Wildcats Are Near Unanimous Pick Atop ECC Preseason Poll

10/21/2021 2:06:00 PM

By: CONTACT: Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications | (716) 839-8385 | mmiranto@daemen.edu

AMHERST, N.Y. – Daemen College has been picked first in the East Coast Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Poll following a vote of the league's 10 head coaches, the conference announced today. It marks the second straight season that Daemen has been tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the league.

Daemen, which owns a 37-6 conference record over the last three seasons, garnered nine of the 10 first-place votes in the poll, totaling 97 points. They were followed by last season's conference tournament winner Roberts Wesleyan (83 points). Third place St. Thomas Aquinas (77 points) and fourth place Molloy (76 points) both had more than 70 points in the poll voting, rounding out a clear-cut top four. Molloy grabbed the lone remaining first-place vote.

Long-time ECC members Queens (47 points), District of Columbia (46 points), Mercy (40 points) and Bridgeport (39 points) occupy poll positions five through eight. D'Youville will be in its second season as a conference member, and the Saints were picked ninth with 24 points. Staten Island, which is transitioning from Division III like D'Youville, was picked 10th with 21 points to start their inaugural season in the conference.

Daemen features 13 returning players from their 2020-21 team that finished with a 14-3 overall record during a season that was greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges, coach Jenepher Banker led her team to a 9-0 run through conference play - the program's first unbeaten conference campaign since 2003-04 - to finish first in the ECC standings for a second consecutive season. After being upset in the final round of the conference tournament, the Wildcats regrouped to win the program's first-ever NCAA Division II East Region championship, advancing to the Elite Eight.

Senior Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) and grad student Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.) headline the Daemen returners. Titus, who was named the ECC Preseason Player of the Year today, averaged a career-high 14.8 points and added 8.1 rebounds per game last season en route to her third All-ECC selection. Filbert is also a three-time All-ECC honoree. She returns after being limited to just eight games last season due to injury. The 25th member of the program's 1,000 point club, Filbert has appeared in 93 games and holds a career scoring average of 11.8 points per contest.

Incumbent starters Mickayla Ivy (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) also return. Ivy is coming off a breakout season in which she established career-highs in scoring (9.4 ppg), rebounding (6.5 rpg), assists (2.3 apg), minutes (26.1 mpg) and field goal percentage (.520). Paige, a 5-foot-4 sophomore guard, was the ECC Rookie of the Year last season when she averaged 6.7 points and a team-high 3.3 assists per game. All told, the Wildcats return players responsible for 78% of their scoring, 81% of their rebounds and 85% of their assists from last season.

The Wildcats open the 2021-22 season with an exhibition contest at Division I Buffalo on November 4. The regular season gets underway November 12-13 with Daemen playing in the Redhawks Classic hosted by Roberts Wesleyan. The conference slate begins December 8 with the Wildcats hosting Roberts Wesleyan - a rematch of both the conference and regional tournament finals.

EAST COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL
1. DAEMEN (9) - 97
2. Roberts Wesleyan - 83
3. St. Thomas Aquinas - 77
4. Molloy (1) - 76
5. Queens - 47
6. Dist. Columbia - 46
7. Mercy - 40
8. Bridgeport - 39
9. D'Youville - 24
10. Staten Island - 21

( ) denotes first-place votes

Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 18 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.

Follow the Daemen College women's basketball program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenWBB.

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