Freshman guard Alahna Paige got the start and logged 17 minutes in her collegiate debut last Saturday vs. Mercyhurst

Rivalry Renewed: Daemen & D'Youville to meet for first time since 2003

Nationally ranked Wildcats visit D'Youville Friday, host Saints Sunday

1/21/2021 12:30:00 PM

GAME #2
#17 DAEMEN WILDCATS (1-0, 0-0 ECC) VS. D'YOUVILLE SAINTS (0-0, 0-0 ECC)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22
COLLEGE CENTER GYMNASIUM (BUFFALO, N.Y.) - 6:00 PM
NO SPECTATORS PERMITTED DUE TO COVID-19

GAME #3
#17 DAEMEN WILDCATS VS. D'YOUVILLE SAINTS
SUNDAY, JANUARY 24
LUMSDEN GYMNASIUM (AMHERST, N.Y.) - 12:00 PM
NO SPECTATORS PERMITTED DUE TO COVID-19

FASTBREAK POINTS
1. Daemen's pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season continues as the Wildcats open East Coast Conference play against league newcomer D'Youville. It will be the first of two meetings between the Wildcats and Saints this weekend as the teams will reconvene at Lumsden Gymnasium for a Sunday matinee.

2. Daemen and D'Youville are separated by just nine miles, but the teams will be meeting for the first time since 2003. Daemen was victorious in all 14 meetings between 1986-2003.

3. Daemen opened the season this past weekend with an impressive 82-64 win over regionally ranked Mercyhurst, ending a 314-day hiatus between contests. The Wildcats trailed only once and shot 50% from the field in the victory.

4. Redshirt senior guard Tiara Filbert was named the ECC Player of the Week after netting a game-high 20 points – including the 1,000th of her career – in the win over Mercyhurst. Filbert became the 25th member of Daemen's 1,000-point club and the first since Leah McDonell in 2017. Filbert now stands just three rebounds shy of becoming only the 13th player in team history to reach 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 200 assists in a career.

5. Senior forward Caroline White finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Mercyhurst marking the sixth double-double of her career and her first since Dec. 22, 2019. White canned a career-best five three-pointers in the win as well.

6. Daemen has held 24 of its last 29 opponents to 65 points or fewer, posting a 23-1 record in those contests.

7. Daemen has made at least 10 three-pointers in eight of their last 17 games, including Saturday's season opener vs. Mercyhurst when they canned 11. The Wildcats led the ECC with 8.5 three-pointers per game last season.

8. Daemen is seeking the 15th 2-0 start in program history and the third of the team's NCAA era. Daemen last started 2-0 in 2017-18.

9. Daemen is ranked both regionally and nationally. The Wildcats sit atop the D2SIDA East Region poll for a second consecutive week. On the strength of their season-opening win, the Wildcats jumped up three spots to No. 17 in the D2SIDA national poll. Daemen is included in the national rankings for the first time in the program's NCAA era.

10. Daemen is coming off a 23-5 campaign that resulted in the program's first ECC championship and NCAA tournament berth. The Wildcats have won 15 of their last 17 games dating back to last season, and 38 of their last 45 games dating back to the 2018-19 season.

D'YOUVILLE SCOUTING REPORT

D'Youville is in its first season transitioning from Division III to Division II; the Saints were welcomed as members of the East Coast Conference this past summer
The Saints are led by head coach Dan Glover, a 2010 D'Youville graduate who is now in his ninth season at the helm
D'Youville is coming off the most successful season of Glover's tenure, finishing 18-9 overall and 11-3 in their final season within the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference
The Saints return 11 players – all who played at least 10 minutes per game – including their top eight scorers
Sara Pfeiffer (19.8 ppg) and Danielle Hore (13.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg) lead the returners after earning All-AMCC honors last season; Pfeiffer is a transfer from Division II St. Rose
Hore, Haley Kirisits (7.6 ppg) and Elizabeth Bradley (5.5 ppg) all started at least 24 games a season ago
D'Youville has won nine of their last 11 games
The Saints have not played since a 74-64 loss to Hilbert on Feb. 28, 2020, a span of 329 days
D'Youville's 13-player roster includes nine who competed for Section VI high schools

SERIES HISTORY VS D'YOUVILLE
All-Time Series: Daemen 14-0
At D'Youville: Daemen 6-0
At Daemen: Daemen 8-0
Current streak: Daemen won 14
Last meeting: Daemen 77, D'Youville 38 | February 6, 2003 | Buffalo, N.Y.

