BUFFALO, N.Y. – In a back-and-forth affair that came down to the wire, the Daemen University women's basketball team was upset by D'Youville 60-51, marking the first time that the Saints beat the Wildcats the history of the matchup, a crosstown rivalry that spans 18 games and dates back to 1986. Daemen moves to 10-3 on the year and 5-2 in East Coast Conference play, while D'Youville 6-9 overall and 5-3 in ECC action.
The Wildcats and Saints traded baskets from the jump, with Daemen taking a one-point lead into the second quarter but D'Youville hanging around throughout the second to enter halftime up 26-25. The fourth quarter was the difference maker in this game. D'Youville outscored Daemen 21 to 8 in the fourth. The Wildcats shot 38-percent from the field (22-of-58) and made just three three-point shots out of 13 attempts, with all three buckets coming from the game-leading scorer
Paige Emborsky (Newfane, N.Y.), who was the only Wildcat to score in the double digits as she banked a career-high 19 points in the loss.
Daemen travels to the nation's capital this weekend for a Saturday afternoon matchup with District of Columbia.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Emborsky shot 7-of-12 (58-percent) from the field and 50-percent (3-of-6) from beyond the arc and banked two free throws. She snagged five rebounds, the second-most on the Wildcats on the day.
- D'Youville sophomore guards Stella Mollica and Anna Jankovic combined for 33 points. Mollica led the way for the Saints with 18, while Jankovic knocked down all three of D'Youville's three-point shots and tallied 15 total points on the day.
- Freshman forward Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) pulled down a season-high six rebounds, and added two blocks and an assist to her stat line.
- Daemen sophomore forward Julia Hauer (Binghamton, N.Y.) totaled nine points, banking 4-of-10 from the field with two rebounds and two steals.
- Junior guard Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) scored eight points, shooting 44-percent (4-of-9) from the field. She tallied a team-high six assists as well as two rebounds and a steal.
GAME NOTES
- Playing from behind from the jump, the Wildcats trailed by as much as 6-1 in the first before storming back with layups by Hauer and Paige and a jump shot by Emborsky to take a one point lead, 11-10, after the first quarter of play.
- Emborsky led all scorers in the first quarter with six points.
- Daemen took the largest lead of the game (until the final minute of play) with a six-point lead late in the third. The Wildcats led 43-39 at the end of three quarters, with Emborsky's 17 points accounting for 40-percent of Daemen's points through 30 minutes of play.
- The Wildcats committed eight fouls in the fourth quarter, including two technical fouls, with four of those fouls coming in the final minute of play. D'Youville accumulated seven points off free throws in the fourth.
- Daemen was out-rebounded 39 to 32 on the day, with D'Youville picking up 12 offensive boards and 27 defensive rebounds.
- Prior to tonight's nine-point loss, the Wildcats had an 18-game win streak against the Saints that was the third-longest win streak in program history, and the longest active streak.
- Including tonight, two of three of Daemen's losses on the season have come in conference games.
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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