Morgan White holds the ball at the top of the key

Geoff Schneider

Crosstown Rivalry On Tap For Women's Basketball

2/21/2025 8:30:00 AM

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

FINAL ROAD TEST
The Daemen University women's basketball team will make the short jaunt across town to play at crosstown rival D'Youville University on Saturday, Feb. 22 in a 1 PM tilt at D'Youville's Saints Center Gym. The Wildcats come in as the East Coast Conference regular season champions for the sixth straight season and are 14-0 in ECC play and 18-6 overall. D'Youville is fifth in the league at 6-8 and comes in with an 8-15 overall record this season while riding a three-game win streak.

ECC CHAMPS
Daemen won their sixth straight ECC regular season title in Sunday's 61-52 win over Queens. As the top seed in the tournament, the Wildcats will host the 2025 ECC Championship Tournament at Lumsden Gymnasium on March 8-9. Over the past six seasons since winning the program's first ECC regular season title in 2019-20, Daemen is 78-10 in conference games and has also won the ECC Tournament Championship four times, including the past three seasons.

LAST WEEKEND
Daemen remains undefeated, 14-0, in ECC play and improved to 18-6 over the weekend after topping Molloy (69-64) and Queens (61-52) in their final two-game homestand and clinched their sixth consecutive ECC regular season title. In Friday's victory, Daemen shot 46% from the field, going 23-of-50 and tying a season-high 50% beyond the arc (14-of-28). For the seventh game this season, Buntley scored a career-high, leading all players with 23 points on the night after shooting 66% from the field and 62% beyond the arc. The freshman forward was one of four Wildcats to drop double-digit points in the win. Graduate student guard Danielle DiCintio (Somers, N.Y.) totaled 18 points off six triples. Junior guard Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) finished with 13 points off a pair of three's, a layup, and five free throws. Sophomore guard Sophie Auer (Lewiston, N.Y.) totaled 11 points after shooting 50% from the field (4-of-8) while adding six rebounds and six assists. The Wildcats overcame a Queens team that surged in the second half, 61-52, on Sunday after shooting 38% from the field (25-of-66) and was just 24% (6-of-11) beyond the arc. Junior forward Cecilia Lapertosa (Whitesboro, N.Y.) led the Wildcats offensively with 17 points after going 50% from the field (6-of-12) along with seven rebounds including four offensive boards. Buntley totaled 14 points, DiCintio and Auer both finished with nine points and Pikett posted a team-high nine rebounds in the win.

ECC ROOKIE OF THE WEEK X2
For the second straight week, Ne'vaeh Buntley was named the ECC Rookie of the Week after averaging 18.5 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per game. In Friday's win over the Lions, the freshman forward notched a career-high 23 points after going 8-of-12 from the field, with five of those eight buckets coming from beyond the arc. Buntley notched her first double-double of her young career, totaling 12 rebounds as well while adding two blocks, two steals and one assist on the night. In Sunday's victory over the Knights, Buntley totaled 14 points after going 44 percent from the field (7-of-16) along with seven rebounds and one block.

REGIONAL POLL
The Wildcats remain ranked fifth in the East Region in the Week 13 Division II College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) regional poll, released on Monday night. The East Region consists of teams from the East Coast Conference, Northeast 10, and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. The Wildcats have been ranked in the top 10 in the region throughout the season. Bentley (6 first place votes, 60 points) remains atop the region followed by Holy Family (53 points), Southern Connecticut State (45), Dominican (41) and Daemen (38) in the top five. Saint Anselm (30), Jefferson (26), New Haven (15), Staten Island (13) and Assumpion (7) are the final five teams in the region.

CONFERENCE STANDINGS
With two games left to play in the regular season, the Wildcats sit atop the ECC with a perfect 14-0 record in conference games. Staten Island is second in the league at 11-2 in ECC play. The top two teams in the league get a bye going into the ECC Tournament (March 8-9). The next four teams will play to advance to the ECC Semifinals (March 8). Mercy is third at 8-5, and District of Columbia rounds out the top four at 6-7. D'Youville is fifth in the ECC at 6-8, Molloy is sixth (5-7), Queens is seventh (4-8), Roberts Wesleyan (2-10) eighth and St. Thomas Aquinas (2-11) is last in the league.

School	Games Played	ECC Record
Daemen	14	14-0
Staten Island	13	11-2
Mercy	13	8-5
District of Columbia	13	6-7
D'Youville	14	6-8
Molloy	12	5-7
Queens	12	4-8
Roberts Wesleyan	12	2-10
St. Thomas Aquinas	13	2-11

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will host Roberts Wesleyan next Saturday (March 1) on Senior Night in their regular season finale.

SCOUTING THE SAINTS
D'Youville comes into Saturday's game sitting at fifth place in the league after a pair of wins over Queens (78-48) and Molloy (66-57) this weekend and jumped back into the final push for the playoffs. The Saints are 6-8 in ECC play and 8-15 overall this season and rank seventh in scoring offense (57.4 ppg) and fifth in defense (60 ppg) on the year. The Saints are led by 5-foot-9 senior guard Anna Jankovic who is averaging 11.9 ppg and 9.0 rebounds/game and ranks fifth in the league in field goal percentage (45.5%) and second in the ECC in three-point shooting (36.4%), as well as 6-foot-1 senior guard Sofie Fuglsang who averages 11.7 ppg and has 12 blocks on the year.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats are 22-1 all-time against the Saints and have won the past four meetings, including topping D'Youville 65-59 in the first matchup this season on Jan. 18.

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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