AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's basketball team outscored New York Tech 34-16 over the final 16 minutes of the game to pick up a hard-earned 52-46 victory this afternoon at Lumsden Gymnasium. Daemen, which is off to its best start since opening the 2010-11 season by winning 15 of its first 18 games, improves 15-3 overall and 7-1 in the ECC. New York Tech, which had won six of its last eight games, dropped to 11-9 overall and 4-4 in the league. Daemen maintained its hold on second place in the ECC standings with the win.

The come-from-behind win capped off a big weekend for the Wildcats, who posted a 68-51 victory over regionally-ranked Molloy College Friday night. Molloy entered Friday's game tied with Daemen for second place in the ECC.

It was the seventh-straight win for Daemen, which ranks as the second longest current winning streak among all NCAA East Region teams behind nationally-ranked University of the Sciences (10). The Wildcats also extended their home winning streak to 15-straight games dating back to last season. The 15-straight home wins ranks second only to Bentley University (16) among NCAA Division II East Region teams.

Daemen entered the game ranked ninth in the East Region by the Division II Sports Information Directors of America.

TOP PERFORMERS

• Only four players scored in the game for Daemen. Junior Caroline White (Fairport, N.Y.) returned to the starting lineup and produced 16 points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals. She connected on 3-of-5 three-pointers in the game.
• Senior Jordan Heinold (Hamburg, N.Y.) hit three big three-pointers during Daemen's second-half comeback and finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Twelve of her 14 points came after halftime.
• Sophomore Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) registered a double-double for the fourth time in the past five games and finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
• Redshirt junior Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.) scored all of her 10 points in the second half and also added four rebounds and five assists.
• Sophomore forward Ketsia Athias scored 11 points in the first half for the Bears, but netted just four points in the second half and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Zoe Amalbert added 11 points and three assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Daemen struggled to score most of the game and trailed by 12 points (30-18) with just over six minutes left in the third quarter. The Wildcats, who made just two of their first 13 three-point attempts, caught fire from long range and put together a 17-4 run that featured four triples, a conventional three-point play and two free throws to take a 35-34 lead—Daemen's first lead since 7-5 early in the first quarter.
• NYIT took a 36-34 lead in the final quarter and the game was tied at 42-42 with 5:36 left when White hit a jumper off a pass from Filbert. The score remained 44-42 until Filbert made one-of-two free throws with 2:11 left. Titus came up with a steal on NYIT's next possession and White scored with 1:15 left to make it 47-42. The Bears went 0-for-2 from the charity stripe on their next possession, and Filbert gave the hosts a 49-42 lead after she swished two free throws with 30 seconds left. The Wildcats made 3-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final seconds to secure the win.
• The teams traded baskets early in the game and the Wildcats held a 7-5 lead with just over two minutes played in the first quarter. The hosts would then go scoreless for nearly seven minutes, which allowed the Bears to build a 12-7 lead. A layup by Titus with 1:09 left in the quarter ended the scoring drought for the Wildcats and neither team scored over the final minute.
• The NYIT lead was still four points (15-11) when Athias accounted for all seven points during an 7-3 NYIT run. Her jumper with 5:54 left before halftime capped the spurt and gave the visitors a 22-14 lead. The rest of the half featured just one field goal, a layup by Heinold with 1:03 left before intermission that made the score 22-16. 
• Daemen made 11-of-26 shots (42%) in the second half after connecting on just 7-of-26 (27%) shots in the first half. The Wildcats, who entered the game as the ECC leader in three-pointers made and attempted per game, made just 2-of-12 from long range in the first half and finished 7-of-23 overall from behind the arc. The hosts made 9-of-12 from the charity stripe. NYIT shot just 19-of-60 (32%) from the field overall and canned 7-of-28 from downtown. The Bears made just 1-of-6 from the free throw line.

GAME NOTES

• Daemen returns three starters and seven players from last year. The Wildcats are coming off their most successful season since transitioning to NCAA Division II. Daemen posted an 11-game winning streak, won 14 of its final 15 regular-season games, posted a 15-3 league record and finished 18-10 overall.
• The game was a rematch of last year's ECC Tournament semifinal game which was won by NYIT, 65-44. It marked the third-straight home win for Daemen in the series, which is now 11-3 in favor of NYIT.
• Daemen entered the weekend ranked 18th among all Division II schools in scoring defense (55.4 papg). Daemen has held 14 of its 18 opponents to less than 65 points. The Wildcats are a perfect 14-0 when they limit their opponent to less than 65 points. Today marked the eighth time this season Daemen has held an opponent to under 50 points.
• Daemen is now 29-5 over its last 34 games dating back to last season.
• Heinold has now made at least one three-pointer in 10-straight games. She has now totaled 155 career three-pointers and stands seven triples shy of moving into fourth place among Daemen's all-time leaders.
  

NEXT JUMP BALL
The Wildcats are idle until Saturday (Feb. 1) when they travel to rival Roberts Wesleyan College for an ECC game.

Daemen College features the only NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.