AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's basketball team held off a fourth quarter rally by Long Island University Post en route to a 60-53 victory here tonight in East Coast Conference action. The Wildcats, who avenged a 70-54 loss at LIU Post earlier this year, extended their winning streak to 10 straight games and improved to 14-8 overall and 11-2 in the ECC. LIU Post, which was picked to win the league in the ECC preseason poll, dropped to 15-9 overall and 8-6 in the league.

With the win Daemen clinched a spot in the upcoming ECC Championship Tournament. The ECC Championship features the top six teams in the final league standings, with first round games slated for campus sites on Wednesday, March 6. The semifinals (Saturday, March 9) and finals (Sunday, March 10) will be played at Hubbell Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Bridgeport. Daemen made its first-ever appearance in the six-team tournament last year.

The Wildcats maintained their hold on second place in the ECC standings with the win tonight. The 11 league wins are the most for the Wildcats since joining the league, and the 10 straight wins ranks as the longest winning streak for Daemen since it joined the ECC. The last time the Wildcats won 10 games in a row was the 2007-08 season when they put together a 17-game winning streak.

Daemen's recent success has earned it a spot in the Division II Sports Information Directors Association (D2SIDA) East Region poll for the first time ever. The Wildcats are ranked ninth in this week's poll. The team's 10-game winning streak ranks as the second longest among NCAA Division II East Region teams. Nationally-ranked University of the Sciences, which has won 12 in a row, is the only team in the region with a longer winning streak.

Freshman Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) paced the Wildcats tonight with 17 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks. It marks the sixth double-double of the year for Titus, who totaled just two points and one rebound in six minutes of action the last time the teams played. She is averaging 20.1 points and 10.3 rebounds during the winning streak. Senior Erin Egan (Williamsville, N.Y.) played just eight minutes during the second half due to foul trouble, but still managed to total 12 points, seven rebounds and a season-high five blocks. Sophomore Jordan Heinold (Hamburg, N.Y.) added 10 points and five rebounds and junior guard Ranaveya Richards (Albany, N.Y.) totaled eight points, nine rebounds and five assists. Redshirt sophomore Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.), who entered the game averaging a team-high 14.4 points, was in foul trouble for most of the game and finished with just two points in 14 minutes.

Redshirt junior Robin Francis (Rosedale, N.Y.) led the Pioneers with 14 points and seven rebounds. Graduate student Sasha Patterson (Brooklyn, N.Y.), the preseason ECC Player of the Year, played just 18 minutes and totaled eight points and nine rebounds. She entered the game ranked third among the ECC scoring leaders (16.0 ppg) and averaging a league-high 10.5 rebounds per game. She totaled 32 points and 17 rebounds the last time the teams met.

Scoring was at a minimum early on, as the game was tied 5-5 seven minutes into the contest. Daemen got back-to-back buckets by Titus to take a 9-5 lead, and the hosts went on to take an 11-7 lead into the second quarter after Filbert grabbed an offensive rebound and scored with five seconds left in the first quarter.

The teams traded baskets early in the second quarter, before Daemen put together a 6-2 spurt and took a 19-11 lead following a baseline jumper by sophomore Caroline White (Fairport, N.Y.) with 6:28 left in the half. Back-to-back three-pointers by freshman Sydney Barney (Midland, Pa.) and Titus gave the hosts their largest lead of the half, 32-17, with just over two minutes to play in the quarter, but the Pioneers outscored the Wildcats 8-2 down the stretch—going 8-for-8 from the charity stripe—to cut the Daemen lead to nine points, 34-25, at the half.

The Daemen lead was still nine points, 42-33, late in the third quarter when the hosts got a layup by Titus and a jumper by Heinold to take a 46-33 lead. The Pioneers scored five of the final six points of the quarter and Daemen took a 47-38 lead in the final quarter.

Filbert and Egan both picked up their fourth personal foul less than a minute into the fourth quarter, and the Wildcats struggled to score with the two starters on the bench. LIU Post chipped away at the lead and eventually made it a one possession game, 49-47, following a jumper by Francis with 6:30 to play. Egan re-entered the game at that point and immediately converted a layup to give Daemen a four-point lead. The Wildcats were up 52-47 when the Pioneers struck for six unanswered points and took a 53-52 lead following a layup by freshman Ja'Lyn Armstrong (Baltimore, Md.) with 2:26 remaining. Neither team scored again until Egan made two free throws with 1:34 remaining to give Daemen a 54-53 lead. Egan came up big again at the other when she blocked an attempt by Francis and grabbed the rebound. Filbert was then whistled for her fifth foul while driving to the hoop at the other end with 1:18 remaining. A frantic final minute saw both teams come up empty on several scoring chances, before Richards canned two free throws with six seconds left to make it 56-53. LIU Post was called for a five second violation trying to inbounds the pass after a timeout, and Heinold secured the win by hitting two free throws with three seconds left.

Daemen shot just 25-percent (7-28) from the field in the second half and finished 21-for-65 (32%) from the field overall. The Wildcats made just 4-of-22 three-pointers and hurt themselves by making just 14-of-24 from the charity stripe. LIU Post shot just 21-percent (6-for-28) from the field in the first half and connected on just 16-of-61 (26%) shots overall. The Pioneers made just 3-of-15 from downtown, but converted 18-of-22 free throws. Daemen finished with a 54-41 edge in total rebounds, and the Wildcats also finished with an advantage in points off turnovers (13-10). LIU Post finished with an edge in second chance points (13-11), while points in the paint was even at 26-26.

The Wildcats return to action Sunday (Feb. 17) when they host New York Institute of Technology in an ECC game. The regionally-ranked Bears (18-6, 10-4 ECC) suffered an overtime loss at Roberts Wesleyan College tonight.

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