FINAL SCORE: Daemen 82, Apprentice School 72
RECORDS: Daemen 12-15; Apprentice School 14-11
LOCATION: Uniontown, PA - 2015 USCAA Nationals
IN BRIEF: The Apprentice School Lady Builders made several second half runs at Daemen College on Wednesday afternoon, but fell short in an 82-72 loss in the opening round ofthe 2015 United States Collegiate Athletic Association Women's Division I Championships at Penn State Fayette.

ON THE COURT

• Fifth-seeded Daemen College opened the game on a 17-4 run in the first six minutes as a pair of Raeann Stillwell free throws put them up 17-4 at the 14:05 mark.
• Apprentice School scored the next 10 points in nearly two minutes as a Shanae Hilliard layup with 12:18 left got the Lady Builders to 17-14.
• Daemen pulled out a 13-4 run over the ensuing 5:41 to take its largest lead of the first half at 30-18 on a Natalie Galus jumper with 6:37 left.  Apprentice School trimmed it to five scoring the next seven points as Ylexzis Traeger hit a free throw with 2:21 left to get to 30-25.  The Wildcats closed the half on an 8-2 flurry to take a 38-27 lead at halftime on a Stillwell layup.
• In the second half, Daemen opened scoring the first ten points of the half as a Stillwell 3-pointer put them up 48-27 with 18:11 left.  Apprentice School worked back into the game and got the deficit under double figures on a Kenya Wilkerson layup with 8:59 left to trail 58-50.
• The Lady Builders got to within four points with 5:23 left on a pair of Traeger free throws for a 67-63 margin.  A Stillwell layup with 1:54 left pushed the advantage back to 10 points at 77-67, but that took the wind out of the sails of the Lady Builders as they could only get to seven points on a Quanisha Bruce free throw with 58 seconds left at 77-70.

BEHIND THE BOXSCORE

• Apprentice School shot 32.2% from the floor for the game, while Daemen was just under 50% at 47.1% on 32-of-68.   The Wildcats won the battle of the boards 59-44, while turning the ball over 25 times.
• Hilliard was the leading scorer in the game to lead Apprentice School with 22 points.  Joining her in double figures was Wilkerson with 16 points and eight assists, Traeger had 13 points and nine rebounds, while Jessica Neighbors added 12 points and six rebounds.
• Daemen was topped by Shy Britton with 20 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots.  Stillwell had 19 points, Leah McDonnell had 14 points and a game-high 17 rebounds, Saba added 12 points and eight assists, while Galus chipped in 10 points and eight boards.

NEXT UP
Due to the winter weather and some teams who lost opening games opting to leave, the tournament schedule has been altered and the Lady Builders will now face second-seeded Iowa Wesleyan College in a consolation game at 9 am on Friday morning in the Main Arena.