AMHERST, N.Y. - Junior Jordan Heinold (Hamburg, N.Y.) went 7-for-7 from three-point land and totaled 21 points to lead Daemen College to a 90-48 victory over Mercy College here tonight in East Coast Conference women's basketball action. Daemen, which has won 13 of its last 14 games, improved to 17-9 overall and 14-3 in the ECC. The Wildcats have already posted the most wins in a season since they went 26-7 in 2012-13, and the 14 league wins are the most since the Wildcats joined the league in 2013-14. Mercy suffered its sixth-straight loss and dropped to 4-23 overall and 1-16 in the league.
Daemen has already secured the No. 2 seed—and a first round bye—in the in the upcoming ECC Championship Tournament. The ECC Championship features the top six teams in the final league standings. The top two seeds receive a first-round bye. First round games are 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 are currently ranked regionally in both the Division II Sports Information Directors Association (D2SIDA) East Region poll and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II East Region poll—coming in at No. 9 in the final D2SIDA regional poll released Feb. 11 and No.10 in the second NCAA regional poll released this past Wednesday.
All 12 players that dressed for Daemen scored in the game. Heinold, who played just six minutes after intermission, established a season-high and equaled her career-high for points (21). Freshman Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) went 6-for-6 from the field and scored 14 points in just 13 minutes of action, while senior Erin Egan (Williamsville, N.Y.) made 5-of-7 shots and totaled 13 points and nine rebounds in just 19 minutes. Freshman Sydney Barney (Midland, Pa.) connected on 3-of-4 from downtown and finished with a season-high nine points and a season-high five rebounds.
Sophomore Amber Brown (South Brunswick, N.J.) was the only player from Mercy to reach double figures, as she finished with 10 points.
Daemen held an 10-5 lead midway through the first quarter when Heinold drilled back-to-back three-pointers, the second of which marked the 100th three-pointer of her career. Heinold's third triple of the first quarter gave the hosts a 21-5 lead and her fourth three-pointer with 26 seconds left in the frame gave the Wildcats a 26-5 lead after the first quarter.
The long-range onslaught continued into the second quarter, as the Wildcats drilled three more unanswered triples at the start of the quarter to boost the Daemen lead to 35-5. The lead would eventually reach 39-5 before Mercy got a three-pointer from senior Cynthia Perez (Middle Village, N.Y.) with 4:48 left before halftime. The bucket by Perez snapped a scoreless streak of exactly 14 minutes for the Mavericks. Fittingly, the Wildcats closed the half when Barney banked home a buzzer-beating 35-footer to give the hosts a 51-14 lead at the break.
Mercy came no closer than 35 points during the second half.
Daemen established season-highs for points, three-pointers made (16), three-point field goal percentage (.696) and overall field goal percentage (.541). The Wildcats connected on 20-of-33 shots in the first half and finished 33-for-61 overall. The 90 points were the most scored during a regulation-time game since the Wildcats scored 96 in a win over Long Island University Post (96-84) on Jan. 25, 2017. The Wildcats connected on their first nine three-pointers of the game and finished 16-of-23 from long range overall. The 16 triples tied the program record for three-pointers in a game, which was done twice previously. The last time the Wildcats made 16 three-pointers in a game was during a 101-83 win over Briarcliffe on Dec. 30, 2014.
Mercy shot 35-percent (18-for-52) from the field overall and made 5-of-22 from three-point land. Daemen finished with a 44-21 edge in total rebounds, and the hosts also held the advantage in points off turnovers (21-12), second chance points (17-2) and points in the paint (26-16).
The Wildcats close out the regular season Sunday (Mar. 3) when they host the University of Bridgeport (Mar. 3) in an ECC game. Daemen seniors Erin Egan and Erin Sinnott will be honored in a pregame ceremony in recognition of their final regular-season home game.
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