ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Daemen University women's basketball team saw its 2023-24 season come to an end following a 76-44 loss to nationally-ranked Texas Woman's University this afternoon in the national quarterfinals of the 2024 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship. The game was played at St. Joseph Civic Arena.

Daemen, which was making its second Elite Eight appearance in the past four years, finishes the year with a 23-8 record. The 23 wins tied a NCAA Division II-era (2015-present) record for wins in a season by the Wildcats. TWU, which was making its first ever Elite Eight appearance and is ranked No. 7 nationally by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), improves to 33-4 and will face 14th-ranked Ferris State University in the national semifinals Wednesday night. FSU advanced with a 60-53 win over the University of Tampa this afternoon.

IMPACT PLAYERS

• Senior Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) led the Wildcats with 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Paige went 3-of-6 from downtown and in the process recorded her 100^th three-pointer of the season.
• Senior Gabby McDuffie (Buffalo, N.Y.) connected on 5-of-11 shots and scored 12 points.
• Sophomore Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) chipped in six points and six rebounds, while classmate Cecilia Lapertosa (Whitesboro, N.Y.) grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and also posted two blocks.
• Paige is expected back next season, but today's game marked the final collegiate game for McDuffie and fellow seniors Natalie Angeletti (Panama, N.Y.) and Kaytlyn Matz (Johnsburg, Ill.).
• McDuffie, who transferred from Niagara County Community College, played in all 56 games over the past two years and totaled 477 points, 211 rebounds, 91 assists and 58 steals.
• Angeletti grabbed five rebounds today. She played in 99 of a possible 100 games over her four-year career and totaled 503 points, 490 rebounds, 102 assists and 55 steals.
• Matz totaled three points and two rebounds today. She also played in 99 of a possible 100 games and totaled 488 points, 263 rebounds, 146 assists, 50 steals and 102 three-pointers.
• Paige, Angeletti and Matz have the led the Wildcats to a 79-21 record over the past four years. Daemen has claimed four East Coast Conference regular season titles, three ECC Tournament titles (2022, 2023, 2024), and has made four NCAA Tournament appearances, three NCAA regional championship game appearances (2021, 2022, 2024) and two Elite Eight (2021, 2024) appearances. Ove the past two seasons with McDuffie in the lineup the Wildcats are 43-13.
• Senior forward Scout Huffman led the Pioneers today, as she connected on 9-of-15 shots and totaled 21 points and nine rebounds. 19 of her 21 points came in the first half.
• TWU All-America forward Ashley Ingram went 12-of-12 from the charity stripe and added 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Junior guard Leila Patel drained four three-pointers and chipped in 16 points and six boards for the Pioneers.

GAME NOTES

• Daemen was making its fifth-straight appearance in the NCAA Division II Championship and its second Elite Eight appearance (2021).
• Daemen has reached 20 wins for the fourth-straight season. The streak does not include the 2020-21 season, as Daemen only played 17 games during that COVID-10 shortened 2020-21 season.
• Today's game marked the fifth time this season Daemen has faced a team ranked in the WBCA Top-25. Daemen finished 3-2 against nationally ranked teams this season. Daemen lost to No. 18 Bentley (76-61) in its 2023-24 season opener on a neutral court and defeated No. 5 Ferris State (61-56) at home on Jan. 3 during the regular season. The Wildcats faced two nationally ranked teams in the NCAA East Regional last weekend. They defeated No. 21 Assumption (68-58) in the regional semifinals and got past No. 3 Jefferson (69-62) to claim its second regional title in the past four years. The win over Ferris State was Daemen's first ever win over a Top-5 program.
• Paige closes out the year with 666 points (21.5 ppg) and a program-record 101 three-pointers. She became the first Daemen player in the Division II era (2015-present) to score 600 points in a single season and is the seventh Daemen player all-time to score 600 in a season. Katie Titus set the previous Division II-era record for points in a season (554) in 2021-22. Paige stands at 1,203 points, 319 assists, 347 rebounds, 111 steals and 171 three-pointers for her career.
• Paige opened today's game with a three-pointer and the Wildcats were down by one, 8-7, when the Pioneers scored 10 unanswered points. A jumper by Huffman with 4:19 left in the first quarter capped the spurt and gave TWU an 18-7 lead.
• Daemen answered with a three-pointer by Matz and a jumper by Paige to make it a six-point game, 18-12, with just over three minutes left in the frame, but the Wildcats went scoreless the rest of the quarter and TWU took a 29-12 lead into the second quarter.
• The lead grew to 21 points, 36-15, after Patel drained a corner three-pointer midway through the second quarter and the Pioneers would take a 43-22 lead into halftime.
• Any chance of a Daemen comeback was put to rest early in the third quarter, as the Pioneers opened the second half with an 13-2 run and took a 56-24 following a layup by Patel with 6:01 left in the third quarter. The Wildcats came no closer than 25 points the rest of the way.
• Daemen shot a season-low 27-percent (17-of-61) from the field today. The Wildcats made 6-of-17 from downtown and canned 4-of-7 from the charity stripe.
• TWU shot 50-percent (10-for-20) in the first quarter and finished 25-of-60 (42%) from the field overall. The Pioneers made 10-of-22 three-pointers and were a perfect 16-for-16 from the free throw line.
• Daemen turned the ball over 19 times and the Pioneers took advantage with a 22-6 edge in points off turnovers.

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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