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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
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IVY WBB VS RWC
Senior forward Mickayla Ivy and Daemen women's basketball now stand atop the ECC standings following 55-51 win at Mercy Sunday.
55
Winner Daemen DAEW 9-3,7-0 ECC
51
Mercy MERW 10-7,8-1 ECC
Winner
Daemen DAEW
9-3,7-0 ECC
55
Final
51
Mercy MERW
10-7,8-1 ECC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Daemen DAEW 10 18 19 8 55
Mercy MERW 16 6 18 11 51

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | By Joe Kraus, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Wildcats Knock Off Mercy, Stand Atop ECC Standings After Heavyweight Thriller Sunday

Daemen stands as last unbeaten team in ECC play at 7-0 behind Filbert’s 18-point performance

DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. – It's not how you start, it's how you finish.

And despite an early 14-2 deficit against a red-hot Mercy program Sunday, it's safe to say the Daemen College women's basketball team will have an enjoyable bus ride back to Main Street – especially after how they answered the bell down the stretch in this heavyweight battle.

Sparked first by an astounding 28-6 run over the final 14:10 of the first half to erase the large deficit, followed by smaller yet timely stretches late in the contest, the regionally-ranked Wildcats now stand atop the East Coast Conference standings with a 55-51 victory over Mercy in a Sunday matinee held at Victory Hall in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. Redshirt senior Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.) led the Wildcats offensively by scoring 10 of her game-high 18 points in the first half alone and tied her season-high in assists (6) for the third time this season.  

With the victory, Daemen has won nine of its last 11 games (seven straight) and improved to 9-3 overall and 7-0 in East Coast Conference play – now the last unblemished team in the conference. The victory also marked Daemen's 16th consecutive regular season victory in ECC play, a stretch dating back to the team's 9-0 finish against conference opponents in what was an abbreviated 2020-21 campaign due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Daemen entered the contest ranked – for a fifth consecutive week – in the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) East Region poll. With the loss, the Mavericks, who entered Sunday searching for an eighth consecutive win, dropped to 10-7 overall and 8-1 in league play.

Sunday marked the second time this season where Daemen won a contest after scoring less than 60 points, the first in a 54-53 non-conference thriller against Angelo State in the Lady Chap Classic on Nov. 19, 2021. This is also the 13th time Daemen has accomplished this feat since the Jenepher Banker era began in the 2016-17 campaign.

With the speedy guard play of Taysha Bender at the helm, Mercy had the momentum at the start of the contest as they cashed in six Daemen turnovers into eight points to help build a 14-2 lead – including the game's first eight points – with 4:08 left in the opening quarter, following a basket from Asha Talib. Daemen responded with an 8-2 run of their own to close the opening frame as junior Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) scored on back-to-back lay-ups and Filbert dialed in for her first jumper of the game. The late run from the Wildcats concluded in grand fashion as graduate student Autumn Buchsenschutz (Port Allegany, N.Y.) received the pass from Filbert and fired a long jumper shortly before the buzzer, her lone basket of the day. Mercy's lead was narrowed down to six points, 16-10.

Despite Maria Tedesco's early lay-up to end Mercy's scoring drought (18-12) Daemen answered again as a three-pointer from redshirt sophomore Alina Estrella (Brooklyn, N.Y.) tied the score at 18-18 with 6:31 left in the half – the team's first three-point of the conversion of the day. After the teams exchanged leads once, Filbert carried the load for the Wildcats as she converted three more free-throws and found senior Mickayla Ivy (Grand Rapids, Mich.) inside the paint for an eight-point Daemen lead with 1:57 left (28-20.) A basket off the Mercy bench from Jamie Waldron trimmed Daemen's lead to 28-22 at the half.

Mercy made this a three-point contest on three separate occasions to start the third quarter, as Bender made baskets first from the three-point line (30-27) and then again in the paint (32-29), and then, another 1-of-2 effort at the free-throw line from Tedesco (33-30.) A lay-up from Estrella gave Daemen some breathing room and a five-point lead (35-30.) The lead expanded to six points, once more, after another Filbert jumper (38-32) before Mercy found some horsepower with under three minutes left in the frame. A basket by Kelli Nudd, followed by her steal and score to Bender on back-to-back possessions saw the Mavericks trailing 38-36, at the 2:54 mark. A pair of free-throws from Waldron moments later tied the score at 38 with 2:10 left. Daemen responded with a 7-2 run, including a three-point make from freshman Sydney Hvizdzak (Little Valley, N.Y.) and four free-throws from sophomore Natalie Angeletti (Panama, N.Y.), to hold onto a 47-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Hvizdzak picked up right where she left off with her second and final three-point basket of the day on Daemen's opening possession to put the blue-and-white's lead back up to 10 (50-40.) Daemen and Mercy exchanged free-throws and inside shots through the majority of the fourth quarter with the Wildcats' still leading, 54-48, with 3:05 remaining. Mercy's top scorer, Katie Wall, converted her first triple of the day to cut the lead to 54-51 with 1:06 left in regulation. A free-throw from Ivy with 13.4 seconds left was enough to help the Wildcats secure the win.

