Daemen basketball teams dance into NCAA tournament
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Daemen University is sending both its men's and women's basketball teams to the NCAA Division II championship tournament.
The Wildcat women are dancing for the fifth consecutive March, having cut down the nets in their home gym Sunday after winning the East Coast Conference for the fourth time in that span with a 55-50 victory against Mercy. Daemen (20-7) received the No. 6 seed in the East Region and will open against No. 3 St. Rose on Friday at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
In the men's tournament, Daemen received an at-large bid for the second time in history after snapping a 12-game win streak with a loss to nationally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas in the ECC final on Sunday. The Wildcats (24-8) are the No. 4 seed and will play Jefferson (23-8) in the opening round Saturday at host St. Michael's.
Alahna Paige, the ECC player of the year from Irondequoit, scored 27 points to lead the women in their championship three-peat, after her buzzer-beating 3-pointer lifted Daemen to a semifinal win on Saturday. Paige was named most outstanding player for the tournament.
Daemen won the East Region to reach the national quarterfinals in 2021, and advanced to the regional final in 2022.
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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.