ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst women's basketball team looks to continue their strong start to the season when they head out on the road for the first time on Saturday as they visit the No. 20 Daemen College Wildcats.

Game Information
Opponent - No. 20 Daemen College Wildcats
Date - Saturday, January 16    
Time - 12pm 
Location - Amherst, N.Y. (Lumsden Gymnasium)
Fan Note - There will be no fans allowed at the game.
Live Stats 
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Lakers Notes (PDF)

Last Time Out - LAKERS 70, Salem 45 (1/9/21)
Mercyhurst matched their best start to a season in five years at 5-0 when they knocked off the visiting Miles College Golden Bears by a score of 70-45.  The trio of Jayde Boyd, Grace Centrulla and Meghan Komendarek carried most of the offense for the Lakers by combining for 50 of the team's 70 points on the afternoon.  For the second day in a row Komendarek posted a double-double notching 21 points and grabbing 11 boards.  Mercyhurst led early 14-5, before the visitors got within 15-11 after one.  Lauren Klare, Centrulla and Komendarek helped to extend the lead to 34-21 at half.  Coming out of the break it was Boyd who joined the dynamic duo of Komendarek and Centrulla to help the host maintain a sizable cushion going to the final frame at 50-35.  Despite the Bears outscoring the Lakers early in the fourth they only cut the margin to 56-42.  The rest of the way it was all Hurst with Brittini Martin, Komendarek, Klare, Arnold, Boyd and Centrulla all chipped in during a 14-3 run to coast to the victory.

Scouting the Lakers (5-0)
Strong Start to the Regular Season
With the two wins over Miles on the weekend the Lakers matched their best start since 2016-17 when they defeated West Liberty, Notre Dame (Ohio), Cheyney, Millersville and Hillsdale en route to a 5-0 start.  They are now chasing the 1988-89 team that began the year at 10-0.  

Balanced Scoring
After her back-to-back double-doubles on the weekend Komendarek now joins Julia Buchman and Boyd as the Lakers to average double-digit points per game.  Boyd leads the way with 16.4, with Komendarek (13.4) and Buchman (10.8) following closely behind.  Centrulla is chipping in 7.4, while Paige Woodford drops 6.2 and Emily Shopene averages 5.8.  Nicolette Arnold and Klare are also combining for eight points per contest.  

Hitting the Glass
Mercyhurst is hitting the glass hard so far this season averaging 48.2 rebounds per game.  Komendarek paces the team with 9.4.   Boyd and Centrulla are both grabbing over seven a contest , while Shopene picks up 6.5 and Arnold hauls in 4.8.

Streak Snapped
Shopene missed her first ever game in her Mercyhurst career on Saturday against Miles.  In her 88 contests to that point, she has accumulated 695 points, 379 rebounds, 331 assists, 80 steals, and 21 blocks.  She has 28 games with double-digit scoring outputs, but has not hit that mark yet this season.       

Protect the Ball
One thing that Mercyhurst still has to work on is not turning the ball over.  As a team they are currently averaging 18.0 turnovers per game.  The Lakers have turned the ball over 15 or more times in each game, which includes a season-high 21 turnovers in their 81-52 win on Friday.     

Block Party
The Lakers have done a nice job getting in the face of the opponent posting 39 blocks on the year.  Komendarek leads the side with a dozen blocks, while Boyd has nine, followed by eight from Centrulla and three each for Arnold as well as Shopene.  

Stat Pack
Mercyhurst through five games is averaging 71 points.  Shooting 40.9% from the floor, 29.8% outside the arc and 71% on the charity line.  They are grabbing 48.2 boards per contest to go along with 19.4 assists.  On the defensive end, the Lakers have 25 steals and average 7.8 blocks.

NCAA Leaders
As a team the Lakers are second in the nation in blocks per game (7.8), tenth in rebounds per game (48.2).  At the defensive end they are second in field-goal percentage defense (26.4) and sixth in defensive rebounds per game (35.6).  Mercyhurst also sits in the Top-10 in total blocks (3rd) and assists per game (9th).  Individually, Shopene is third in assists per game (7.5).  With her 2.4 blocks per game Komendarek is 15th nationally, while Boyd sits 30th in blocks per game (1.8). 

Inside the Cage
Daemen College will be playing their first game of the season on Saturday when they welcome the Lakers.  The Wildcats are the defending champions of the East Coast Conference after posting a 23-5 mark overall and a 13-3 record inside the ECC.  They are loaded as the unit brings back eight players from last year, including three starters Tara Filbert, Katie Titus and Caroline White.  Filbert, was just recently named the ECC Preseason Player of the Year coming off a year where she scored 14.4 points and grabbed 5.1 rebounds to go along with 3.7 assists.  Titus does her work not only scoring, but also by hitting the glass.  She was the team's leading rebounder hauling in 8.3 per game and averages 13.1 points.  Whilte, completes the trio of returning starters and rounds out the double-digit scoring options after notching 12.9 points, in addition to bringing in 7.0 boards.  Last season, the Wildcats averaged 69.2 ppg and gave up just 55.0 which amounts to a +14.2 scoring margin.  From the floor they shot 40.2% to go along with 31.6% outside the arc and 74% at the charity line.  On the glass, DC grabbed 40.2 rebounds, while putting up 9.1 steals.  Jenepher Banker is starting her fifth season leading the Wildcats.  

On Deck
Mercyhurst stays on the road to visit the Redhawks of Roberts Wesleyan College at 7pm on Tuesday night. 

For all the latest schedule updates and news about the Mercyhurst Lakers you can follow us on all social media outlets Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or visit hurstathletics.com.  The women's basketball team is also found on Twitter.