Amherst, N.Y. – BACK-TO-BACK!!! For the second straight season and third time in four years, the Daemen University women's basketball team are East Coast Conference tournament champions! The Wildcats topped St. Thomas Aquinas 66-51 in the championship game on Sunday afternoon held at Lumsden Gymnasium to punch their ticket to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the fourth straight season. Daemen moves to 20-4 on the season with the victory. The Spartans dropped to 21-8 on the year and now must await a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Daemen junior guard Gabby McDuffie (Buffalo, N.Y.) was named the tournament's most outstanding player after she put together a 17-point outing in the championship game.
The Spartans scored the first points of the game, and held onto a lead for the majority of the first quarter until a late Daemen surge. A three by junior guard Gabby McDuffie (Buffalo, N.Y.) got the Wildcats on top late in the first, followed up by a layup by freshman Shyla Montgomery (Brockton, Mass.) to tie it up with seconds left on the first, and freshman Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) put an exclamation point on the end of the quarter with a buzzer beater three to lead 17-14 after the first.
St. Thomas Aquinas narrowly outscored Daemen 19-17 in the second quarter, but the Wildcats maintained a 34-33 lead at the half. McDuffie led all shooters at the half with 11 points, after going 3-for-3 from beyond the three-point line and 4-of-6 from the field in the first two quarters.
Daemen's defense stood up in the third quarter. The Wildcats held the Spartans to just 2-of-13 shots from the field and outscored STAC 19-6. After two close quarters, Daemen broke the game open in the third to take a 53-41 lead after three quarters of play. Montgomery led all Daemen shooters in the third with a pair of buckets, while four different players recorded three points apiece.
The Wildcat bench came to play today. Daemen posted 41 points from players that came off the bench in this one, compared to just eight for the Spartans. The Wildcats had two players finish in the double-digits today, with McDuffie leading all shooters with 17 points and Alahna Paige (Rochester, N.Y.) tallied 10 points.
Daemen will find out where they will play and what seed they will be in the Division II Selection Show, to be held online tonight at 10:30 pm.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- McDuffie shot 6-of-14 from the field and knocked down three of six from beyond the arc, and added three steals and three rebounds on the day. The junior guard totaled double-digit points for the fifth time this season with 17 points.
- Junior guard and Second Team All-ECC Alahna Paige finished with her first double-double of the season, totaling 10 points and 10 rebounds in the win. Paige finished seven of nine from the free throw line, and added three assists and a steal to her stat line.
- Fifth year forward Mickayla Ivy (Grand Rapids, Mich.) finished with seven points, going 3-of-7 from the field with a free throw. The ECC Defensive Player of the Year pulled down six rebounds in her final game at Lumsden Gym.
GAME NOTES
- The Wildcats have played in the ECC Championship game in each of the last four seasons. Daemen also won the ECC Tournament in 2020 and 2022.
- The Spartans were playing in the ECC championship game for the first time since 2018 when they won the program's first conference title.
- Daemen shot 42-percent (22-of-52) from the field and 37-percent (7-of-19) from beyond the arc, while going 15-of-22 from the free throw stripe.
- STAC got on the board first in the game, with Alexa Huertas snagging the defensive rebound and taking it coast-to-coast for a layup.
- Ivy got the Wildcats on the board two minutes into the game with a layup and tied the game up at four with back-to-back buckets.
- McDuffie put the Cats on top for the first time in the game with a three from the top of the key to give Daemen the 12-11 advantage late in the first. Freshman forward Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) then knocked down a buzzer beater three to put the Wildcats up 17-14 after the first.
- Five Daemen players recorded first quarter points. The Wildcats shot 50-percent from the field (7-of-14) and posted three of six buckets beyond the arc.
- McDuffie drained multiple three-point field goals for the fourth time this season, and for the first time since going 2-of-6 at Molloy on Jan. 27.
- STAC went on a 9-5 run in the first half of the second quarter, but big quarters by McDuffie and Julia Hauer (Binghamton, N.Y.) saw the Wildcats up 34-33 at the half. McDuffie knocked down two three-point field goals and a layup to score eight points in the second, while Hauer went 3-of-3 from the field in the second quarter to total 6 points.
- The Wildcats led by as much as six points in the second quarter. Both teams finished 7-of-15 (47-percent) from the field in the second.
- Daemen went on an 8-2 run to open up the third quarter, and after back-to-back buckets by Montgomery and a floater by McDuffie, the Wildcats led by as much as 12 points in the quarter.
- The Wildcats shot 47-percent (7-of-15) from the field in the third. Seven Daemen players recorded third quarter points.
- The Cats out-scored STAC 13-10 in the final quarter of play.
- Daemen has won 10 straight games. Over that span, the Wildcats have beaten teams by a margin of 18.9 points per game.
- Daemen picked up their fourth straight ECC regular season championship in last Saturday's regular season finale against D'Youville. The Wildcats became the first team in the ECC to win four consecutive regular season titles since St. Rose (1997-2000).
- The Wildcats are ranked No. 9 in the third and final NCAA Division II East Region rankings. The NCAA announces 10-team rankings for each of the eight regions across the country for three successive weeks leading up to the NCAA Championship selection announcement, which will be made this year on Sunday, March 5.
Provided by the Daemen Sports Information Department.
