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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
White wbb vs lubbock christian
Jay LaPrete
Caroline White and Daemen women's basketball saw their season come to a close Tuesday night in the national quarterfinals against Lubbock Christian.
49
Daemen DAEW 14-3,9-0 ECC
66
Winner Lubbock Christian LCU 21-0,13-0 Lone S
Daemen DAEW
14-3,9-0 ECC
49
Final
66
Lubbock Christian LCU
21-0,13-0 Lone S
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Daemen DAEW 14 7 12 16 49
Lubbock Christian LCU 20 8 21 17 66

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

Wildcats Bow Out To Lady Chaps in Columbus

Daemen’s historic season ends with first ever Elite Eight trip

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Six months ago, the Daemen women's basketball team wasn't even sure if they were going to play one game this season, let alone make a postseason run.

Even though the outcome Tuesday night wasn't what they had intended, the team heads back to Main Street knowing they just completed an incredible journey and one that will be remembered by Daemen fans for years to come.

Only trailing by seven points (28-21) at the half, eighth-seeded Daemen saw their season end against top-seeded Lubbock Christian, 66-49, in the national quarterfinals held at the Greater Columbus (Ohio) Convention Center. The Wildcats, who had their NCAA Tournament debut canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic last March, finished the 2020-21 campaign with a 14-3 overall record.

With the victory, Lubbock Christian, who won the last national championship in 2019, improves to 21-0 on the season and are still owners of the longest winning streak in Division II basketball, now at 33 straight games.

Daemen entered tonight's game with the note of getting ranked in every Division II national poll released since mid-January on their resume and came in at No. 16 in the latest Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) media poll and No. 15 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II top 25 coaches poll. Before this season, the Wildcats had not been nationally ranked at any point in the program's NCAA era. With the loss, Daemen is now 2-2 against nationally ranked opponents this season and faced the No. 1 ranked team for the first time tonight.

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • Senior forward Caroline White (Fairport, N.Y.) finished with a game-high 20 points (11 in the first half alone) on 7-of-16 shooting along with nine rebounds in 40 minutes played. With the performance, White crossed the 20-point mark for the fourth time this season and the seventh time in her career. She also passed Jillian LaPoint '05 for 23rd all-time in program history. In 98 career games, White has scored 1,032 points along with 589 career rebounds.
  • Junior forward Mickayla Ivy (Grand Rapids, Mich.) played 28 minutes and finished with 10 points and three rebounds and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. Ivy finished the season in double-figure scoring six times in the last 12 games.
  • Junior forward Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) scored all nine of her points from beyond the arc, including two second-half three-pointers. Titus also had seven rebounds and a block in 29 minutes played.
  • Freshman guard Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) finished with four points at the charity stripe and a team-high four assists.
  • LCU finished with three players in double-figure scoring. Senior forward Emma Middleton led the Lady Chaps with 17 points on 8-of-15 shooting along with six rebounds and three assists. Fellow veterans Ashton Duncan and Allie Schulte finished with 12 points apiece, while Schulte and Madelyn Turner tied for the team-high in assists (4).

QUARTER-BY-QUARTER
First Quarter (Lubbock Christian 20, Daemen 14  ) – Lubbock Christian set the tone early, jumping out to a 7-2 lead with 7:32 remaining. A three-pointer from Daemen's Titus cut the deficit to a basket (7-5) before the Lady Chaps jumped out with an 8-0 run of their own, including back-to-back three-pointers from Madelyn Turner and Emma Middleton to take a 15-5 lead with 3:37 remaining. Daemen responded rather quickly as White scored seven straight points (a three-pointer and two jumpers) and Ivy added a pair of free throws to have the Wildcats only trailing by six after the first 10 minutes of play.

Second Quarter (Lubbock Christian 8, Daemen 7) – Both teams went into a scoring drought until a put-back in the paint from White at the 7:04 mark brought the deficit down to four points (20-16). A basket inside from Marina Maerkl at the 5:29 mark brought the deficit down to three points (22-19) before the Lady Chaps found success in the paint to extend their lead to 28-21 with under two minutes remaining. During LCU's scoring spree, the Wildcats went on a four-minute scoring drought, which ended with a pair of free-throws from White with 1:28 remaining. Both teams had a few scoring opportunities to end the half but with no avail.

Third Quarter (Lubbock Christian 21, Daemen 12) – Daemen had a strong coming out of the break as Titus connected off passes from Paige from beyond the arc to cut LCU's down to three, 32-29, with 6:36 remaining. However, the Wildcats went on a nearly five-minute scoring drought, which the Lady Chaps took full advantage of going on a 12-0 run of their own (44-29), which was part of a 17-4 run to end the quarter. A pair of free-throws from Paige at the 1:48 mark stopped Daemen's bleeding and only trailed 44-31. However, the momentum swung back to the Lady Chaps courtesy of a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Allie Schulte to take a 49-33 lead heading into the fourth.

Fourth Quarter (Lubbock Christian 17, Daemen 16) – White scored her final seven points of the contest in this frame for the Wildcats but the Lady Chaps kept finding success beyond the arc with three more three-pointers and had their largest lead of the game with 5:48 left (60-38). Freshman Natalie Angeletti (Panama, N.Y.) scored the final points of Daemen's season with a pair of free-throws with 14.5 seconds remaining.


INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Daemen shot 14-of-45 (31.1%) from the floor and went 5-of-14 (35.7%) in the first quarter alone. The Wildcats made 4-of-16 three-pointers and went 17-of-20 from the free-throw line.
  • Lubbock Christian shot 26-of-67 (38.8%) from the floor and went 9-of-19 (47.4%) in the third quarter. The Lady Chaps finished 9-of-27 from beyond the arc, converting four of them in the first quarter. LCU finished a perfect 5-of-5 at the free-throw line.
  • While the teams tied in total rebounds (36), LCU also finished with an edge in points off turnovers (20-5), points in the paint (30-14) and points off the bench (15-4).

POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCE WITH HEAD COACH JENEPHER BANKER & SENIOR FORWARD CAROLINE WHITE

 
GAME NOTES
  • Tonight's game against Lubbock Christian was the first time in program history Daemen played against a team from the state of Texas.
  • LCU entered the game leading the country in scoring defense and scoring margin and ranked fourth in field goal percentage defense. Daemen, meanwhile, entered leading in field goal percentage defense, second in scoring defense, third in rebounding margin and sixth in scoring margin
  • Daemen was without the services of redshirt senior Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.) for the ninth-straight game. The ECC Preseason Player of the Year and first-team All-ECC selection, she is averaging 13.3 points per game this season and ranks 20th among Daemen's all-time leading scorers with 1,096 points in 93 career games.
  • Titus has now registered at least one block in 16-straight games. She has totaled a league-high 40 blocks this season and has become the 11th player in program history to record 100 career rejections. She ranks ninth in career blocks at Daemen with 127.
  • Daemen finished the season holding 15 of their 17 opponents to less than 40-percent shooting from the field and forcing 15 or more turnovers in 13 of its 17 games. The Wildcats forced only six turnovers tonight in the loss.  
  • Dating back to last season, Daemen has held 38 of its last 45 opponents to 65 points or fewer, posting a 35-3 record in those contests.
  • With the 14-3 finish, Daemen has now finished with a record over .500 for the third straight season. This is also the fifth straight season the Wildcats have finished in double-figure wins under head coach Jenepher Banker.
  • Women's basketball became the first program from Daemen to win a NCAA Tournament regional championship since the Wildcats first became eligible in 2015. Women's volleyball advanced to the regional finals in 2016, but dropped a 3-2 decision to American International College.
  • Daemen became just the fourth women's basketball team from the East Coast Conference to win a NCAA Regional title, joining Saint Rose (2000), Dowling (2013) and Queens (2017).
  • Daemen has won 29 of its last 34 games dating back to last season, and are 51-10 dating back to the 2018-19 season. The Wildcats entered the season coming off an impressive 2019-20 campaign when they finished 23-5 overall, claimed their first-ever ECC tournament title and earned their first-ever selection to the NCAA Division II Championship.

Daemen College features the premier 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.

Support Daemen College's return to intercollegiate athletic competitions by making a contribution to the Game On Campaign and the Daemen Wildcats Gotta Play Fund. This comprehensive fundraising campaign was established to help offset the loss of valuable external revenue streams that directly support Daemen's 17 varsity teams. To learn more, visit daemenwildcats.com/gameon.
 

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