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • In 40 minutes played, Filbert shot a team-high 6-of-13 from the floor along with eight rebounds and a season-high six assists, a feat she has now accomplished three times this season (versus Felician on Nov. 13 and Stonehill on Nov. 30.) Filbert also finished a team-high 6-of-10 from the free-throw line Sunday and finished in double-figure scoring for the seventh time this season.
  • In 33 minutes of game action, Titus shot 5-of-14 from the floor along with six rebounds and two assists. With the 11-point outing, Titus has now finished in double-figure scoring 11 times in the 2021-22 campaign and in each of Daemen's last eight contests.
  • Ivy finished with seven points, six rebounds and two steals in 29 minutes of game action.
  • After a nine-point outing against St. Thomas Aquinas two nights ago, sophomore Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) was held scoreless in Sunday's matinee but secured five rebounds in 35 minutes of game action.
  • Hvizdzak finished with six points overall following her pair of second-half three-pointers. Along with her game-tying three-pointer late in the second quarter, Estrella finished the day with five points and four rebounds.
  • Bender led the Mavericks offensively with 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting  along with a game-high six steals. Talib finished with 10 points and four rebounds and Waldron scored eight points off the Mercy bench. Mercy's top scorer, Wall, finished 2-of-19 from the floor and 1-of-10 from the three-point line and finished with a team-low five points.
GAME NOTES
  • Tonight marked the 17th all-time meeting between Daemen and Mercy. The Wildcats have now won 12 straight in the series and nine of the last 10 meetings in Victory Hall. Daemen leads the all-time series, 15-2.
  • In the victory, the Wildcats shot 19-of-54 (35.2%) from the floor. Daemen also finished 3-of-18 (16.7%) from behind the arc against the Mavericks, two of which came from Hvizdzak in an 1:27 span between the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth quarter. Daemen had made 10 or more three-pointers four times in a five-game span heading into their Jan. 21 meeting at St. Thomas Aquinas.
  • Daemen finished with 11 assists in Sunday's win and have now recorded double-figure assists in 10 contests this season, including in nine consecutive contests.
  • Daemen also finished 14-of-20 from the free-throw line (70.0%) This marks the fifth time this season, where Daemen appeared at the charity stripe at least 20 times in a contest and the fourth time in the last six games.
  • In the loss, Mercy shot 17-of-54 (31.5%) from the floor and 2-of-20 (10.0%) from three-point land. Daemen is now 8-3 this season when an opponent shoots below 50 percent from the floor. The Mavericks, however, shot 15-of-16 (93.8%) from the free-throw line in today's defeat.
  • While Mercy scored more points off turnovers (21-11) and fast-break opportunities (10-4), Daemen held the advantage in the categories of points in the paint (26-24), bench production (19-8) and second chance scoring (8-2.) The visiting Wildcats also out-rebounded the Mavericks, 33-23, including 13-5 on the offensive glass.
  • Daemen has held 47 of its last 56 opponents to 65 points or less, posting a 43-4 record in those games.
  • Sunday marked the 105th game of Filbert's career and her 18-point effort moved her past Joanna Daugenti '05 for 13th place in career scoring. Filbert now has scored 1,231 points along with 497 rebounds and 297 assists.
  • Titus became the 27th member of Daemen's 1,000-Point Club during a win over Angelo State University earlier this year and her 11-point performance moved her past Mary Kate Wilson '09 for 15th place in career scoring. Titus has now scored 1,183 points along with 679 rebounds and 143 blocks in 85 career games. She is just the fourth player in program history to reach 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks.
  • Daemen is now 60-13 in their last 73 games, a span that dates back to mid January of 2019.
NEXT JUMP BALL
The Wildcats continue their road trip with a short trek to Buffalo to face East Coast Conference rival D'Youville on Tuesday, Jan. 25.
 

Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 18 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 College women's basketball program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenWBB.


 
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