Nov. 23, 2005

Box Score

Loudonville, N.Y.- The Siena women's basketball (1-1) won the tip and never trailed in defending their TIAA CREF Albany Cup title, which they have won in each of the last four contests, in a 61-55 win over Albany (1-2) this evening at Pepsi Arena. The Saints haven't lost to Albany since the 1977-78 season.

The Saints grabbed the first lead of the game and the season off a bucket from senior Whitney Cave (Portland, Ore.) after winning the tip and never looked back. Siena jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Albany put a point on the board from the charity stripe and held the Great Danes without a field goal for just over six minutes into the game.

The Green and Gold found the touch from outside hitting on their first four shots from beyond the arc, two apiece for Michelle Blot (Colonie, N.Y.) and Katelyn Dooley (Troy, N.Y.). Siena went into the break hitting 40% of their shots from downtown compared to hitting just five in the entire game against Maryland, they finished the game with eight.

Senior Whitney Cave seemed to answer every Albany run with a big jumper to stop the Great Dane momentum. Cave ripped down 10 defensive rebounds to go along with a game-high 20 points for her first double-double of the season. The senior hit a perfect two of two from downtown for her first career three pointers at Siena.

Albany, trailing by double-figures for most of the game, went on a 16-2 run to pull within four points, 57-53, with 41 seconds left to play. Inside of the final 10 seconds, the Saints nailed down the win with a pair of free throws from Cave and Dooley.

In all, four players finished in double-figures for the Saints. Sophomore Laura Menty (Wilbraham, Mass.) came close to a triple-double finishing with 10 points, six boards, and seven assists. Co-Captain Michelle Blot helped guide the Green and Gold early with 10 points and eight rebounds before the break.

The Saints took advantage at the charity stripe connecting on 9-of-11 shots compared to 5-of-10 shooting for Albany. Siena outrebounded the Great Danes 40-34 and had assists on 18 of the teams 22 field goals.

Siena travels to Lewisburg, Pa., to take on the Bison of Bucknell on Saturday with a 4 p.m. scheduled tipoff. They will next return home to the ARC on December 9 as they open the MAAC schedule against Manhattan.