ROCHESTER, N.Y. – FIVE STRAIGHT!!! The Daemen University women's basketball team earned their fifth consecutive East Coast Conference title with a 64-59 win over Roberts Wesleyan in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon to move to 18-7 on the year and 13-3 in ECC play and clinch the top seed and hosting rights in next weekend's ECC Tournament. The Wildcats will host the ECC semifinals and championship games at Lumsden Gymnasium next Saturday and Sunday (March 9-10) after getting a first-round bye in the quarterfinal game on Wednesday.
 
Despite the Redhawks outscoring the Wildcats in the first and fourth quarters, Daemen's hot second quarter ended up as the difference-maker in this one. The Wildcats shot 37% (23-of-63) from the field in the win, connecting on just two of 18 triples in the game but shot 80% (16-of-20) from the charity stripe while out-rebounding the Redhawks 47 to 28 in the game, pulling down a season-tying high 15 offensive boards in the game. The ECC's leading scorer Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) tallied her 14th 20+ point outing, leading all players on the court with 22 points. Senior guard Gabby McDuffie (Buffalo, N.Y.) finished with 16 points in the win this afternoon. Three Daemen seniors – Natalie Angeletti (Panama, N.Y.), Kaytlyn Matz (Johnsburg, Ill.) and Paige – won their fourth straight ECC regular season title as a Wildcat.
 
IMPACT PLAYERS

• After being named the Daemen Athletics February Female Athlete of the Month on Friday, Paige shot 48% (10-of-21) from the field and finished without a triple for the first time all season. Paige was 2-of-3 from the free throw line and added four defensive boards, two assists and a team-high three steals in the game.
• Playing in her final regular season game, McDuffie made just three from the field but was clutch from the charity stripe today, banking all 10 from the line. The senior guard tallied four rebounds – including two offensive board – and added two assists and a steal to her stat line.
• Matz, a senior forward, played 31 minutes in this one and was the only Wildcat to connect beyond the arc, going 3-of-10 from the field and knocking down 2-of-7 for three to finish with eight points. Matz added four defensive boards, one assist and one steal in her last regular season game as a Wildcat.
• Forwards Julia Hauer (Binghamton, N.Y.) and Cecilia Lapertosa (Whitesboro, N.Y.) each finished with six points but were absolute units under the net, with Lapertosa totaling nine rebounds – five offensive – and Hauer finishing with eight boards in the game. Lapertosa added two assists and a steal and was the only Wildcat to tally a block in the game.
• Angeletti finished with seven rebounds – three offensive boards – and three points in her final regular season game.

GAME NOTES

• With their fifth consecutive ECC regular season title this afternoon, the Wildcats are just one away from tying Saint Rose's ECC record of consecutive titles (6 from 1995-2000).
• The Wildcats came into the week ranked No. 7 in the second of three NCAA East Region Rankings. The NCAA announces 10-team rankings for each of the eight regions across the country for three successive weeks leading up to the NCAA Championship selection announcement, which will be made this year on Sunday, March 10. 
• Paige was named the ECC's Player of the Week for the second consecutive week, and the third time this season, on Monday. As the ECC's leading scorer, Paige is averaging 21.7 ppg, the third-most in NCAA Division II women's basketball, leads the league in three-point percentage (41.8%), and ranks second in the nation with 3.5 triples per game. 
• It was a high scoring start to this game between the No. 2 and No. 4 ranked scoring offenses in the ECC, with Daemen and Roberts combining for 17 points in the first five minute of the game. After a pair of McDuffie free throws made it a one-point game, the Redhawks went on a 7-2 run to take a six-point lead, but a pair of buckets by Hauer and Paige in the final minute of the first ended the first quarter with Roberts up, 18-16. Six Wildcats scored in the first quarter, with Paige leading the way with six first-quarter points.
• The Wildcats and Redhawks traded points in the second quarter until Daemen went on a 9-2 run to take a five-point lead with 2:30 left in the half. Daemen led 35-30 at the half after outscoring Roberts 19-12 in the quarter while shooting 39% (7-of-18) from the field.
• Daemen outscored Roberts 19-15 in the third and never relinquished a lead, finishing the quarter up 54-45 after shooting 41% (7-of-17) from the field and out-rebounding the Redhawks 14 to 7 in the quarter. Paige led the way with nine third-quarter points for the Wildcats.  
• Daemen held onto a lead in the fourth quarter, taking as much as a 60-53 lead over the Redhawks with five minutes left in the game. Roberts didn't go down without a fight, though, scoring six unanswered points in four minutes to make it a one-point game, 60-59, with one minute left to play. Paige banked a jumper with 43 seconds left in the game to give the Wildcats a three-point lead. Following a Roberts foul, McDuffie banked both free throws to lift Daemen up by five, 64-59, and that's where the score would stay.

UP NEXT
The top-seeded Wildcats will host the lowest remaining seed in the first ECC semifinal game on Saturday (March 9) at 12 PM at Lumsden Gymnasium.

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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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