DAEMEN QUICK FACTS
Daemen returns 11 players overall, including seven letter-winners and three starters, from last year's team that finished 23-5 overall and shared the ECC regular season title (13-3) before defeating third-seeded New York Tech and fourth-seeded Molloy to capture the program's first-ever ECC Tournament crown. Daemen enters the 2020-2021 season as the favorite in the ECC. The defending champion Wildcats were picked first in the ECC preseason poll for the first time since joining the league in 2013.

HELLO, MY NAME IS…
Daemen earned its first-ever berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament last season. By comparison, the other seven teams that qualified from the East Region had made a combined 67 appearances. Due to COVID-19 protocols, the tournament was cancelled.

POLL POSITION
Daemen is ranked No. 1 in the D2SIDA East Region media poll and No. 17 in the D2SIDA national media poll this week. It marks the first time in the program's NCAA era that Daemen has occupied the No. 1 ranking in the region and been nationally ranked. The Wildcats have now been ranked in 18 successive D2SIDA regional polls, a span that dates back to January 2018.

HISTORIC START
The Wildcats won 21 of their first 24 games last season, which ranks as the best start of their NCAA era and their best start overall since opening the 2003–04 season by winning 26 of their first 29 games. The Wildcats won 13 straight games last year, which is a new program record for most consecutive wins during the program's NCAA era. It was the longest winning streak overall since the 2007-08 season when the Wildcats posted a 17-game winning streak.

THE NEXT STEP
Daemen made its third straight appearance in the ECC Championship in 2020, but did not have a win in the tournament until posting victories over New York Tech (76-56) and Molloy (68-56) to claim its first-ever ECC Tournament title.

20/20
Last year, Daemen reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since the 2012-13 season—and the 16th time in program history.

PICKING UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF
Daemen got the long-awaited 2020-21 season underway Jan. 16 with an impressive 82-64 win over regionally-ranked Mercyhurst, ending a 314-day gap between contests due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Wildcats have won 15 of their last 17 games and are 38-7 since Jan. 11, 2019.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Daemen has held 24 of its last 29 opponents to 65 points or less, posting a 23-1 record in those games. In 2019-20, Daemen collected 256 steals – the team's most since 355 in 2012-13 – and finished the season ranked 13th in the country for scoring defense, allowing just 55.0 points per game.

LONG RANGE THREATS
Last season, Daemen established a new program record for three-pointers made (238) and attempted (752) in a season, besting the previous standards of 236-693 set in 2009-10. Daemen ranked first among ECC teams in three-pointers made per game (8.5) and three-pointers attempted per game (26.9). The Wildcats also ranked third in three-point field goal percentage (.316). All five of Daemen's starters made at least 29 three-pointers on the year. The Wildcats made a program-record 20 three-pointers in an 89-62 win over Queens on Jan. 10, 2020.

SEASON OPENERS
Daemen's 82-64 win over Mercyhurst snapped a two-game slide in season openers. The Wildcats are off to their first 1-0 start since the 2017-18 season when they defeated American International. Daemen is 24-10 in season openers during the program's modern era (1986-present).

PROTECT THIS HOUSE
Daemen's season-opening win over Mercyhurst extended their home-court winning streak to 19 straight games dating back to the 2018-19 season. It ranks as the longest active home winning streak among all East Region teams, as well as one of the top 10 active streaks among all Division II teams. Daemen went 9-0 at home during the 2019-20 season – the program's first unbeaten home campaign since going 13-0 in 2007-08.

BACK IN THE FOLD
No strangers to consistent play, redshirt senior Tiara Filbert and junior Katie Titus top the list of returning players after once again earning all-conference honors in 2019-20. As a redshirt junior, Filbert earned first-team All-ECC recognition after averaging team-highs in points (14.4) and assists (3.7). Titus continued to dominate in the ECC in her sophomore campaign. The second-team All-ECC selection averaged 13.1 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game along with a team-high eight double-doubles. Senior Caroline White ranked third for Daemen in points (12.9) and second in rebounds (7.0) and served as a two-way player en route to the first All-ECC selection of her career. Fellow senior Autumn Buchsenschutz also returns as a key player this season. Junior Mickayla Ivy and sophomore Marina Maerkl also return after being regular rotation players last season.

