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Western New York's Premier Division II Team
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Titus wbb vs dyc
Geoff Schneider
Katie Titus' 37-point night helped Daemen women's basketball clinch a third straight ECC regular season title Thursday at Molloy.
71
Winner Daemen DAEW 17-4,15-1 ECC
54
Molloy MOLW 15-9,12-5 ECC
Winner
Daemen DAEW
17-4,15-1 ECC
71
Final
54
Molloy MOLW
15-9,12-5 ECC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Daemen DAEW 16 14 23 18 71
Molloy MOLW 14 8 14 18 54

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

Three-Peat: Wildcats Clinch Third Straight ECC Regular Season Title In 71-54 Win Versus Molloy

Titus drills seven three-pointers to tie Daemen’s NCAA-era record as part of 37-point night

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – Three is a magic number.

Behind a 37-point performance from senior Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) and an offensive unit that recorded 21 assists on 29 field goals, the Daemen College women's basketball clinched their third straight East Coast Conference regular season title with a 71-54 victory against Molloy Thursday night in Quealy Gymnasium.

The victory gave the Wildcats the No. 1 seed in next month's ECC championship tournament and the right to host the semifinal and final rounds in Lumsden Gymnasium. More information on game dates and times will be announced after the competition of the ECC regular season this weekend.

With the victory, Daemen improved to 17-4 overall and 15-1 in ECC play. Molloy, who had clinched the No. 2 seed for the ECC Tournament in a home win versus Roberts Wesleyan, dropped to 15-9 overall and 12-5 in ECC play.

Molloy opening the scoring with a pair of baskets to take a 4-0 lead just over two minutes into the first quarter. Daemen then responded with four consecutive scores to take an 8-4 lead with 5:11 left in the opening frame. Sophomore guard Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) was the catalyst for the Wildcats as she set up Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.) and Titus on consecutive lay-ups before ending the rally with a drive to the basket herself. A jumper from Cameron Corbett stopped the Lions' scoring drought and kicked off an 8-2 run with contributions coming from their top play-maker Gabriella Aspuru and ended by a Trinity Hudson lay-up with 1:45 remaining (14-10 Molloy.)

That seemed to wake up the Wildcats, who responded with a 20-8 run over the last 11:45 of the first half. Off back-to-back assists from graduate student guard Autumn Buchsenschutz (Port Allegany, N.Y.), Titus connected from beyond the arc twice – the second time with only 0:06 left – to give the Wildcats a 16-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Titus knocked down her third three-pointer of the half and later drew the old-fashioned three-point play to end a 14-0 run and put Daemen up by double-digits with 8:14 left in the second quarter (24-14 Daemen.) Molloy chipped away with a late run and brought the deficit to within five points, 27-22, with 3:18 left. A three-pointer from sophomore Natalie Angeletti (Panama, N.Y.) with 2:29 left ended the first half scoring. Daemen went into the break with a 30-22 lead.

Behind four three-pointers on four consecutive attempts from Titus – the last three off Paige's assists – the Daemen offense kept rolling in the third quarter. After an old-fashioned three-point conversion from Molloy's Saffiyah Lee to bring the game within 10 (37-27 Daemen) with 7:12 left, back-to-back triples from Titus and an inside score from Angeletti expanded Daemen's lead back up to 17 points (44-27.) Titus' lone inside conversion in the frame – on a cut to the basket from Filbert – gave her 30 points on the night and a 50-31 Daemen lead with 1:38 remaining. Her fourth and final three-pointer came with 0:54 left in the frame and the Wildcats had a 53-36 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Titus later ended her strong offensive performance with one last drive to the basket to give Daemen a 61-48 lead with just over five minutes remaining in regulation. Baskets from sophomore Katylyn Matz (Johnsburg, Ill.), Ivy and Paige were enough to keep the Lions at bay over the last four minutes of regulation. Matz's second basket in this stretch officially ended the night's scoring with 0:21 left and helped Daemen secure the ECC regular season championship.

