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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
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titus wbb vs gannon
Daemen junior forward Katie Titus on fast-break attack in Daemen's loss to Gannon Sunday.
65
Winner Gannon GAN-W 5-1, 0-0 PSAC
56
Daemen DAEW 4-1, 2-0 ECC
Winner
Gannon GAN-W
5-1, 0-0 PSAC
65
Final
56
Daemen DAEW
4-1, 2-0 ECC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Gannon GAN-W 17 14 17 17 65
Daemen DAEW 15 14 17 10 56

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | By Joe Kraus, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Streak Snapped: Golden Knights Hand Wildcats Rare Loss at Lumsden, 65-56

Daemen's home winning streak ends at 20 straight

AMHERST, N.Y. – All streaks eventually come to an end.

For the first time in over two years, the Daemen College women's basketball team lost inside the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium as the Gannon Golden Knights secured a 65-56 victory behind some timely scoring runs, splitting the weekend series of these two nationally-ranked teams. After recording her first double-double of the season against this same Gannon team two nights prior, junior Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) led the way once again for Daemen in the loss, scoring a game-high 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting and knocking down three of her game-high five three-pointers in the third quarter. The loss also denied Daemen their first 5-0 start in program history since 2012-13 and their first in the NCAA era, falling to 4-1 overall. 

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • The reigning East Coast Conference Player and Defensive Player of the Week, Titus tied for a team-high five rebounds along with four steals and three blocks, both team highs, in 35 minutes. Titus now stands 22 rebounds shy of 500 for her career.
  • Senior Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.) scored 15 points and went 9-of-10 from the free-throw line along with tying for a team-high five rebounds and two steals.
  • Fellow veteran Autumn Buchsenschutz (Port Allegany, Pa.) contributed 6 points and a game-high 5 assists in 25 minutes of action.
  • Three players finished in double-digit scoring for Gannon as they move to 5-1 on the season. Redshirt sophomore Sam Pirosko led the Golden Knights with 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting, was a perfect 6-of-6 at the charity stripe and had eight rebounds. Senior Sydney Mitchell scored 14 points along with three assists and three steals. Redshirt senior Emma Wright knocked down a pair of three-pointers and finished with 10 points.

QUARTER-BY-QUARTER SUMMARY
First Quarter (Gannon 17, Daemen 15) – With two ties and three lead changes in the first five minutes of the contest, the Golden Knights held a brief 9-7 lead after Wright's basket. Daemen then responded with consecutive three-pointers from Titus to take a 13-9 lead with 3:02 remaining. After White's jumper gave Daemen their largest lead of the game (15-10) with 2:23 left, the Golden Knights closed the frame on a 7-0 run sparked by Poling's three-pointer.
 
Second Quarter (Gannon 14, Daemen 14) – A floater from Filbert in the early moments of the frame couldn't be supplemented as a three-minute scoring drought from Daemen allowed the Golden Knights to expand their lead to 23-17 with 7:05 remaining thanks to Poling's jumper. Back-to-back baskets from Titus and Natalie Angeletti plus a fast-break basket from Filbert put Daemen in the driver's seat, 25-23, with 4:20 left in the half. Three-pointers from Wright and Pirosko and shots from all over the floor knocked down from Mitchell gave Gannon the 31-29 lead at the half.  

Third Quarter (Gannon 17, Daemen 17) – Daemen erased Gannon's halftime lead in the early stages of the frame as Filbert's free-throws and a three-pointer from Titus gave the Wildcats a 35-31 lead at the 6:24 mark. After exchanging baskets and free-throws, the Golden Knights regained the lead with Piorsko's three-pointer (39-37) with 5:11 left. Gannon and Daemen found more success at the charity stripe before Mitchell's two made attempts gave the Golden Knights a 46-43 lead with 1:18 left, their largest lead of the frame. A jumper from Filbert a few seconds later followed by free-throws from Buchsenschutz with 0:12 left kept the game a one-score contest with Gannon in front, 48-46.

Fourth Quarter (Gannon 17, Daemen 10) – Another Titus three-pointer from Buchsenschutz gave Daemen their first lead (51-50) in over seven minutes before the Golden Knights responded moments later with Nation's jump-shot to take a 52-51 lead with 7:17 remaining. Pirosko's old-fashioned three-point play expanded Gannon's lead to four points (55-51) before Daemen responded with Titus' last three-pointer of the afternoon, once again, from Buchsenschutz as the shot clock expired. The Golden Knights answered with a 9-0 run over the next 4:05 to expand their lead to 63-54 with 2:34 remaining. Titus' fast-break lay-up at the 1:08 mark ended Daemen's scoring drought (63-56) but later became the team's last basket of the afternoon.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Daemen shot 17-of-53 (32.1%) from the floor, going only 7-of-27 in the second half (25.9%). After converting 11 three-pointers Friday night against this same Gannon team, the Wildcats went 6-of-26 (23.1%) beyond the arc but went 16-of-20 from the free throw line.
  • Gannon found success from three-point land, going 6-of-16 downtown (37.5%), converting four of them in the first half. Overall, the visitors shot 23-of-51 (45.1%) from the floor and 13-of-17 from the free throw line.
  • Daemen finished with a slight edge in rebounds, 34-33, while Gannon led in turnovers (18), steals (12) and assists (10). Gannon also had a 22-20 advantage scoring in the paint while the teams were knotted in second chance scoring (12) and scoring off turnovers (19).
  • There were 10 lead changes in the contest.

GAME NOTES
  • Daemen was looking for their first 5-0 start since the 2012-13 season. The 4-1 start in the 2020-21 campaign, however, is the team's best start of the NCAA's era.
  • Today's loss marks the first at Lumsden Gymnasium for Daemen since a 65-56 loss to St. Michael's College on Jan. 5, 2019, ending a 20-game winning streak. This streak was the longest active home winning streak among all East Region teams and was 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.
  • The last four meetings between Daemen and Gannon have been decided by a total of 21 points. Including Daemen's 70-68 win on Friday, Daemen posted a 58-52 win at Gannon two years ago and Gannon recorded a 68-64 win at Daemen during the 2017-18 season.
  • Daemen headed into the weekend ranked No. 13 in the latest Division II Sports Information (D2SIDA) national media poll and sat atop the D2SIDA East Region poll for a third consecutive week. This is also the first stretch Daemen has been included in the national rankings in the program's NCAA era. Gannon entered the weekend ranked No. 21 in the D2SIDA polls.
  • With the loss, the Wildcats are now 19-3 in their 22 games dating back to last season and 41-8 dating back to the 2018-19 season.
  • With the loss, Daemen has held 27 of its last 33 opponents to 65 points or less, and now post a 25-2 record in those games.
  • Daemen returns seven players, including incumbent starters Filbert, White and Titus, from their 2019-20 team that went 23-5 overall and earned the program's first NCAA tournament berth.
     
NEXT JUMP BALL
Daemen continues their East Coast Conference slate when they host long-time rival Roberts Wesleyan for a two-game series on Friday, Feb. 5 at 6 PM and a Super Bowl Sunday matinee at noon on Feb. 7 at Lumsden Gymnasium. Both games will be streamed on the ECC Sports Network.
 
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