wildcats to an 11-15 overall record (8-10 ECC) last year. Banker arrived at 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.

DAEMEN QUICK FACTS
Daemen returns three starters and six players from last year's team that posted an 11-15 overall record and an 8-10 mark in the East Coast Conference. The Wildcats were voted eighth in the 2017-18 ECC preseason poll. Key losses include guard Leah McDonell and forward Natalie Galus. McDonell collected second-team All-ECC honors last year after ranking 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 started 105 of a possible 107 games over her career and has racked up 1,005 points, 511 rebounds, 258 assists and 150 steals. Galus was a steady contributor over her four-year career and totaled 965 points, 646 rebounds and 198 blocks. She ranks fifth among Daemen's all-time leaders in career blocks and eighth in career three-point field goals made (144). Daemen opened the 2017-18 schedule with two-straight wins, before struggling through a seven-game losing streak. The Wildcats have won five of their last eight games and are 8-7 since ending the seven-game losing streak. Daemen lost to regionally-ranked Roberts Wesleyan College (76-62).

SUPERIOR SENIOR
Senior 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 as a sophomore and repeated the honor last year after averaging 15.9 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds. She closed out her sophomore 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. She has scored in double figures in the last 23 games this season—the longest streak of double-digit scoring for her career—and leads the ECC in scoring average (17.8 ppg.). She also leads the team in rebounds per game (6.9) and steals (40) and ranks second in blocks (31) and assists (62). She scored a career-high 30 points in a loss to nationally-ranked Virginia Union and was named ECC Player of the Week on Jan. 2 following her efforts against St. Anselm and St. Michael's. Saba's accomplishments were featured in her hometown newspaper The Lancaster Bee and during a feature on WKBW-TV.

CLOSING IN ON 1,700
Sarah Saba scored her 1,500th career point during the triple overtime loss to Roberts Wesleyan last month and enters Friday's game 17 points shy of becoming the sixth player in program history to reach 1,700 points. She has played in all 105 games over the past four seasons (101 as a starter) and has totaled 1,683 points (16.0 ppg), 733 rebounds (7.0 rpg), 222 assist, 150 blocks and 143 steals. She ranks sixth in career points, 10th in career rebounds and sixth in career blocks among Daemen's all-time leaders. She has scored in double figures in 91 of her 105 career games and has registered 22 career double-doubles.

SELECT COMPANY
With her 30-point performance against Virginia Union, Sarah Saba became just the fifth Daemen women's basketball player since the 2010-11 season to score 30 or more points in a game. Only Leah McDonell (2016-17), Raeann Stillell (2013-14), Ellie Allen (2011-12) and Sarah Soroka (2010-11) have reached the 30-point milestone over that span. Saba has also scored 400 or more points in each of her four seasons—making her just the second player in program history to do so. Amy King (1995-99) was previously the only player to score 400 or more points in four-straight seasons.

MORE EXPERIENCE
Senior Liz Miles and junior Erin Egan also return to the line up. Miles is in her fourth season with the team and has played in 85 of a possible 105 games over her career. She has been limited to just seven games this season. She made her 2017-18 debut against Le Moyne on Nov. 25 and totaled four rebounds in 17 minutes. Egan played in 20 of 26 games last year and has is averaging over 17 minutes a game off the bench this season. She scored a career-high 18 points in win over UDC on Feb. 4 and is averaging 5.8 points and 4.7 rebounds. She presently ranks fourth among the ECC leaders in both total blocks (34) and fifth in blocks per game (1.4).

SEASONED SOPHOMORES
Sophomores Jordan Heinold, Carina Pringle and Sydney Jones all played significant minutes as rookies last season. Heinold started 21 games last year and averaged 26.2 minutes, 9.0 points and 5.2 rebounds with a team-high 44 three-pointers. She started seven of the first 13 games this season before suffering a season-ending injury. She made a career-high six three-pointers and scored 20 points in a loss to Le Moyne on Nov. 25 and registered her first career double-double (15 pts / 10 rebs) in a loss to Gannon three days later. She was averaging 8.0 points and 4.4 rebounds with 27 three-pointers prior to the injury. Pringle started 20 games and averaged 27.8 minutes, 6.3 points and 2.6 assists last year. She played 38 minutes and totaled a career-high 16 points in a win over St. Michael's and ranks fifth among the ECC leaders in assists per game (3.5). She has totaled 42 assists and just 12 turnovers over the last nine games and leads the ECC in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.4). Jones played in all 26 games (5 starts) last year and averaged 14.2 minutes and 4.7 points with 22 three-pointers. She has played in all 24 games this year (8 starts) and is averaging 6.1 points with a team-high 37 three-pointers (11th in the ECC). She drilled five three-pointers and scored 17 points a recent win over Mercy.

BACK FROM INJURY
Redshirt senior Taylor Heinold and redshirt freshman Tiara Filbert will look to contribute after missing the entire 2016-17 season due to injury. Heinold started all 26 games as a freshman in 2013-14 and averaged 9.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. She played in all 26 games two years ago (2015-16) after injuries limited her to just four games as a sophomore (2014-15). She has played in 20 games this season and totaled eight points in a recent win over UDC. Filbert missed her freshman season after suffering a pre-season knee injury. She was a first-team Class A all-state and Greater Rochester girls basketball Player of the Year selection following her senior year at Batavia High School. She has scored in double figures nine times and ranks second on the team in points per game (8.5). She scored a career-high 19 points in a loss to Bridgeport on Dec. 17 and registered her first career double-double (19 pts, 10 rebs) in the triple overtime loss to Roberts Wesleyan on Jan. 6.

THE NEWCOMERS
The 2017-18 roster features six newcomers—four freshmen and two transfers. Junior Erin Sinnott joins the Wildcats after playing the last two seasons at Division 1 University of Evansville. Sophomore Sarah Young, a former standout at Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart, was a member of the women's basketball team at St. Bonaventure University last year. Freshman guard Khamera Muhammad and freshman forward Caroline White both enjoyed outstanding high school careers in the Rochester area. Muhammad was a first-team All-Greater Rochester selection following her senior season at Rochester Early College. White played at Airport High School and was a first-team All-Greater Rochester selection as a junior and senior. Freshmen Autumn Buchsenschutz and Taylor Perry will provide depth at guard. Buchsenschutz was a three-time all-district selection at Port Allegany High School. Perry was a three-time all-conference pick at Ogdensburg Free Academy. Sinnott started the first eight games before suffering a season-ending injury. She registered a double-double (12 pts, 13 rebs) a win over Nyack and was averaging 7.0 points and 4.4 rebounds before the injury. Young has started all 24 games and contributed a career-high 16 points and nine rebounds in a recent win over Mercy. She is averaging 6.7 points and 5.7 rebounds. White has started 17 games and is averaging 8.0 points and 5.3 rebounds with 29 three-pointers. She has scored in double figures in eight of the last 15 games and has recorded two double-doubles on the year.

ROOKIE HONORS FOR WHITE AND FILBERT
Daemen has collected ECC Rookie of the Week honors four times in the past eight weeks. Caroline White collected the honor for the second-straight week (and the third time this season) on Feb. 5 for games played January 29-February 4. White also collected the honor for games played January 22-28 and December 11-17. Redshirt freshman Tiara Filbert earned the honor for games played January 1-7. Filbert has totaled 204 points this year, while White has contributed 192. They are looking to become the first freshmen to score 200-plus points in the same season since 2013-14 when Taylor Heinold (240) and Natalie Galus (290) did so.

MOLLOY SCOUTING REPORT
Molloy returns just four players and two starters from last year's team that finished 24-9 overall (12-6 ECC), claimed the ECC Tournament championship and advanced to the championship game of the NCAA Division II East Regional. Molloy was voted seventh in the 2017-18 ECC preseason poll. The Lions have lost seven-straight games and are coming off a 57-43 loss to New York Tech last weekend. Molloy ranks second among ECC teams in fewest points allowed per game (59.5). Head coach Joe Pellicane's roster consist of seven freshmen. Junior guard Ihnacinse Grady is averaging a team-high 10.2 points and also leads the team in assists (91) and steals (57). She nearly recorded a triple-double (12 pts, 11 rebs, 9 asts) in a recent win over Mercy. Additional production has come from freshmen Melody Prichard (10.0 ppg), Gabriella Aspuru (8.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and Marthe Guirand (7.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and (sophomore Kathryn Gibson (8.1 ppg, 41 3 pt FGs). Guirand recorded a double-double (11 pts, 12 rebs) in a recent 60-55 loss to regionally-ranked LIU-Post.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Daemen vs. Molloy: 6-3
Streak: Won 2
Last Meeting: Daemen 55, Molloy 50  | Jan. 19, 2018 | Rockville Centre, N.Y.
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QUEENS SCOUTING REPORT
Queens returns eight players and two starters from last year's team that finished 27-5 overall, claimed the ECC regular-season title (17-1) and captured the NCAA Division II East Regional championship. Queens was voted fifth in the 2017-18 ECC preseason poll. Head coach Elizabeth Naumovski enters her seventh season at Queens and must overcome the loss of D2 National Player of the Year Madison Rowland, who closed out her outstanding career with an ECC-record 2,375 points and 507 steals. The Knights host Roberts Wesleyan Friday night and enter the weekend having lost four of their last six games. QC suffered an 85-65 loss to regionally-ranked LIU-Post last weekend. Senior Merrick Rowland and sophomore Beth Bonin have paced the Knights thus far. Rowland had four three-pointers and 16 points in a recent 75-60 win over Molloy and is averaging 14.2 points with 52 three-pointers and 5.7 rebounds. Bonin was a three-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection last year and is averaging 15.4 points with 51 three-pointers and 3.2 assists. She scored 23 points in the loss to LIU-Post last weekend. Additional production has come from senior Marina Ramon Lopez (10.1 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and junior Kaitlyn Mahon (7.2 ppg, 3.3 apg). Junior Taliyah Hopkins played at Niagara County CC last year and is averaging 7.4 points off the bench. She scored 21 points in a recent 71-52 loss to league-leading St. Thomas Aquinas.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Daemen vs. Queens: 0-9
Streak: Lost 9
Last Meeting: Queens 70, Daemen 60  | Jan. 21, 2018 | Flushing, N.Y.
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ON THE HORIZON
The Wildcats close out the regular-season next weekend with ECC games at Long Island University Post (Feb. 23) and New York Institute of Technology (Feb. 25).

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