GAME INFORMATION
Game No. 29
ECC Tournament - First Round
#6 Daemen Wildcats (12-16) vs. #3 Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks (19-9)
Wednesday, Feb. 28 | 7 p.m.
Rochester, N.Y. | Voller Athletic Center
GAME LINKS
Live Stats
Watch Live on ECC Network
Game Day
Championship Central
THE LEAD
The Daemen College women's basketball team travels to longtime rival Roberts Wesleyan College for opening-round action of the 2018 East Coast Conference Championship Tournament. Daemen, which is seeded sixth, is making its first-ever appearance in the ECC Tournament since joining the conference in 2013-14. Third-seeded Roberts Wesleyan is making its fourth-straight appearance in the ECC Tournament.
FAMILIAR SURROUNDINGS
Wednesday's game will mark the sixth time this season the Wildcats have played a game at RWC's Voller Athletic Center. Daemen opened the year with wins over American International and Nyack the East Region Tipoff hosted by RWC. A week later they suffered losses to Lake Erie College and Virginia Union during the Redhawks Alumni Classic. Daemen and RWC played a memorable game at the VAC on Jan. 6, with the host Redhawks pulling out a 97-91 victory in triple overtime.
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. 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 nine games and are 10-9 since ending the seven-game losing streak.
SUPERIOR SENIOR
Senior Sarah Saba is set to become the first player in program history to lead the team in points scored in four-straight seasons. 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, rebounds, blocks and steals. Here are some highlights from her senior season:
- Scored in double figures in the last 27 games this season—the longest streak of double-digit scoring for her career
- Closed out the regular season as the ECC scoring leader (495 points / 17.7 ppg.). She becomes the first women's basketball player from Daemen to claim the ECC regular-season scoring title
- Also leads the team in rebounds per game (6.9), steals (49) and blocks (36) and ranks second in assists (71)
- Scored a career-high 30 points in a loss to nationally-ranked Virginia Union and has posted 10 games of 20 points or more
- Named ECC Player of the Week on Jan. 2 following her efforts against St. Anselm and St. Michael's.
- Had her accomplishments featured in her hometown newspaper The Lancaster Bee and on WKBW-TV
- Stands just five points shy of becoming the first women's basketball player to score 500 points in a season since Sarah Soroka scored a program-record 755 in 2010-11
1,700 AND COUNTING
Sarah Saba scored her 1,700th career point during a recent win over Queens and enters the post season ranked fifth in career points among Daemen's all-time leaders with 1,752 points. She has played in all 109 games over the past four seasons (105 as a starter) and has totaled 1,752 points (16.1 ppg), 760 rebounds (7.0 rpg), 231 assist, 155 blocks and 152 steals. She ranks fifth in career points, eighth in career rebounds and sixth in career blocks among Daemen's all-time leaders. She has scored in double figures in 95 of her 109 career games. She 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 89 of a possible 109 games over her career. She has been limited to just 11 games this season. She played a season-high 20 minutes in a recent win over Queens and grabbed six rebounds. Egan played in 20 of 26 games last year and has is averaging 17 minutes a game off the bench this season. She scored a career-high 18 points in a win over UDC on Feb. 4 and is averaging 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds. She ranks seventh among the ECC leaders in both total blocks (34) and fifth in blocks per game (1.3).
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 36 minutes and dished out a career-high seven assists in the recent win over Queens and ranks fourth among the ECC leaders in assists per game (3.8). She has totaled 62 assists and just 18 turnovers over the last 15 games and leads the ECC in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.5). 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 28 games this year (8 starts) and is averaging 5.5 points with a team-high 38 three-pointers (12th 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 both missed 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 23 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 12 times and ranks second on the team in points per game (8.9). 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 27 games and contributed a career-high 16 points and nine rebounds in a recent win over Mercy. She is averaging 6.6 points and 6.1 rebounds. White has started 21 games and is averaging 8.4 points and 5.3 rebounds with 34 three-pointers. She has scored in double figures in nine of the last 19 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 this season. 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 248 points this year, while White has contributed 234. They have 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.
ROBERTS WESLEYAN SCOUTING REPORT
Roberts Wesleyan returns nine players and four starters from last year's team that finished 21-13 overall (11-7 ECC) and qualified for the six-team ECC Tournament. RWC was voted tied for second in the 2017-18 ECC preseason poll. The Redhawks went 8-3 over the final 11 games of the regular-season and were ranked ninth in last week's NCAA Division II East Region poll. The Redhawks feature a balanced offense that ranks second in the ECC in both points per game (73.4) and three-pointers made per game (7.5). Sophomores Emily Miller and Taya Andrews and seniors Lucy Covley and Nededah James have paced the Redhawks. Miller has scored in double figures in 26 of 28 games and ranks second in the league in double-doubles (13). She is averaging 14.3 points and 8.9 rebounds. Andrews scored 50 points in the two wins over Daemen this year (29 in the triple OT win) and is averaging 12.4 points. Covley has led the ECC in three-pointers made the past three seasons and enters the post season ranked second in triples with 81. She had six three-pointers and 18 points in a recent loss to St. Thomas Aquinas and is averaging 10.3 points. James is contributing 10.3 points and 3.6 assists. Additional production has come from sophomore Sara Nady (8.8 ppg, 49 3pt fgs) and junior Taylor Bynoe (8.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 52 stls).
ALL-TIME SERIES
Daemen vs. Roberts Wesleyan: 33-23
Streak: Lost 3
Last Meeting: RWC 76, Daemen 62 | Feb. 9, 2018 | Amherst, N.Y.
More Details
DID YOU KNOW?
Close games between Daemen and Roberts Wesleyan have been the norm in recent years, as six of the last eight meetings have been decided by eight points or less—and two of those games were decided by just a single point. Last month's triple overtime thriller marked the first time since January 10, 2012 that a game between the two rivals has been decided in overtime—and the first time in the 27-year history between the schools that a game has gone into triple overtime.
ON THE HORIZON
Wednesday's winner advances to the ECC Tournament semifinals to face second-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday (March 3). The tournament semifinals and championship game (March 4) will take place at the Voller Athletic Center on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan.
Follow Daemen College athletics on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.
