Women's Basketball pregame against Saint Michael's

Geoff Schneider

Wildcats On The Road At Chestnut Hill, Host Saint Anselm This Week

11/20/2024 11:07:00 AM

By: CONTACT: Mary Margaret Johnson, Director of Athletics Communications | mmjohnso@daemen.edu

JUMP BALL
The Daemen University women's basketball team will play a pair of games this week, first traveling to Chestnut Hill College for a 12:30 PM tipoff on Thursday, Nov. 21 before returning to Lumsden Gymnasium for a noon tilt against Saint Anselm College on Sunday, Nov. 24. The Wildcats come into the week with a 1-3 record after picking up their first win of the season and stopping a three-game skid while Chestnut Hill comes in at 1-4 on the year and Saint Anselm is 2-1.

LAST WEEK
The Wildcats went 1-1 on the week. Daemen played hard but dropped a close match up against #11/#3 ranked Gannon University on Wednesday, 55-39, and shot 33.3% (18-of-54) from the field while being held without a triple for the first time under head coach Jenepher Banker. Sophomore guard Sophie Auer (Lewiston, N.Y.) led the Wildcats with a career-high 14 points while snagging seven rebounds. Junior forward Cecilia Lapertosa (Whitesboro, N.Y.) finished with 10 points and nine boards while junior Shyla Montgomery (Brockton, Mass.) tallied a team-best three assists along with seven points. Daemen earned their first win of the season in a commanding 67-49 victory over Saint Michael's College on Sunday. The Wildcats were balanced offensively in the victory, with 10 players recording points to finish with 23 points off the bench. Lapertosa led Daemen with 12 points after shooting 80% from the field and pulled down nine rebounds. The Wildcats shot 41% (25-of-61) from the field and knocked down 9 of 26 triples and out-rebounded St. Michael's 38 to 34 on the day. Graduate student guard Danielle DiCintio (Somers, N.Y.) was 3-of-7 from beyond the arc and finished with nine points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Auer totaled 9 points after shooting 50% (4-of-8) from the field, 1-of-3 from beyond the arc, and totaling 5 rebounds, six assists and one steal. Freshman forward Ne'vaeh Buntley (Rochester, N.Y.) finished with nine points after going 4-of-9 from the field while adding six rebounds and two steals in 18 minutes of play.
Montgomery totaled 8 points after knocking down her first two triples of the season.

SOPH & CECE
Starting in all four games so far this season, sophomore guard Sophie Auer and junior forward Cecilia Lapertosa have made an impact for the Wildcats thus far. Lapertosa has scored double-digits in all four games while Auer has scored in the double figures in three of the four, and both players have put up 44 points to lead the team with 11 ppg. Lapertosa is leading the team with a 50% shooting percentage on the year, going 18-of-36, while Auer is shooting 43.5% (20-of-46) from the field. The two Wildcats rank 13th and 14th in the league in scoring. Daemen's leading rebounder in 2023-24, Lapertosa again leads the Wildcats at the boards, averaging 7.5 rebounds per game (30 total), good for fourth in the league.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
Over the past few years, Daemen has excelled at Lumsden Gymnasium. The Wildcats have won 28 of the last 29 games at home and held a 23-game home win streak from 2021-22 to 2023-24 before dropping their sole home loss to Mercy, 68-64, in February to snap their streak. Since that loss, the Wildcats have won the past five games on home court.

UP NEXT
Daemen will travel back to Philadelphia to play at Holy Family on Sunday, Dec. 1 in a 1 PM matchup.

SCOUTING THE GRIFFINS
Chestnut Hill comes into Thursday's game with a 1-4 record on a three-game skid after dropping games against Millersville, Adelphi and Bloomsburg over the past week. Three of the Griffins' four losses were within seven points or fewer. Chestnut Hill is averaging 70.2 ppg and is shooting 41.3% on the year and are led by a trio of players that are averaging double-digits per game. 5-foot-6 sophomore guard Bridie McCann, a transfer from Division I Siena, leads the Griffs with 13 ppg after scoring 15+ in three games so far. 5-foot-11 senior guard Bri Rider is averaging 10.2 ppg and has a 55.8% field goal shooting percentage while leading CHC with 6.4 rebounds per game. 5-foot-5 junior guard Avery White averages 10.2 ppg, team-highs in assists (24) and steals (8) and 4.8 boards per game. This will be the first meeting between the Wildcats and Griffins in program history.

SCOUTING THE HAWKS
Saint Anselm opened up the season dropping their first game of the year in a 65-67 heartbreaker to Mercy but rebounded with a 38-point victory over Georgian Court and a big 74-72 win at American International and come into this weekend's match up tied for 10th in the D2CSC East Region poll. The Hawks are averaging 74.3 ppg while holding opponents to 61.7 points per game. 6-foot-2 senior forward Melanie Hoyt leads the Hawks offensively with 20 ppg and ranks 22nd in the nation with a 63.6% field goal percentage after going 28-of-44 on the year. Junior guard Tatum Forbes is averaging 14 ppg and leads the team with 9.5 rebounds per game while freshman guard Addisen Sulikowski chips in 13.7 ppg and 6.3 boards per game and sophomore guard Elise MacNair adds 10.3 ppg.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats are 0-5 all-time against Saint Anselm.

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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