Geoff Schneider

#18 Daemen Takes on Rival D'Youville in Penultimate Regular Season Game

2/20/2026 12:00:00 PM

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

HEADING ACROSS TOWN
The #18 Daemen women's basketball team plays its penultimate game of the regular season on Sunday, heading across Buffalo to take on rival D'Youville at 1:30 p.m. The Wildcats currently hold a 20-3 record, including a 13-1 ECC mark. Daemen is tied with Mercy at the top of the conference standings with two games remaining.

LAST TIME OUT
Daemen fell 58-54 to Mercy last Friday in a tight battle that came down to the fourth quarter. Ne'vaeh Buntley (Rochester, N.Y.) scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds. Joline Raposo (Tampa, Fla.) added 11 points and tallied three steals while grabbing five rebounds. Shyla Montgomery (Brockton, Mass.) posted 12 points and recorded four steals. Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) contributed 13 points, collected eight rebounds, and blocked three shots. The Wildcats then bounced back with a 70-51 win over St. Thomas on senior day Sunday, aided by a strong defensive performance. Daemen logged 19 steals, marking the fifth consecutive game it has recorded 14 or more. The Wildcats also forced 31 Spartan turnovers, scoring 33 points off of them. Julia Fontanillo (Valladolid, Spain) scored 11 points, including one three-pointer, and added two steals. Brianna Caliri (Staten Island, N.Y.) contributed 10 points, collected seven rebounds, and recorded one block. Montgomery posted five steals, three assists, and scored six points. Pikett recorded four blocks and three steals while scoring nine points.

NATIONALLY-RANKED 'CATS
The Wildcats moved to #18 in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) NCAA Division II Coaches' Poll. Daemen is ranked for the seventh consecutive week and the eighth time this season. The Wildcats are 9-2 at home, 9-0 on the road, and 2-1 in neutral-site contests. The team is also 2-1 against nationally ranked opponents, with wins over #24 Holy Family (66-61) and #18 Bentley (75-62) and a loss against #5 Gannon (57-50).

EAST REGION RANKINGS
Daemen was one of 10 teams in the East Region listed as under consideration for NCAA bids in the first NCAA Division II women's basketball rankings released by the regional advisory committee. The regional rankings are used to determine at-large bids to the East Regional portion of the NCAA Tournament following conference tournaments at the end of the season. The 10 teams in the East Region, which are listed alphabetically for the first set, are: American International (15-8), Assumption (17-6), Bentley (18-3), Daemen (20-3), Felician (19-6), Holy Family (19-3), Mercy (17-6), Saint Anselm (12-8), Saint Michael's (11-11), Southern Connecticut State (18-5)

1,000 CAREER POINTS AND ECC WEEKLY HONOR ROLL FOR PIKETT
Pikett reached 1,000 career points on senior day against STAC on Sunday. She became the 29th player in program history to reach this milestone. Pikett was also named to the ECC Weekly Honor Roll on Monday. She averaged 3.5 blocks, 3.0 steals, and 5.0 rebounds per game while recording 11.0 points per game, helping the Wildcats go 1-1. Pikett posted three steals and three blocks while grabbing eight rebounds, including seven defensive rebounds, and scoring 13 points against Mercy on Friday. The senior tied her season high with four blocks, recorded three steals, and grabbed two rebounds in a win over STAC. She helped hold the Spartans to 50 points and 30.4% shooting from the field, including a 26.1% mark from three.

DISHING IT OUT
Fontanillo has logged 17 assists in the last five games, averaging 3.4 per contest in that span. She posted two against STAC last Sunday. The junior recorded a career-high seven at CSI (Feb. 8) and posted four against UDC (Feb. 6). She also logged four against Roberts Wesleyan (Jan. 31). Additionally, Fontanillo tallied six against Franklin Pierce (Jan. 3) and five against Chestnut Hill (Nov. 23), Queens (Dec. 5), and Mercy (Dec. 12).

IN THE RANKINGS
Buntley leads the team and ranks third in the ECC in scoring (16.4 PPG). Pikett is the conference leader in steals (3.6 SPG) and ranks tied for third in blocks (1.6 BPG). Montgomery is second in the conference steals (2.7 SPG), while Buntley (1.8 SPG) is ninth, and Raposo is 10th (1.7 SPG). Montgomery is also tied for fourth in assists (3.0 APG) while Fontanillo is tied for 10th (2.7 APG). As a team, the Wildcats lead the ECC in scoring (71.9 PPG) and have held their opponents to a conference-leading 56.1 PPG while sitting second in assists per game (15.22).

DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE
Daemen leads the ECC in steals per game (16.0 SPG), ranking fifth nationally. The Wildcats also lead the conference and sit 11th nationally in blocks per game (4.9 BPG). Daemen also leads the ECC and sits 10th nationally in blocks per game (5.0 BPG). The Wildcats have logged double-digit steals in all but one game this season. This past weekend, Daemen logged 14 steals and six blocks against Mercy and 19 steals and seven blocks against STAC. The Wildcats posted 19 steals at UDC and 18 at CSI. Daemen recorded 23 steals at Molloy (Jan. 18) and 22 at Queens (Jan. 16), its second and third most in a game this season, respectively. Daemen 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.

PERFECT IN JANUARY
Daemen went undefeated in January (8-0), with ECC wins over Roberts Wesleyan (86-49), D'Youville (63-45), Molloy (73-60), Queens (81-43), Staten Island (78-52), and the University of the District of Columbia (67-54). The Wildcats logged their second win over a nationally ranked opponent on Jan. 1, defeating #18 Bentley, 75-62. Daemen then beat Franklin Pierce 76-42 two days later, wrapping up its non-conference slate.

SCOUTING THE SAINTS (10-12, 7-7 ECC)
D'Youville is coming off a 60-46 loss to Mercy last Sunday after defeating St. Thomas Aquinas 47-41 on Friday. Freshman Molloy O'Toole leads the team in scoring (14.1 PPG) and rebounding (7.3 RPG), while logging 2.0 assists per game. Fellow freshman Alyssa Neumann is averaging 9.9 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and a team-leading 1.3 blocks per game. Morgan Giancaterino has posted 7.4 PPG, 2.6 APG, and 3.3 RPG. As a team, D'Youville has held its opponents to 60.3 points per game, ranking third in the ECC. The Saints also rank third in assists per game (13.95).

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats are 23-2 all-time against the Saints, after earning a 63-45 win at home on Jan. 23. The teams split the regular season series last season with Daemen topping D'Youville 65-59 at home before falling 67-58 on the road.

UP NEXT
Daemen concludes the regular season with a trip to Rochester on Wednesday, taking on Roberts Wesleyan at 6 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.

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