General | 4/27/2018 9:06:00 PM
AMHERST, N.Y. - Women's basketball standout Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y.) has been named the College's 2017-18 Female Athlete of the Year. The announcement was made at the Daemen ESPY's, the Athletic Department's annual awards gala which held this evening at Lumsden Gymnasium. The award was presented by alumnus and former women's soccer player Alexa Amato '14.
Saba led the Wildcats to their first-ever East Coast Conference Tournament berth this year and closed out the season as Daemen's leader in minutes played (977), points (517), rebounds (203), steals (52) and blocks (38). She also managed to rank second on the team in assists (74). She becomes the first player in program history to lead the team in total points four straight years, and also the first player in program history to lead the team in points, rebounds, blocks and steals twice during their career. She also closed out the regular season as the ECC scoring leader (17.7 ppg.), making her the first women's basketball player from Daemen to claim the ECC regular season scoring title. Not to be overlooked, Saba is the first Daemen women's basketball player to score 500 points in a season since Sarah Soroka scored a program-record 755 in 2010-11.
After scoring just three points in a season-opening win over American International College, Saba scored in double figures in all 28 games after that—the longest streak of double-digit scoring in her career. She scored 20 or more points 11 times during the year, and poured in a career-high 30 points in a loss to nationally-ranked Virginia Union University. She was named ECC Player of the Week after totaling 50 points, 20 rebounds, six blocks and three steals during a pair of non-conference road games at Saint Anselm College and Saint Michael's College. She also totaled 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to their first-ever win over New York Institute of Technology, and registered 24-points and a career-high 15-rebounds in a 55-50 win over Molloy College. She capped her outstanding career by totaling 22 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks in a 76-64 loss to Roberts Wesleyan College in the opening round of the ECC Tournament on February 28.
Her efforts earned her first-team All-ECC honors for the third-straight year and she was also named to the Division II Conference Commisioner's Association (D2CCA) 2017-18 All-East Region second team. Saba becomes the first Daemen player to be named to the All-East Region team since the Wildcats transitioned to NCAA Division II, beginning with the 2013-14 season.
Saba played in all 110 games over the past four seasons (106 as a starter) and totaled 1,774 points (16.1 ppg), 770 rebounds (7.0 rpg), 234 assist, 157 blocks and 157 steals. She is just the third player in program history to total at least 1,700 points, 700 rebounds and 150 blocks. She ranks fifth in career points, seventh in career scoring average, seventh in career rebounds, tenth in career rebound average and sixth in career blocks among Daemen's all-time leaders. She scored in double figures in 96 of her 110 career games.
Saba becomes the second women's basketball player to earn the award, which was instituted in 2012. Prior winners include women's cross country and track standout Mackenzie Donahue (2017, 2016, 2015), volleyball player Ye Wang (2014), basketball player Monica Kosior (2013) and soccer player Lindsay Miller (2012).
Nominations for the award are made by Office of Athletic Communications and nominees are then voted on by the department's head coaches and other full-time staffers. Additional nominees this year included Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y.) from the women's volleyball team, Jamie Boyar (Williamsville, N.Y.) from the women's soccer team, Taylor Haude (Rochester, N.Y.) from the women's track and field team, and Amy Trabert (Amherst, N.Y.) from the women's cross country and track and field teams.
