Rich Barnes

Women's Basketball Set for Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic

12/19/2025 10:00:00 AM

By: CONTACT: Connor Griffin, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications | cgriffin@daemen.edu

HOLIDAY HOOPS
The #25 Daemen women's basketball team plays its final games of the 2025 calendar year at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic at South Point Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The Wildcats take on Texas A&M Kingsville on Saturday before battling Montana State Billings on Sunday.

LAST TIME OUT
Daemen won its first two ECC road games of the season last weekend, improving to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play. The Wildcats defeated Mercy 60-49 last Friday after pulling away in the second half. Daemen's defense recorded 17 steals during the win. Ne'vaeh Buntley (Rochester, N.Y.) scored 19 points and collected six rebounds. Shyla Montgomery (Brockton, Mass.) added 13 points, recorded five steals, and grabbed nine rebounds. Cecilia Lapertosa (Whitesboro, N.Y.) contributed 12 points and posted three blocks. Julia Fontanillo (Valladolid, Spain) dished out five assists and tallied three steals. On Sunday, Daemen defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 65-55. A strong opening quarter saw the Wildcats score 21 points, establishing an early lead that they maintained throughout the game. Buntley scored 16 points and collected nine rebounds, while Sophie Auer (Lewiston, N.Y.) led the scoring with 17 points, on 8-of-11 (72.7%) shooting. Lapertosa added 10 points while logging four steals and two blocks. Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) contributed 13 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks.

NATIONALLY-RANKED WILDCATS
The Daemen women's basketball team is ranked #25 nationally in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) NCAA Division II Coaches' Poll. The Wildcats are ranked in the WBCA poll for the first time since April 2024, when they were tabbed #12 in the final rankings of the season. Daemen was also ranked #25 in the final D2CSC poll of the 2024-25 season. The Wildcats are raked after an 8-1 start, including a win over #24 Holy Family on Nov. 30.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
Buntley and Lapertosa were named to the ECC Weekly Honor Roll on Monday. Buntley averaged 17.5 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game while recording three steals and three assists last weekend. She scored a team-high 19 points, grabbed six rebounds, and recorded two steals in the win over Mercy. The sophomore then scored 16 points, collected a season-high nine rebounds, logged a season-high three assists, and recorded a steal against STAC on Sunday. Lapertosa averaged 2.5 steals per game, 2.5 blocks per game, and 7.0 rebounds per game, while also averaging 11.0 points per game. She helped hold Daemen's opponents to a combined 52.0 points per game and 29.6% shooting from the field. Last Friday, the senior logged three blocks and a steal, while grabbing seven rebounds, including four defensive rebounds. On Sunday against STAC, Lapertosa tied her season-high with four steals, while recording two blocks and seven rebounds, including five defensive rebounds.

IN THE RANKINGS
Buntley leads the team and ranks third in the ECC in scoring (16.2 PPG). Lapertosa is tied for eighth in the conference in scoring (13.1 PPG), seventh in rebounding (7.6 RPG), second in blocks (2.1 BPG), and eighth in field goal percentage (46.2%). Pikett is the conference leader in steals (3.4 SPG), and she sits sixth in blocks (1.4 BPG). Montgomery (2.1 SPG), Joline Raposo (Tampa, Fla.) (2.0 SPG), Auer (1.9 SPG), and Lapertosa (1.8 SPG) sit 4th-7th in the ECC in steals. Montgomery is also 10th in assists (2.8 APG) while Fontanillo sits one spot behind her (2.7 APG).

DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE
The Wildcats recorded 36 steals against Wilmington on Nov. 14, the most in a game in the program's Division II era. Raposo broke the program record (Division II era) for steals in a game with nine, while Pikett logged eight and Montgomery posted six. Additionally, the Wildcats had 10 blocks in the contest, led by freshman Brianna Caliri (Staten Island, N.Y) with three and Jalea Abrams (Elmira, N.Y.) with two. On Nov. 15, the Wildcats logged 18 steals with seven from Pikett while Lapertosa and Auer each snagged two. Caliri registered two of Daemen's five blocks in the contest. The Wildcats logged 17 steals and seven blocks against Mercy last Friday, then recorded 13 steals and six blocks against St. Thomas Aquinas last Sunday. The Wildcats lead the ECC and sit fifth nationally in blocks per game (6.33 BPG). Daemen also leads the conference in steals per game (15.44), sitting tied for 10th nationally.

NEW LEADER
Nate Beutel was named the Head Women's Basketball Coach at Daemen in September. Beutel has more than a decade of coaching experience. He served as the head women's basketball coach for 13 successful seasons at SUNY Niagara, where he led the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II program to 314 wins. The six-time NJCAA Region III Div. II Coach of the Year and five-time NJCAA Div. II East District Coach of the Year developed nearly 50 All-Region players, including eight NJCAA Div. II All-Americans and seven Region III Div. II Players of the Year. Following his 13 years as the head coach at SUNY Niagara, Beutel made the jump to the Division I level this summer, being named the Director of Basketball Operations and an Assistant Coach at the University at Buffalo. He takes over the reins following the retirement of Jenepher Banker in August after nine seasons leading the Wildcats.

SCOUTING THE JAVELINAS (0-7, 0-3 LSC)
Texas A&M Kingsville is still searching for its first win of the season, but has played a very competitive schedule, including games against #21 Colorado Mesa, #5 Texas Woman's, and two other opponents receiving votes. The Javelinas fell 82-40 in an exhibition against Division I UTSA on Monday. TAMU Kingsville is led offensively by Justine Aguliar (8.0 PPG). Thalia Daniels is averaging a team-best 5.9 rebounds per game, also averaging 6.9 PPG. Addisyn Parker leads the Javelinas in assists (2.3 APG) and steals (1.4 SPG) while averaging 6.7 PPG.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats and Javelinas will be meeting for the first time.

SCOUTING THE YELLOWJACKETS (6-7, 0-2 GNAC)
MSU Billings is coming off a 60-41 victory over Adams State on Monday after defeating Lethbridge Polytechnic 89-42 last Saturday. Kyla Momberg leads the Yellowjackets in scoring (10.8 PPG). Kaitlin Grossman is averaging a team-best 8.2 RPG while also averaging 9.0 PPG. Allison Kunze is second on the team in scoring (9.9 PPG), shooting 61.5% from the field. Brooklynn Brennan is averaging a team-best 3.0 assists per game.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the first meeting between the programs.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will ring in 2026 with a New Year's Day road game at Bentley at 2 p.m.

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 and Instagram at @DaemenWBB

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