Ne'vaeh Buntley holds the ball against Molloy

Max Sacco

Women's Basketball Hosts Crosstown Rival D'Youville In Saturday Action

1/17/2025 12:04:00 PM

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

JUMP BALL
The Daemen University women's basketball team returns to Lumsden Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon for a 12 PM tip off against crosstown rival D'Youville University. The Wildcats come into the match up on a two-game winning streak with a 10-6 overall record and a 6-0 record in East Coast Conference play, while the Saints sit at 4-11 on the year and 2-4 in ECC action.

LAST WEEK
The Wildcats snapped a three-game losing streak with wins over Molloy (74-65) and Queens (64-44) this weekend to improve to 10-6 on the year and 6-0 in ECC action. Daemen is the only remaining team in the ECC with an undefeated conference record. In Friday night's nine-point win over Molloy, the Wildcats were led on both sides of the court by a dominant performance from junior forward Cecilia Lapertosa (Whitesboro, N.Y.) who totaled 15 points, 16 rebounds and five assists on the night. She was one of five Daemen players that scored in the double-digits and shot 43% from the field. Daemen outrebounded the Lions 46 to 37 on the night – including 18 offensive boards. Lapertosa accounted for eight of those O-boards. Freshman forward Ne'vaeh Buntley (Rochester, N.Y.) led the Wildcats with a 17-point performance after shooting 46% from the field. Junior forward Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) finished with 15 points off three triples, a field goal and four free throws. Graduate student guard Danielle DiCintio (Somers, N.Y.) totaled 11 points off a pair of three's and two field goals. Junior guard Joline Raposo (Tampa, Fla.) finished with 10 points – all in the first half – after shooting 66% from the field. The Wildcats then trekked down to Flushing, N.Y. on Sunday and topped Queens 64-44. Leading for all but one minute of game play, the Wildcats went off against the ECC's top defense in the Knights today, shooting 45.6% from the field (26-of-57) and 38% beyond the arc (8-of-21) while standing tall defensively themselves, allowing the home team Queens to shoot just 25% from the field and a meager 16% from three. Three Wildcats scored in the double-digits, with DiCintio leading the charge with a 20-point performance along with Buntley and Lapertosa chipping in 16 and 12 points, respectively.

POLL POSITION
After their 2-0 weekend, the Wildcats moved up to eighth in the East Region in the latest Division II College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) Regional Rankings, released on Monday. The East Region consists of teams from the East Coast Conference, Northeast 10 Conference and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. Bentley (60 points, 6 first place votes) remains atop the region followed by Holy Family (53 points), Southern Connecticut State (49), New Haven (34) and Dominican (33) in the top five. Assumption (32), Saint Anselm (24), Daemen (18), Jefferson (14) and Adelphi (13) are the final five teams in the region.

OFFENSIVE PROWESS
After struggling offensively in their games in the Hoops In Hawaii Classic on Dec. 20-21, the Wildcats have scored 60+ points in each of their last three games, twice scoring 74 points per game. Daemen is now averaging 60 points per game. In the past three games, Daemen has shot 40% or better and six times total this season. In all three games in 2025, the Wildcats scored eight or more triples.

TRIPLE THREAT
Ranking second in the ECC with a .374 three-point field goal percentage, DiCintio ranks 10th in NCAA Division II women's basketball in three pointers on the year (46) and 13th in the nation in three pointers per game (2.88). Daemen's leading scorer this season (12.3 ppg), DiCintio has banked a league-high six triples in a single game twice this season, first in the win against Chestnut Hill on Nov. 21 and again against Queens on Sunday (Jan. 12).

BANK ON BUNTLEY
In the last six games that she's started, freshman forward Ne'vaeh Buntley is averaging 13 points per game while shooting 48.5% and averaging 30 minutes per game over the span of those games. The only Wildcat to earn All-Tournament Team honors from the Hoops In Hawaii Classic on Dec. 20-21, she had a career-high 20 points against Alaska Anchorage while shooting a career-high 72.7% from the field (8-of-11). In Daemen's wins over Molloy and Queens this weekend, Buntley scored 17 and 16 points, respectively, and shot 6-of-13 (46.1%) and 8-of-13 (61.5%) from the field.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will travel to Rochester next Saturday (Jan. 25) to close out the first half of ECC play at Roberts Wesleyan in a 2 PM match up.

SCOUTING THE SAINTS
D'Youville comes into Saturday's matchup with a 4-11 overall record and 2-4 in ECC play, picking up wins over STAC and Queens. The Saints are 2-3 in their last five games and rank ninth out of nine teams in the league with an ECC-low 55 points per game while allowing an average of 60.9 ppg from their opponents. D'Youville is led by 5-foot-9 senior guard Anna Jankovic who averages 11.9 ppg and leads the team in shooting with a 45.1% field goal percentage on the year along with a team-high 8.3 rebounds per year. 6-foot-1 senior Sofie Fuglsang and 5-foot-9 junior guard Morgan Giancaterino each average 8.5 ppg for the Saints.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats own a 21-1 overall record over the Saints and have won the past three meetings between the crosstown rivals.

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.

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

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