AMHERST, N.Y. – Senior Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y.) totaled 20 points and eight rebounds in the final home game of her outstanding career to lead Daemen College to a 57-55 victory over Queens College here today in East Coast Conference women's basketball action.
Daemen, which has won five of its last seven games improved to 12-14 overall and 9-7 in the ECC. The nine conference wins are the most in a season for Daemen since it joined the ECC in 2013-14. Queens, which posted a 57-55 win at regionally-ranked Roberts Wesleyan College Friday night, dropped to 11-13 overall and 7-9 in the ECC.
Daemen maintained its hold on fifth place in the ECC standings with the win. The Wildcats have already secured their first-ever appearance in the six-team ECC Championship Tournament. Queens, which could have cliched a berth in the ECC Tournament with a win today, remains in sixth place in the standings with two games remaining.
Today's game marked the final home game of the season, and seniors Taylor Heinold (Hamburg, N.Y.), Liz Miles (Cicero, N.Y.) and Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y.) were honored in a pre-game ceremony.
The win was the first-ever for Daemen over Queens, which entered today's game with a 9-0 edge in the all-time series—including a 70-60 win in Flushing, N.Y. earlier this year.
Saba played all 40 minutes and scored 12 of her 20 points in the second half. It marked the ninth time this season she has scored 20 or more points, and she extended her streak of consecutive double-digit scoring games to a career-best 25. She also entered the game just three points shy of 1,700 for her career, and is now just the sixth player in program history to score 1,700 points.
Redshirt freshman Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.) scored in double figures for the second-straight game and finished with 13 points and five rebounds. Fellow rookie Caroline White (Fairport, N.Y.) added nine points, while junior Erin Egan (Williamsville, N.Y.) chipped in six points and five rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench. Miles, who has been hampered by injuries the entire season, played 20 minutes and totaled six rebounds and two blocks. Sophomore point guard Carina Pringle (Rochester, N.Y.) played 36 minutes and dished out a career-high seven assists.
Queens got an outstanding effort from sophomore guard Beth Bonin (Cicero, N.Y.), who played all 40 minutes and totaled 27 points, four assists and four steals. Senior Marina Ramon Lopez (Ponferrada, Spain) added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Knights.
Queens maintained the lead for most of the first quarter and opened up a five-point lead, 12-7, following a jumper by Ramon Lopez with 1:47 left in the quarter. Daemen closed out the quarter six six unanswered points, capped by a layup by White with 24 seconds left in the frame.
The teams traded baskets early in the second quarter, before Bonin drilled back-to-back three-pointers to give the visitors a 20-15 lead. Bonin's third three-pointer of the half gave the Knights a 26-19 lead with 4:02 left before halftime, but the Wildcats outscored the Knights 6-2 down the stretch and Queens took a 28-25 lead into intermission.
Queens opened the third quarter with back-to-back layups by junior Kaitlyn Mahon (Middle Village, N.Y.), but a three-pointer by Saba sparked the Wildcats on a 10-2 run. A triple by White with 5:10 left in the quarter capped the run and gave the hosts a 35-34 lead. Daemen would then go scoreless until the 1:40 mark when a bucket by Saba made the score 40-37 in favor of Queens. A Bonin steal and layup in the final seconds of the quarter gave the Knights a 46-41 lead heading into the final quarter.
Queens opened up a 51-44 lead following a jumper by Bonin two minutes into the fourth quarter, but Daemen answered with a conventional three-point play by Filbert and then cut the lead to two points, 51-49, following a jumper by Filbert with 5:48 left to play. A conventional three-point play by Saba with 2:46 left gave the hosts a 54-53 lead, and a layup by Ramon Lopez with 1:35 left gave Queens the lead for the last time. Egan answered with two free throws 16 seconds later for a 56-55 Daemen lead, and the score remained that way until Pringle made one-of-two free throws with 28 seconds left. A layup by Bonin with four seconds left was off the mark, and Saba secured the rebound. Daemen left the door open after Saba was fouled and missed both of the free throws, but a buzzer-beating three-point attempt by Bonin was off the mark.
Daemen shot 43-percent (21-for-49) from the field overall and made 3-of-11 from three-point land. The hosts attempted 18 free throws and made 12. Queens shot 36-percent (23-for-64) from the field overall and connected on 3-of-15 three-pointers. The Knights made 6-of-9 from the charity stripe. Both teams grabbed 36 rebounds and points the paint was also a wash at 30-30. Daemen turned the ball over 19 times and Queens converted that into an 18-11 edge in points off turnovers. Daemen finished with an advantage in second chance points (9-5) and bench points (23-6).
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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