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • In 36 minutes played, Titus shot a game-high 14-of-23 from the floor along with six rebounds, a season-high five assists and three blocks. Titus also finished 7-of-9 from downtown, which tied Daemen's program record for the most three-point shots in Daemen's NCAA-era (2015-present), joining former teammate Ashli Jeune '20 (vs. Queens, Jan. 10, 2020) and current teammate Alahna Paige (vs. St. Thomas Aquinas, Feb. 28, 2021) as the only Daemen shooters to accomplish this feat. The 37-point outing also had Titus finish one point shy of her career-high 38-point game against Bridgeport on Dec. 12, 2021, which tied the record for most points scored in a single game for Daemen during this same era. It marked the fifth time this season – and the third time in the past four games – that Titus has scored 30 or more points. Titus has now reached double-figure scoring 20 times (17 consecutive.)
  • In a team-high 38 minutes played, Filbert scored eight points on 4-of-9 shooting along with a game-high 12 rebounds, three assists and three steals.
  • In 33 minutes played, Paige tied her career-high of eight assists, a mark she set earlier this season in a home win versus Queens on Jan. 16, 2022. Seven of those assists tonight came on scoring plays from Titus. Paige has now recorded five or more assists 11 times thus far in her Daemen career.
  • In 30 minutes played, Ivy finished with eight points along with seven rebounds. Matz added six points, three rebounds and two assists in 36 minutes played. Angeletti contributed five of Daemen's eight points off the bench.
  • Senior guard Gabriella Aspuru led Molloy with 22 points on 10-of-19 shooting while graduate student forward Safiyyah Lee added 13 points and eight rebounds in tonight's loss.
GAME NOTES
  • The Wildcats entered the game ranked 10th in the second of three NCAA Division East Region rankings leading up to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Selection Show on Sunday, March 6.
  • Today marked the 18th all-time meeting between Daemen and Molloy and the first since the Wildcats' 61-58 victory on Jan. 14 held at Lumsden Gymnasium. The Wildcats have now won four straight in the series and lead the all-time series, 14-4. Daemen is also 10-2 all-time against Molloy in the Jenepher Banker era (2016-present.)
  • In the victory, the Wildcats shot 29-of-63 (46.0%) from the floor. Daemen also finished 9-of-22 (40.9%) from behind the arc against the Lions, five of which came in the first half alone.
  • Daemen recorded 21 assists on 29 field goals in tonight's win, including 14 assists on 18 field goals in the second half alone. The Wildcats have now dished 20 or more assists eight times this season and 10+ assists in 18 straight games.
  • Daemen finished 4-of-7 (57.1%) at the free-throw line against the Lions, marking only the fourth time this season where the Wildcats did not record 10 or more free-throw attempts in a single contest. Including tonight's win, the blue-and-white are 4-0 this season in this category.
  • In the loss, Molloy shot 22-of-62 (35.5%) from the floor and 1-of-17 (5.9%) from three-point land. Daemen is now 16-4 this season when an opponent shoots below 50 percent from the floor. The Lions, however, shot 9-of-10 (90.0%) from the charity stripe in today's defeat.
  • While Molloy had more second-chance points (13-6) and steals (13-7), Daemen held the advantage in points in the paint (38-30), points off turnovers (17-8), fast-break points (8-0) and total rebounding (39-34.)
  • Daemen has held 54 of its last 65 opponents to 65 points or less and are 49-5 in those games.
  • With the 37-point performance, Titus now stands just four points shy of moving into eighth all-time in career scoring among Daemen's all-time leaders. Titus has now scored 1,400 points along with 739 rebounds and 150 blocks in 94 career games (86 starts.) Her three blocks tonight against Molloy was enough for her to pass Monica Kosior '13 for seventh all-time in career blocks. Titus is also now just two rebounds shy of moving into the Top-10 in career rebounds. Titus also currently stands third all-time in career three-pointers (186) and is 14 away from becoming the third player to convert 200+ three-pointers in a Daemen career. Titus is just the fourth player in program history to reach 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks.
  • Thursday marked the 114th game (105th start) of Filbert's career. Filbert is currently 12th in career scoring with 1,332 points and passed Julie Bellavia '91 for sole possession of 10th place in career assists (337.) Filbert has also recorded 573 career rebounds and 135 career steals. Filbert is just the sixth player in program history with at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists.
  • Daemen is now 68-14 in its last 82 games, a span that dates back to mid-January of 2019. Daemen is also 56-9 in East Coast Conference play since the start of the 2018-19 season.
NEXT JUMP BALL
The Wildcats close out the regular season and East Coast Conference play when they travel to Queens College on Saturday, Feb. 26. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.
 

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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