AMHERST, N.Y. – Senior Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) of the Daemen University women's basketball team has been named the 2023-24 Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) Women's Basketball All-America Team, as announced by the organization today. She becomes the second player during Daemen's NCAA era (2015-present) to garner All-America honors from the D2CCA, joining Katie Titus who collected first team honors in 2021-22.
Paige has enjoyed a stellar season and has racked up numerous awards along the way. She was recently named D2CCA East Region Player of the Year and first first team All-Region, and was also voted first team All East Coast Coast Conference (ECC) and the ECC Player of the Year. She was also named MVP of both the ECC Tournament and the NCAA Division II Tournament East Regional.
The 5-foot-4 guard led the ECC and currently ranks third in NCAA Division II women's basketball with 21.5 points per game. She also ranks second nationally in three-pointers per game (3.26) and 21st in three-point field goal percentage (.398).
She started all 31 games for the Wildcats this season and scored in double figures in every game. She scored 20 or more points in 18 games and netted 30 or more points three times, including a career-best 36 points in Daemen's win over St. Thomas Aquinas on Feb. 16. She led the Wildcats in total points (666), points per game (21.5), free throws made (129) and attempted (151), three-pointers made (101) and assists (96). She also ranked second on the team in steals (39) and fourth in rebounds per game (4.1). With her 26-point outing against Saint Rose in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament she became the first Daemen player in the Division II era (2015-present) to score 600 points in a single season. She crushed Daemen's 10-year program record for most three-pointers in a season (77), previously set by Raeann Stilwell in 2013-14 and became the 28th player in program history to score 1,000 career points.
She has played in 99 of a possible 100 games (96 starts) over the past four seasons and has totaled 1,203 points, 171 three-pointers, 347 rebounds, 310 assists and 111 steals. She ranks 16th among Daemen's all-time leaders in career points and sixth in career three-pointers. She is just the eighth player in program history to total 1,000 points and 300 assists. Her 666 points this season rank as the fourth most in one season among Daemen's all-time leaders and her scoring average of 21.5 points per game ranks fifth best all time.
Paige has led the program to new heights over her four-year career. The Wildcats are 79-21 over the past four years and have claimed four East Coast Conference regular season titles and three ECC Tournament titles (2022, 2023, 2024). Daemen has made four NCAA Tournament appearances, three NCAA regional championship game appearances (2021, 2022, 2024) and two NCAA Elite Eight appearances over her career.
Senior Samantha Pirosko of Gannon was named the D2CCA Ron Lenz National Player of the Year and first team All-America. Joining her as first team all-Americans were Ashley Ingram of Texas Woman's, Faith Simpson of Northwestern Oklahoma State, Lyrik Thorpe of Catawba and Jordan Vasquez of Cal State San Marcos.
Joining Paige on the second team was Annie Roshak of Ashland, Alisha Little of Colorado State Pueblo, Reese Schaaf of Drury and Emilee Waekly of Frostburg State.
The third team consisted of Joey Batt of Minnesota State Mankato, Keeley Carter of Trevecca Nazarene, Kalifa Ford of Valdosta State, Olivia Reed of Colorado Mesa and Lauryn Taylor of Francis Marion.
Honorable selections went to Ashley Steffeck of Colorado School of Mines, Rylie Bisballe of Grand Valley State, Lexie Schneider of Mary, Hannah Giddey of Southern Nazarene and Sam Yencha of Jefferson.
Daemen closed out the 2023-24 season with a 23-8 overall record and a 13-3 mark in the ECC. The 23 wins tied the NCAA Division II-era (2015-present) record for wins in a season for the Wildcats. The Wildcats won the ECC regular season title for the fifth-straight year and claimed the ECC Tournament crown for the fourth time in five seasons. The Wildcats advanced to the 64-team NCAA Division II Championship tournament for the fifth-straight year and claimed their second NCAA East Regional title in four years after posting wins over Saint Rose (52-47), No. 21 Assumption (68-58) and No. 3 Jefferson (69-62). Daemen's season came to an end following a 76-44 loss to No. 7 Texas Woman's University in the national quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship.
Daemen 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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