AMHERST, N.Y. – Senior Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) headlined the All-East Coast Conference selections from the Daemen College women's basketball team as she was named the ECC Women's Basketball Player of the Year and selected to the All-ECC first-team today. Titus is one of three Wildcat players to earn All-ECC honors for the 2021-22 season. The announcement of All-ECC teams was made this afternoon in a press release from conference headquarters on Long Island.
For a second straight season, redshirt senior Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.) joined Titus on the All-ECC first-team, each earning this honor for the third time in their respective careers. Senior Mickayla Ivy (Grand Rapids, Mich.) collected all-league honors in consecutive seasons as she was named to the All-ECC third-team.
Head coach Jenepher Banker received ECC Co-Coach of the Year honors after leading the Wildcats to a third consecutive regular season title. It marks the second straight season where Banker been recognized by her peers as the top coach in the conference, sharing this year's award with Joe Pellicane of Molloy College. She is the first to receive this honor in consecutive years since former St. Thomas Aquinas College head coach Kim Lusk (2018-19, 2019-20 seasons).
Titus, a 6-foot forward, joined former teammate Caroline White (2021) as the only women's basketball players from Daemen to be named ECC Player of the Year. She has scored in double figures in 21 of 22 games (18 consecutive) and finished the regular season averaging 20.7 points per game - best in the ECC and among the top 10 scorers across all of NCAA Division II. The conference leader in free-throw percentage (89.3), Titus also ranks fourth in the ECC in field goal percentage (46.0), fifth in three-pointers made (57) and 10th in rebounds per game (8.7) and total blocks (24). Titus has been named the ECC Player of the Week five times and ECC Defensive Player of the Week three times – the most for any player in the league in both categories this season.
In 95 career games, Titus has made 87 starts and totaled 1,413 points, 745 rebounds and 151 blocked shots. The 2021-22 ECC Preseason Player of the Year, Titus ranks eighth all-time in career scoring, 10th in career rebounding, seventh in career blocks, third in career three-point field-goals made (187) and first in free-throw percentage (.854) in program history. She is the first player to record 1,400 points, 750 rebounds, 150 blocks and 150 three-point field goals in program history. Today's announcement marks the third major ECC award of her career. She was named the ECC Rookie of the Year following the 2018-19 season, and last spring was named the ECC Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Earlier this season, Titus became the first Daemen women's basketball player to be named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Team.
Filbert was named to the All-ECC first team for a third consecutive season. A one-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week selection, the 5-foot-9 guard has scored in double figures in 12 contests and leads the team in assists per game (4.0). Filbert is also second among Daemen players in points (11.0), rebounds (7.1) and steals per game (1.1). For a second straight season, Filbert leads all Wildcat players in minutes per game (33.2). Among ECC leaders, Filbert ranks fifth in assists per game and inside the top-20 in points per game and rebounds per game. Filbert recorded her 1,000th career point in Daemen's win over Mercyhurst to kick off their COVID-19 abbreviated 2020-21 campaign and has now scored 1,339 points in 115 career games (106 starts). Filbert enters the ECC tournament ranked 12th in career points and tied for ninth in career assists (339) among Daemen's all-time leaders.
Filbert and Titus, who are both now four-time All-ECC recipients, are joined on the All-ECC first-team by Gabriella Aspuru and Safiyyah Lee of Molloy, Katie Wall of Mercy and Sara Pfeiffer of D'Youville. Aspuru was also named the ECC's Defensive Player of the Year.
After a breakout year where she was named to the All-ECC second-team last winter, Ivy was named to the All-ECC third-team for the 2021-22 campaign. So far this season, the 5-foot-10 forward has started all 22 contests and is third on the team in points (9.3) and rebounds per game (6.1). She reached double-figure scoring 11 times, including in 10 of Daemen's last 18 contests. Ivy recorded just the second 20+-point performance of her career in the team's season-opening loss versus St. Anselm (75-70). Among the ECC leaders, Ivy ranks third in field goal percentage (.491) and inside the top-20 in rebounds per game. After recording only four starts through her first two seasons, Ivy has now appeared in Daemen's starting lineup in 39 consecutive contests since the start of the 2020-21 season.
Ivy is joined on the All-ECC third team by Latavia Jackson and Destiny Ryles of District Columbia, Chelsea Reeves of Queens and Jenalyse Alarcon of Staten Island.
With Banker at the helm, Daemen has developed into one of the most consistent teams in the ECC and NCAA Division II East Region. This winter, the Wildcats finished the regular season at 18-4 overall and 16-1 in ECC play and clinched a third consecutive ECC regular season title. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Wildcats are now 55-12 overall (38-4 ECC), punched their tickets to the NCAA tournament in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, won the 2021 NCAA Division II East Regional championship and advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in the program's NCAA era (2015-present). Earlier this season, Banker recorded her 150th career win at the collegiate level with a 76-59 win at Staten Island on Dec. 17. Now in her sixth season as head coach at Daemen, Banker owns a career record of 96-54 with the Wildcats – 73 of those wins coming since the start of the 2018-19 season. Daemen is now 69-14 in its last 83 games, a span that dates back to mid-January of 2019. Daemen is also 57-9 in East Coast Conference play since the start of the 2018-19 season.
Since the 2007-08 season, Banker is now the fifth head coach to receive the prestigious honor multiple times. She joins Queens College head coach Bet Naumovski (2012-13, 2016-17), Deirdre Moore of LIU Post (2013-14, 2017-18) and the aforementioned Lusk (2010-11, 2018-19, 2019-20 at St. Thomas Aquinas) and Pellicane (2008-09 and 2011-12 at Dowling, 2021-22 at Molloy) on the list.
Including finishing as co-champions with St. Thomas Aquinas in 2020, Daemen is now the third program in ECC history to win the regular season title in three consecutive seasons. The Wildcats are the first to accomplish the feat since the University of New Haven (now in NE-10) did so from 2006-08. The College of St. Rose (now in NE-10) still holds the league record for most consecutive ECC regular season championships when they won in each year from 1995 to 2000 – the last four accomplished with unbeaten records.
Top-seeded Daemen (18-4) will face long-time rival, fourth-seeded Roberts Wesleyan, in the first semifinal contest of the 2022 ECC Championship on Saturday, March 5 at 12 p.m. at Lumsden Gymnasium. Second-seeded Molloy then squares off with third-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas at 3 p.m. The 2022 ECC Championship final is scheduled for Sunday, March 6 at 12 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.
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