BUFFALO, N.Y. – The fourth-seeded D'Youville University women's basketball team gets ready to host fifth-seed Molloy University in the first round of the ECC Tournament at the Saints Center on Wednesday.
 
The Saints finished the regular season with an 8-8 record in the East Coast Conference and 10-15 overall. They found themselves on the outside looking in on February 9^th with a 3-8 conference record. A five-game winning streak to close out the season vaulted them all the way up to fourth in the standings and into the playoffs. Head coach Kelly Broderick marks DYU's double-overtime win over St. Thomas Aquinas College, the beginning of the winning streak, as the turning point of the season. "I think that after we got a taste of that win versus STAC, we didn't want to go back," says Broderick. The winning streak also included a wire-to-wire win over crosstown rival Daemen University on February 22^nd, handing the Wildcats' their first and only loss in conference play.
 
Broderick points to senior leadership as a major contributor in the late season turnaround. "I think our seniors have done a tremendous job over the last couple of weeks in helping to show our team that if we wanted to make a post season run, we needed to start it now," says Broderick. Among those impactful seniors are Anna Jankovic (Averill Park, N.Y.) and Sofie Fuglsang (Oberanven, Luxembourg). Jankovic was third in the conference in rebounds with 9.1 per game, ninth in scoring with 12.2 points per game, and posted eight double-doubles. Fuglsang turned in a career year for the Saints. She finished eleventh in the ECC in scoring with 11.9 points per game and was lights out from beyond the arc, finishing second in the conference in three-point percentage at 36.6 percent. She went to another level in her final eight games, averaging 19 points per game and shooting 55.2 percent from three, knocking down six threes in three of those games. Freshman Aliviya Vallone Russell (Buffalo, N.Y.) also stepped up as a key driver of the offense, averaging 14.8 points per game and 4.0 assists per game over the final five games of the season.
 
Broderick also credits the team's ability to overcome adversity and their drive to want to do more as key factors in the late season push. "I think our ability to fight through adversity has been another factor as we have dealt with multiple injuries and have had multiple people step up to fill those roles." The Saints lost freshman Allie Hall (Rochester, N.Y.) for the season on January 31^st and redshirt sophomore Megan Fedor (Elmira, N.Y.) missed three conference games due to injury. Juniors Isabella Kostyal-Larrier (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and Morgan Giancaterino (Orchard Park, N.Y.) provided meaningful minutes down the stretch. In the last five games of the season, Kostyal-Larrier averaged 5.4 points per game and grabbed 4.4 rebounds per game while Giancaterino averaged 5.0 points per game, 3.8 assists per game, and 3.0 rebounds per game in that span.
 
The Saints went 1-1 against Molloy this season, losing 66-53 on January 12th on the road and winning their second meeting 66-57 on February 16^th at home. "The keys for a victory against Molloy will be to win on the boards, keep our turnovers low, and stop them in transition," says Broderick. "If we do that, that will give us the highest probability of succeeding."
 
"This team has done a fantastic job of fighting for and earning every win they have gotten this past year," says Broderick. "They have truly worked as a team to get here. I couldn't be more proud of what they have achieved, and I hope that we can keep it going for them, and to be able to play again after Wednesday."
 
D'Youville will look to win their sixth straight game and keep their season alive at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday.