Sophie Auer action against St. Thomas Aquinas

Women's Basketball Resumes ECC Play On The Road At Molloy, Queens

1/9/2025 12:07:00 PM

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

BACK IN CONFERENCE PLAY
For the first time in almost a month, the Daemen University women's basketball team returns to East Coast Conference play as they travel downstate to play a pair of games at Molloy University and Queens College on Friday, Jan. 10 and Sunday, Jan 12, respectively. The Wildcats are looking for their first win since beating Mercy on Sunday, Dec. 15 and have lost three straight games against non-conference opponents and come into this weekend's games with an 8-6 overall record and 4-0 record in ECC play. Molloy is 7-6 on the year and 1-1 in conference games, while the Knights come into the weekend with a 7-5 record and 2-0 record in ECC games. Queens and Daemen are the only two teams with undefeated conference records.

REGIONAL POLL
The Wildcats are ranked 10th in the latest Division II College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) East Region Poll, released on Tuesday. The East Region consists of teams from the ECC, Northeast 10 and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC). Daemen is the only ECC team in the East Region top-10 rankings and has been regionally ranked throughout the season.

LAST GAME OUT
Daemen took RV Indiana University (Pennsylvania) to the very end last Friday in their final non-conference game of the season, but in one of their highest scoring games of the year lost to the Crimson Hawks, 77-74, in a back-and-forth dual. It was an incredible offensive performance for the Cats who struggled to put up points in their two games in the Hoops in Hawaii Classic on Dec. 20-21. Daemen shot a season-high 51.9% from the field after going 27-of-52 on the court tonight in a game that saw four different Wildcats score in the double-digits. Junior forward Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) led Daemen offensively with 19 points on the night, 13 of those coming in the second half. Junior forward Cecilia Lapertosa (Whitesboro, N.Y.) totaled 16 points after shooting 77.8% from the field (7-of-9), sophomore guard Sophie Auer (Lewiston, N.Y.) finished with 15 points off five field goals, a triple and four of four free throws and graduate student guard Danielle DiCintio (Somers, N.Y.) posted 15 points after tallying 3-of-6 beyond the arc.

ECC DOMINATION
The Wildcats are one of two teams left in the conference with an undefeated ECC record, coming into this weekend at 4-0 in league games. Winners of the past five ECC regular season titles and four of the past five ECC Tournament titles, Daemen is 96-10 in regular season conference games. The Wildcats have win streaks against all eight ECC teams, with their longest being an 11-game win streak against Queens and a nine game win streak against Molloy, both of whom the Wildcats will face this weekend.

UP NEXT
Daemen will host crosstown rival D'Youville next Saturday (Jan. 18) in a noon match up at Lumsden Gymnasium.

SCOUTING THE LIONS
Molloy comes into this weekend's game with a 7-6 overall record and a 1-1 record in ECC play, falling in their conference opener by seven points to Queens on Dec. 7 but got back on track with a big win at Roberts Wesleyan on Dec. 15. The Lions have the league's top scoring offense, averaging 66.6 points per game, and hold their opponents to 61.2 ppg for the ECC's biggest scoring margin, 5.4 ppg. Molloy's high scoring offense features three players averaging double-digit points, with 5-foot-11 senior forward Samantha Muller leading the charge averaging 12.2 ppg along with 6.4 rebounds per game. 5-foot-11 junior guard Sophia Yearwood is Molloy's biggest deep threat with a .458 three-point shooting percentage and is scoring 11.9 ppg while 5-foot-9 junior guard Rosa Rizzitelli leads the team with 6.7 rebounds per game and averages 10.9 ppg.

ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats have a 19-4 win record over the Lions and have won the past nine match ups between the two teams dating back to 2020.

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
The only other team besides Daemen with an undefeated ECC record, Queens sits at 7-5 overall and 2-0 in ECC games so far this season. The Knights average 59.3 points per game and lead the conference in scoring defense with a league-low 56.2 points per game, just ahead of Daemen (57.7 ppg). Queens is led by the sophomore phenom Jalea Abrams, a 5-foot-8 sophomore guard who ranks third in the league in scoring with 16.7 points per game and is a threat all over the court with 33 triples on the year. 5-foot-5 freshman point guard Ashley Chio is averaging 11 ppg with a team-high 44 assists, and the Knights' 6-foot sophomore forward Nkiru Awaka is a force down low, leading the team with a 52% shooting percentage (9.1 ppg) and averages 9.4 rebounds per game along with 21 blocks on the year.

ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats are riding an 11-game win streak over Queens and are 11-9 all-time against the Knights.

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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