AMHERST, N.Y. -- For the second straight week, the Daemen University women's basketball team has moved up in the national rankings, coming in at No. 13 in the Women's College Basketball Association (WCBA)
NCAA Division II Top-25 Coaches Poll, and ranking No. 7 in the fourth NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) Women's Basketball Media Poll for 2022-23. The polls were released this afternoon.
This is the third-highest ranking for Daemen in the WCBA poll. The Wildcats were ranked No. 23 in last week's WCBA Top 25, marking the first time they had been ranked in the WCBA poll since the 2021-22 preseason poll. Daemen came in at No. 10 in the third D2SIDA National Poll last week, moving up from 17 in the second and 20 in the first polls of the year.
Daemen is 6-0 on the year, and is off to their best start to a season in the NCAA era (2015-present). The Wildcats are coming off a pair of East Coast Conference wins this weekend, trouncing Molloy 74-56 on Friday night in the ECC opener thanks to 17-point nights for both
Paige Emborsky (Newfane, N.Y.) and
Gabby McDuffie (Buffalo, N.Y.). The Wildcats then topped Queens 61-43 on Sunday to move to 2-0 in ECC play. Daemen has beaten the Knights eight straight times. On average, Daemen is beating its opponents by 13.2 points per game. The Wildcats are one of just 14 teams in NCAA Division II that are still unbeaten on the year, and rank nationally among teams in a number of categories. Daemen is 24th in the nation in field goal percentage defense, they are seventh in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (40%) and are ninth in the nation in scoring defense (points allowed per game).
Along with the national statistic rankings for the team, Daemen's Emborsky is raked nationally for her own stats this season. The graduate transfer guard ranks second in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (70.4%), and 14th in three point shots made per game (3.17). Emborsky picked up her first ECC Player of the Week award for her efforts over the weekend in which she averaged 17.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. The 5-foot-6 guard shot 63-percent from the field (12-of-19) and was an absolute weapon from beyond the arc, finishing 88-percent (8-of-9) for three. Emborsky averaged 29.5 minutes per game, and pulled down 14 rebounds (13 defensive), including snagging a team-high eight rebounds against Queens on Sunday. She was a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point land against the Knights.
Junior guard
Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) put together her two best defensive games of the season in this weekend's ECC opener games, totaling 13 rebounds, eight assists and two steals. In Sunday's 61-43 win over Queens, the junior guard tied Emborsky with a team-high eight rebounds, pulling down seven defensive rebounds in the win. She averaged 29 minutes per game on the weekend, including playing a season-high 37 minutes on Sunday, and finished with 23 total points over the two games. She shot 56-percent from the field (9-of-16), and 57-percent from beyond the arc (4-of-7).
Emborsky and Paige lead the team in scoring on the season, with Emborsky averaging 13.8 ppg and Paige tallying 9.2 ppg.
The Wildcats hit the road for their final ECC matches before Christmas. Daemen heads to Sparkill, N.Y. to take on St. Thomas Aquinas on Friday, Dec. 9, then will face Mercy on Sunday, Dec. 11.
Daemen University 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.
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