AMHERST, N.Y. – A career night by two first-year players lifted Daemen College to a huge 62-54 upset of regionally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas College here tonight in East Coast Conference women's basketball action.
Daemen improved to 9-8 overall and 6-2 in the ECC following its fifth-straight win. The five-straight wins equals the program's longest winning streak since the Wildcats won five in a row midway through the 2016-17 season. STAC, which entered the game riding a seven-game winning streak and ranked fifth in the latest Division II Sports Information Directors Association East Region poll, suffered its first conference loss and now stands at 16-3 overall and 7-1 in the league.
It marks the second time this season the Wildcats have knocked off a team regionally ranked by the D2SIDA. Daemen also maintained its hold on third place in the league standings, while STAC is now in a tie with New York Institute of Technology for first place.
Freshman forward Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) scored a career-high 24 points and also contributed seven rebounds and two steals. She connected on 10-of-17 shots overall and made 4-of-9 from downtown. It marks the fourth time in the past five games that Titus has scored 20 or more points. The reigning ECC Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, Titus is averaging 21.6 points and 11.8 rebounds during Daemen's five-game winning streak. Junior point guard Ranaveya Richards (Albany, N.Y.) also played a key role in the game, as she played a team-high 37 minutes and scored a career-high 13 points. A transfer from Finger Lakes Community College, she also grabbed six rebounds, handed out a career-high six assists and blocked two shots. She scored a team-high 10 points in the second half.
Redshirt sophomore Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.) added 12 points for the hosts, while senior Erin Egan (Williamsville, N.Y.) chipped in five points, five rebounds and four assists.
Sophomore forward Emily Preston (Brisbane, Australia) totaled 14 points, 19 rebounds, five assists and three steals for STAC, while redshirt junior guard Ruth Adams (San Diego, Calf.) scored 11 points in just 15 minutes off the bench.
Daemen scored the first four points of the game and later took a 16-9 lead following a layup by Titus with 6:15 left in the first quarter. Neither team scored for the next two minutes, before the Wildcats took their largest lead of the first half, 18-9, following another layup by Titus. STAC responded with a 7-0 run that cut the lead to two points, 18-16, but a three-pointer by Titus gave the hosts a 21-16 lead with just under two minutes to play in the first quarter. A last-second layup by senior Erin Sinnott (Oswego, Ill.) capped the first-quarter scoring and gave the Wildcats a 23-16 lead.
Daemen went scoreless for the first three minutes of the second quarter, which allowed the Spartans to tie the game at 23. Daemen held a 26-23 lead when the visitors got back-to-back buckets from Preston, but Daemen scored six of the final eight points in the half and the hosts took a 32-29 lead into intermission.
The start of the second half saw the Spartans go scoreless for the first five minutes of the third quarter, which allowed the Wildcats to open up a 39-29 lead. A layup by Filbert with 5:15 left in the frame capped the quarter-opening 7-0 run, before Adams drilled a three-pointer at the 4:59 mark to make the score 39-32 Daemen. Richards answered with a jumper on the ensuing Daemen possession, but the Spartans put together an 8-0 run and cut the lead to a point, 41-40, following a layup by Preston with 2:12 left in the frame. Daemen quickly regained a 46-40 lead following a jumper by Filbert and a conventional three-point play by Richards, and the hosts would eventually take a 48-43 lead into the final frame.
Daemen got a jumper by Egan just 20 seconds into the fourth quarter, but both teams struggled to score after that and Daemen was clinging to a 50-47 lead at the midway point of the final quarter. The teams traded baskets and the Daemen lead was still three points (55-52) with just over three minutes left when Titus drained her fourth three-pointer of the game. Neither team scored again until Richards banked home a driving layup with 1:03 to play. Senior Julia Winnik (New York, N.Y.) was off the mark with a three-pointer at the other end, and Richards split a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left to give the hosts a 61-52 lead. Adams missed a three-pointer with 24 seconds left and Daemen came up with the rebound to all but secure the win—its first over the Spartans since a 79-73 OT win at STAC on Feb. 11, 2016.
Daemen shot 57-percent (13-for-23) from the field in the first half finished a season-high .522 (24-for-46) from the field overall. The Wildcats connected on 6-of-18 from downtown and made 8-of-15 from the charity stripe. STAC shot just 32-percent (21-for-66) from the field overall. The Spartans went 5-of-19 from three-point land and made 7-of-16 free throws. STAC finished with a 38-36 edge in total rebounds. The Spartans collected 18 offensive rebounds, but only finished with a 7-2 edge in second-chance points. The visitors also finished with an advantage in points off turnovers (22-15) and points in the paint (24-22).
The Wildcats return to action Sunday (Jan. 27) when they host the University of the District of Columbia in an ECC game. Daemen head coach Jenepher Banker will enter Sunday's game just one win shy of her 100th career win as a collegiate coach. UDC (7-11, 4-4 ECC), suffered a 63-56 loss at Roberts Wesleyan College tonight.
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