AMHERST, N.Y. -- Daemen University women's basketball senior guard Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) was named the East Coast Conference Player of the Year and was one of three Daemen players to be named to the 2023-24 All-ECC teams. Along with Paige, Mercy's Angelina Barrera was named the Defensive Player of Year, Nkiru Awaka of Queens earned Rookie of the Year and Mercy head coach Scott Lagas was named Coach of the Year.

Paige earned First Team All-ECC honors for the first time in her four-year career, while senior guard Gabby McDuffie (Buffalo, N.Y.) was named to the All-ECC Second Team, and sophomore forward Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) earned Third Team All-ECC honors. This marks the fourth consecutive year, and fifth time in six seasons, that a Daemen player earned one of the ECC's top honors. Mickayla Ivy was named the 2022-23 ECC Defensive Player of the Year, Katie Titus was the 2021-22 Player of the Year, Caroline White was the 2020-21 Player of the Year along with Paige being named 2020-21 Rookie of the Year, and Titus was the 2018-19 Rookie of the Year. Daemen has produced at least one all-conference selection in each of the previous eight seasons. 

A four-year Daemen starter, Alahna Paige led the ECC throughout the year in scoring, averaging 21.7 points per game -- second-most in NCAA Division II women's basketball. In her senior season, the 5-foot-4 guard became the 28th player in program history to score 1,000 career points, and broke the 10-year Daemen school record for single-season triples (78). She leads the nation with 3.36 three pointers per game, and continues to extend the school record, totaling 84 triples while shooting an ECC-high 41% from beyond the arc. She leads the Wildcats and ranks third in the league in field goal percentage (41%) and ranks second in the ECC with an 86% free throw percentage. A starter in all 25 games who averages 36 minutes per game, Paige led the Wildcats offensively in 21 of Daemen's 25 games this season, and scored career-high points in five separate games, including finishing with a career-high 36 points in the pivotal win against St. Thomas Aquinas on Feb. 16. On top of being the league's best shooter, Paige also dishes the rock to her teammates, leading the Wildcats and ranking sixth in the ECC with 2.9 assists per game (79 total). A three-time ECC Player of the Week, Paige earns All-ECC honors for the second straight season and continues Daemen's streak of having at least one First Team All-Conference player for each of the last nine seasons.

Gabby McDuffie, a 5-foot-9 guard, picks up her first All-ECC honors, landing on the Second Team after a very successful senior campaign. A one-two-punch offensively alongside Paige's prowess this season, McDuffie started all 25 games and averaged 10.6 points per game, shooting 36% from the field, 27% from beyond the arc and 73% from the free-throw line, while also averaging 4.4 rebounds per game and 2.2 assists per game. Scoring in the double-digits in 14 games this season, she scored a season-high 23 points against Roberts Wesleyan at home on Dec. 2. In her second season as a Wildcat, McDuffie scored her 1,000th career point this season. She was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 ECC Tournament. 

Claire Pikett, a 6-foot sophomore forward, put together a solid sophomore season to earn Third Team All-ECC honors for the first time in her career. As the Wildcats' third highest scorer on the team, the sophomore averages 9.2 points per game. A sharpshooter, Pikett is shooting 51% from the field (91-of-178), 47% from beyond the arc (14-of-30) and ranks second on the team in blocks (26) and fifth in rebounds (4.0 per game). Pikett has started all 25 games for the Wildcats this season, and tallied double-digit points in 13 games on the year, including a career-high 20 points against Staten Island on Jan. 12. 

Daemen's all-conference honorees lead the Wildcats into the postseason this weekend (March 9-10) at Lumsden Gymnasium. The top-seeded Wildcats will face fourth-seeded District of Columbia in the first of two ECC Championship semifinal games on Saturday at noon on the Daemen campus. Second-seeded Mercy will face third-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas in the other semifinal game on Saturday at 2:30 PM. The two semifinal winners will play in the championship game on Sunday (March 10) at noon for the ECC Tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. 

---

Daemen 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.

Follow the Daemen women's basketball program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenWBB.