january 2020 student athletes of the month

Heinold & Keller Named Daemen Student-Athletes of the Month

2/4/2020 12:09:00 PM

By: By Tom McDermott, Sports Information Consultant

AMHERST, N.Y. – Seniors Jordan Heinold (Hamburg, N.Y.) and Sullivan Keller (Alden, N.Y.) have been named the Daemen College Student-Athletes of the Month presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC for January, 2020.

Heinold led the regionally-ranked women's basketball team to a perfect 5-0 month. A 6-foot guard/forward, she started all five games and averaged 13.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and a team-high 3.0 steals. She also led the team in minutes played (179), three-point field goals made (16), overall field goal percentage (.477) and three-point field goal percentage (.457) over the five games.

She opened the month with 13 points, six rebounds and a career-high five steals in an 89-62 win over Queens College. A week later she nearly recorded her second double-double of the year, as she totaled 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists and four steals during a 64-35 win at the University of the District of Columbia. She capped the month with two strong efforts during key league wins over regionally-ranked Molloy College and defending ECC Tournament champion New York Tech. She went 6-of-9 from downtown and totaled 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists, a block and five steals in a 68-51 win over Molloy, which entered the game ranked 10th in the region and tied for second place in the ECC with Daemen. She scored 18 of her 23 points after halftime, as Daemen used a 24-13 third quarter to pull away from the Lions. Heinold and her teammates got off to a slow start against New York Tech two days later and found themselves down 12 points (30-18) four minutes into the third quarter. Heinold's three-pointer with 6:18 left in the quarter ignited a game-changing 17-4 run by the Wildcats that gave the hosts a 35-34 lead. Daemen went on to post a 52-46 victory. She scored nine points during the 17-4 run and finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds in 38 minutes of action.

Her efforts during the month did not go unrecognized, as she was named the East Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Jan. 21 and ECC Player of the Week on January 27.

Heinold has started all 19 contests this season, and is producing a career-best 11.5 points per game. She also ranks third on the team in minutes per game (31.5) and rebounds per game (5.2) and leads the team in three-point field goals made (50). She has scored in double figures in 11 games and netted a career-high 25 points in an 83-51 win at Wilmington University on Nov. 23. She has made at least one three-pointer in 11-straight games and has shot 46-percent (33-72) from behind the arc during those contests. Among the ECC leaders, she ranks second in three-point field goals made, third in three-point field goal percentage (.417) and 12th in steals (32).

The lone senior on this years's team, Heinold has played in 86 of a possible 102 games over her four-year career. She has totaled 723 points, 376 rebounds and 89 steals over her career and currently ranks fifth in career three-pointers made (158) among Daemen's all-time leaders. She has led the Wildcats to a 57-45 record over her career, including a 34-13 mark since the start of her junior year. Last year she helped Daemen to an 18-10 overall record, a second-place showing in the ECC regular-season standings (15-3) and a second-straight appearance in the ECC Tournament.

Daemen (16-3, 8-1 ECC) is ranked eighth in the latest Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) East Region media poll and is off to its best start since the 2010-11 season.

Keller, a 6-foot-3 thrower on the men's track and field team, earns Athlete of the Month honors for the third time over his four-year career. He posted two first-place showings in the shot put and also turned in solid efforts in the weight town during the month.

Daemen opened the month at the RIT Invitational hosted by Rochester Institute of Technology on Jan. 18. Keller placed first out of 26 competitors in the shot put with a toss of 14.52 meters. It marked the first time over his career that he has posted a first-place showing in the shot put during an indoor event. He went on to place sixth in the weight throw with a toss of 13.82 meters.

Just six days later the Wildcats returned to action at the Highlander Invitational hosted by Houghton College. Keller once again took top honors in the shot put, as he placed first out of 11 competitors with a toss of 14.52 meters. He went on to place second in the weight throw with a toss of 13.55 meters.

His first and second place showings at the Highlander Invitational earned Keller ECC Men's Field Athlete of the Week honors for competitions held January 20-26. He became just the fourth Daemen athlete to earn ECC Field Athlete of the Week honors during an indoor season, and the first since Alex Reid in 2015.

Keller has had a storied career for the Wildcats, earning eight all-conference accolades between the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons. He's been a second-team All-ECC performer in the shot put during each of the last two indoor seasons, and holds the team's indoor record for the weight throw (14.31 meters).

Keller and the Wildcats will return to action Saturday, February 8 at the Brockport Multi, followed two weeks later (February 22) by the ECC Indoor Track and Field Championships in Staten Island, N.Y.

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.

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