FRESH FACES
The 2020-21 roster features several newcomers, including Division I transfer Mary Foster (New Hampshire) and freshmen Natalie Angeletti, Alahna Paige and Kaytlyn Matz. Foster spent two seasons at UNH where she appeared in 20 games. As a freshman, the Elmira native averaged 1.4 rebounds in 7.2 minutes. Angeletti won four Section VI Class D championships in five seasons at Panama. In 2020, the Panthers went 20-2 and finished No. 2 in the state poll. Three NYS Class D Final Fours and consecutive state title games (2016-2017) later, the 2020 NYS Class D Player of the Year is their all-time scorer (1,751 points) while also topping 1,000 rebounds. A four-year letter-winner at Irondequoit, Paige scored 28.6 points per game as a senior, was the All-Greater Rochester Co-Player of the Year and Class A All-State first team after leading the Eagles to a 2020 Section VI Class A championship appearance. She is their all-time scorer at Irondequoit with over 1,000 points. A four-year varsity player at Carmel Catholic, Matz won three regional championships and made Sweet 16 and Elite 8 appearances in the Illinois state playoffs. Team MVP as a senior, Matz was honorable mention all-conference and made the Lake County All-Area team.

LETHAL LEFTY
A two-time All-ECC selection, redshirt senior guard Tiara Filbert returns to lead the team after averaging a team-high 14.4 points and 3.7 assists per game last season – both ranking in the top five among all ECC players. Filbert also became just the sixth player in program history and the first since Chelsea Andorka in 2012-13 to total 400 points and 100 assists in a single season. Filbert enters her senior campaign having played in all 85 games of the past three seasons while making 76 starts.

PRESEASON HONORS
In early January, Tiara Filbert was named the ECC Preseason Player of the Year following a vote of the league's head coaches. Coming off her the first All-ECC first team selection of her career, Filbert is the first women's basketball player from Daemen to earn ECC Preseason Player of the Year honors.

MILESTONE MOMENT
With a free throw at the 5:26 mark of the second quarter during Daemen's season-opening win over Mercyhurst, Tiara Filbert reached the 1,000-point plateau for her career, becoming the 25th player in program history to do so. The milestone came as part of a 20-point outing and led to Filbert's third career selection as the ECC Player of the Week. In 86 career games, Filbert has totaled 1,010 points and ranks 23rd on the programs' all-time scoring list.

THE WHITE STUFF
Caroline White returns for her senior campaign after establishing career-highs for points (336), rebounds (181), assists (44) and steals (31) last season. White, who was named to the All-ECC first team, ranked second on the team in rebounding (7.0 rpg), field goal percentage (.439) and minutes (33.7 mpg), as was also third in scoring (12.9 ppg). A tenacious competitor, White ranked seventh among all ECC players in scoring while also leading the league in offensive rebounds per game (3.5). White's junior season also included the first three 20-point games of her career, three double-doubles and two ECC Player of the Week selections. She was additionally named to the ECC Championship All-Tournament Team after averaging 9.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game in Daemen's wins over New York Tech and Molloy. White brings great experience to the team with 81 games and 55 starts under her belt through her first three collegiate seasons.

KATIE BAR THE DOOR
Forward Katie Titus returns after earning All-ECC second team honors and being named the Most Outstanding Player of the ECC Championship last season. Titus totaled a team-high eight double-doubles, led the team in rebounding (8.3 rpg) and finished second in scoring (13.1 ppg). Titus, who ranked fourth in rebounding and sixth in scoring among the ECC leaders, was one of only four players in the league to average at least 13 points and 8 rebounds per contest. She also ranked second in blocked shots (49), eighth in field goal percentage (.454) and 11th in three-point field goals (40). Titus recorded back-to-back double-doubles and averaged 20.0 points and 13.5 rebounds in Daemen's two ECC tournament victories. Titus burst on the scene as a freshman when she led Daemen in scoring (12.1 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg) en route to earning All-ECC first team and ECC Rookie fo the Year honors. She became the first women's basketball player from Daemen to garner a major award from the ECC since the Wildcats joined the conference and also the first freshman to earn All-ECC first team honors since Madison Rowland of Queens College in 2013-14.

NEXT JUMP BALL
Following this weekend's contests, Daemen plays a split home-and-home series with No. 23 Gannon. The Wildcats will trek to Erie, Pa. to face the Golden Knights on Friday, Jan. 29 before hosting them on Sunday, Jan. 31.

Print Friendly Version