Daemen Women's Basketball Falls In East Region Semifinals To #22 Holy Family

WALTHAM, Mass. – The spectacular 2024-25 season ends for the No. 2 seed Daemen University women's basketball team in the NCAA Division II East Region semifinals today, falling to #22 (No. 3 seed) Holy Family University, 68-55. Playing in the regional semifinals for the fourth time in program history, the Wildcats finish the year as the East Coast Conference regular season (sixth straight) and tournament (fourth straight) champions and post a 22-8 overall record along with their best record in the ECC (15-1) since the 2021-22 season.  IMPACT PLAYERS Junior guard Claire Pikett (Holland, N.Y.) scored a team-tying high 13 points after draining three triples and adding two free throws and one field goal. Pikett finished with four rebounds, two blocks and two assists.  Sophomore guard Sophie Auer (Lewiston, N.Y.) finished with 13 points after going 3-of-3 beyond the arc and 5-of-8 from the field along with three defensive rebounds, three assists and three steals.  Junior forward Cecilia Lapertosa (Whitesboro, N.Y.) totaled 12 points, four assists, three blocks and three rebounds on the night.  Freshman forward Ne'vaeh Buntley (Rochester, N.Y.) finished with 10 points after shooting 50% from the field and adding three steals, three rebounds and two assists. INSIDE THE BOX SCORE The Tigers scored the first points of the game on a triple, but from there the Wildcats went on an 8-3 run with Pikett, Auer, Buntley and Lapertosa all scoring points early. With Auer getting hot in the first, Daemen kept the pedal to the metal and led by as much as 10 and headed into the first break with a 17-9 advantage over the Tigers. Auer led all players with eight first quarter points. The Wildcats shot 42% (6-of-14) from the field and 50% (3-of-6) beyond the arc while holding the Tigers to shooting just 30% (4-of-13) from the field in the first. Holy Family opened the second quarter scoring five unanswered points to bring the game within three, 17-14, and after the Wildcats stopped the run with a pair of free throws, but the Tigers went on an 8-0 run from there with two triples and a layup to lead 22-19. From there, the Wildcats and Tigers took turns scoring for the rest of the quarter. Holy Family led by four with three minutes left in the half, 28-24, but a jumper from Lapertosa and a driving layup by Tayla Barros (Boston, Mass.) tied it up at 28 with just under two left. The Tigers closed out the half on a 6-3 run and led 34-31 after two quarters. Holy Family outscored Daemen 25-14 and shot 60% from the field in the second. Pikett and Lapertosa each scored six points for the Cats in the quarter. In the first six and a half minutes of the third, the Tigers went on a 12-6 run to take a nine point lead, 46-37, over the Cats. Auer knocked down a driving layup in the final 15 seconds to bring the Tiger lead down to seven after three, 48-41. The Cats scored just three field goals in the third quarter, shooting 21% from the field.    The Tigers opened the fourth with a three-point play to stretch the lead to 10, but back-to-back Buntley and Lapertosa layups kept the game within six. Following a Holy Family triple, the majority of the rest of the quarter was defined by free throws after Daemen fouls. The Tigers finished the game out 14 to 10 to take the game 68-55. 
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